Or, if America is lost, is it manly to sob over it like a child for its rattle, and invite the laughter of the world by declarations of disgrace?
Thomas Paine: “Or, if America is lost, is it manly to sob over it like a child for its rattle, and invite the laughter of the world by…”
Editor's note · Context
Paine uses a rhetorical question to challenge the British perspective on losing America, emphasizing the futility of lamenting a lost cause.
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In those which proceed from the former cause, the temper becomes incensed and soured; and the redress, obtained by danger, is too often sullied by revenge.
When another nation shall join France, despotism and bad government will scarcely dare to appear.
Nations, like individuals, who have long been enemies, without knowing each other, or knowing why, become the better friends when they discover the errors and impositions under which they had acted.
It serves to keep up deceitful expectations which prevent people from looking into the defects and abuses of government.