On the recordJanuary 1, 1776
If I had any talents for either, they were buried in me, and might ever have continued so, had not the necessity of the times dragged and driven them into action.
Said by
Thomas Paine
Source
gutenberg.orgThomas Paine: “If I had any talents for either, they were buried in me, and might ever have continued so, had not the necessity of the…”
Editor's note · Context
Reflecting on his unexpected role in the American Revolution, Paine describes how the urgency of the era compelled him to become a writer and advocate.
Share
More from Thomas Paine
Jan 1, 1791
Never did so great an opportunity offer itself to England, and to all Europe, as is produced by the two Revolutions of America and France.
Jan 1, 1791
Reason and discussion, persuasion and conviction, become the weapons in the contest, and it is only when those are attempted to be suppressed that recourse is had to violence.
Jan 1, 1791
With how much more glory, and advantage to itself, does a nation act, when it exerts its powers to rescue the world from bondage, and to create itself friends, than when it employs those powers to increase ruin, desolation, and misery.
Jan 1, 1791
When another nation shall join France, despotism and bad government will scarcely dare to appear.