Our independence with God's blessing we will maintain against all the world; but as we wish to avoid evil ourselves, we wish not to inflict it on others.
Thomas Paine: “Our independence with God's blessing we will maintain against all the world; but as we wish to avoid evil ourselves, we…”
Editor's note · Context
Paine expresses America's unwavering commitment to independence, coupled with a desire to avoid inflicting harm on others.
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I have no idea, considering the reforms which are now passing and spreading throughout Europe, that England will permit herself to be the last; and where the occasion and the opportunity quietly offer, it is better than to wait for a…
Discussion and the general will arbitrates the question, and to this, private opinion yields with a good grace, and order is preserved uninterrupted.
As to what are called national religions, we may, with as much propriety, talk of national Gods.
If, therefore, the good to be obtained be worthy of a passive, rational, and costless revolution, it would be bad policy to prefer waiting for a calamity that should force a violent one.