No one man is capable, without the aid of society, of supplying his own wants, and those wants, acting upon every individual, impel the whole of them into society, as naturally as gravitation acts to a centre.
Thomas Paine: “No one man is capable, without the aid of society, of supplying his own wants, and those wants, acting upon every…”
Editor's note · Context
From "Rights of Man," this passage explains that individual needs compel people into society as naturally as gravity, as no one can fulfill all their wants alone.
Share
More from Thomas Paine
Many of the facts were in themselves principles; such as the declaration of American Independence, and the treaty of alliance between France and America, which recognised the natural rights of man, and justified resistance to oppression.
To possess ourselves of a clear idea of what government is, or ought to be, we must trace it to its origin.
I know the value of moral instruction, and I have seen the danger of the contrary.
The Parliaments on their part insisted that they had not only a right to remonstrate, but to reject; and on this ground they were always supported by the nation.