Either, therefore, government has arrived at its dotage, and requires to be renovated, or all the occasions for exercising its wisdom have occurred.
Thomas Paine: “Either, therefore, government has arrived at its dotage, and requires to be renovated, or all the occasions for…”
Editor's note · Context
In "Rights of Man," this quote presents a dilemma, suggesting that if government is not evolving, it is either stagnant or has exhausted its purpose.
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The American constitutions were to liberty what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax.
The animosity of the English nation, it is very well remembered, ran high; and, had the true principles of Liberty been as well understood then as they now promise to be, it is probable the Nation would not have patiently submitted to so…
Burke's Book is easily accounted for.--When a man in a wrong cause attempts to steer his course by anything else than some polar truth or principle, he is sure to be lost.
When it becomes necessary to do anything, the whole heart and soul should go into the measure, or not attempt it.