The first 5 sentences from Thomas Paine's Common Sense, a pamphlet published on January 9, 1776:
"Some writers have so confounded society with government as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer."
About Me
- Karen
- I started out as a baby. "I took it easy for a few years." At the age of 2 1/2 I became a lifelong pro bono facilitator. I gave up any painting aspirations in kindergarten. When twice that age, it was discovered that without glasses, my eyes aren't worth much. But, as the last person in my class to win a box of 5 fat crayons for coloring inside the lines, I gave up painting, and went into the world of reading, writing and humorous asides to supplement the pro bono work.The next project is learning how to cut and paste. It'll probably take years if I teach myself because one of us is not listening.
No comments:
Post a Comment