A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
The period of debate is closed. Arms, as a last resource, must decide the contest.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the necessity of action when all discussion has failed, advocating for a final resort of conflict to resolve disputes.
Thomas Paineβs quote reflects the critical moment in a debate when words and discussions have failed to bring about a resolution. It asserts that when all peaceful avenues of negotiation are exhausted, sometimes the only option left is to confront issues through conflict or force, symbolized by 'arms'. This perspective underscores the urgency and seriousness of the situation, suggesting that some matters are too important to be decided solely through debate.
Themes
DebateArmsConflictResolutionNegotiation
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech advocating for military intervention, one might quote Paine to underscore the need for decisive action.
More from Thomas Paine
All quotes βThat God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not.
Thomas PaineRead
I consider the war of America against Britain as the country's war, the public's war, or the war of the people in their own behalf, for the security of their natural rights, and the protection of their own property.
Thomas PaineRead
Had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it.
Thomas PaineRead
The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression.
Thomas PaineRead
To reason with goverments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves that reforms can be expected
Thomas PaineRead
Similar quotes
I came to believe it not true that "the coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man only one." I think it is the other way around: It is the brave who die a thousand deaths. For it is imagination, and not just conscience, which doth make cowards of us all. Those who do not know fear are not truly brave.
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Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper.
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If someone tried to deprive you of your rights, you've got to resist it. You've got to resent it. You've got to fight against it.
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Succeed in not fearing the lion, and the lion will fear YOU. Say to suffering, 'I will that you shall become a pleasure,' and it will prove to be such-- and even more than a pleasure, it will be a blessing.
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I considered our British comrades to rank with the finest men and women of any armed service in the world. And I know that my fellow American soldiers - and those of the other coalition countries under my command - valued very highly the professional expertise, capability, courage, and determination of our British partners on the battlefield.
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I was amazed that what I needed to survive could be carried on my back. And, most surprising of all, that I could carry it.
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