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
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