“When we look back on the dangers we have been saved from, and reflect on the success we have been blessed with, it would be sinful either to be idle or to despair.”
The Crisis No. IV.
1770s, The American Crisis (1776–1783)
Context: You have too much at stake to hesitate. You ought not to think an hour upon the matter, but to spring to action at once. Other states have been invaded, have likewise driven off the invaders. Now our time and turn is come, and perhaps the finishing stroke is reserved for us. When we look back on the dangers we have been saved from, and reflect on the success we have been blessed with, it would be sinful either to be idle or to despair.
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Thomas Paine 262
English and American political activist 1737–1809Related quotes
Written in his prison diary
1940s
“When we find what we have been looking for, we don't have time to say it. We must die.”
Speech before the House of Commons (18 April 1791).
Introduction
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter (2003)
TED: "How to run a company with (almost) no rules" https://www.ted.com/talks/ricardo_semler_how_to_run_a_company_with_almost_no_rules/ (October 2014)
Source: Zorba the Greek (1946), Ch. 6
Context: While experiencing happiness, we have difficulty in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it we do suddenly realize — sometimes with astonishment — how happy we had been.
