Tom Paine December 23, 1776

[kentuck]

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

[flying_wahini]

1. Wow. He never fails to make me swoon. He was a great American.

[murielm99]

2. I often worry that I am a summer soldier

and sunshine patriot. I'm not, really. But I could do more.

[Aristus]

3. Tom Paine definitely knew his 'Henry V'.

[Lionel Mandrake]

4. I thought I'd heard something like that before.

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here."

[Aristus]

5. Yes, although I was thinking of an earlier line:

"The fewer men, the greater share of honour."

[poboy2]

6. Tom Paine was a great American.

Tom paine is a proto-socialist hero.