A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
The abilities of man must fall short on one side or the other, like too scanty a blanket when you are abed. If you pull it upon your shoulders, your feet are left bare; if you thrust it down to your feet, your shoulders are uncovered.
Interpretation
This quote illustrates the limits of human abilities and resources in addressing challenges.
Thomas Paine uses the metaphor of a scanty blanket to convey that human abilities are inherently limited; no one is completely equipped to address all aspects of a situation at once. In life, we often face choices where addressing one need may leave another need unmet, highlighting the need for balance in our efforts and resources.
In practice
In a motivational speech about the importance of setting priorities.
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not.
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.
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.
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.
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
Coffee makes us severe, and grave and philosophical.
There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. The dark background which death supplies brings out the tender colours of life in all their purity.
Perhaps my whisper was already born before my lips.
Things are not to be judged good or bad merely because the public think so.
The universe has a body and soul and evolves through cosmic time. As microcosms of stardust, we do the same.
Since I do not believe that there should be different recommendations for people living in the Bronx and people living in Manhattan, I am uncomfortable making different recommendations for my patients in Boston and in Haiti.
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