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Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
Thomas Paine
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Freedom requires hard work and sacrifice to maintain.

This quote by Thomas Paine emphasizes that true freedom is not a passive state but a condition that requires effort, vigilance, and responsibility. Those who desire the benefits of freedom must be willing to endure the challenges and responsibilities that come with it, much like any worthwhile endeavor in life.

Themes

FreedomSacrificeResponsibilityVigilanceEffort

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech advocating for civic engagement, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of participation in democracy.

More from Thomas Paine

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?
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Fare thee well, king: sith thus thou wilt appear, Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.
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