A superfluity of wealth, and a train of domestic slaves, naturally banish a sense of general liberty, and nourish the seeds of that kind of independence that usually terminates in aristocracy.
Interpretation
Excessive wealth and reliance on servants can lead to a loss of true freedom and foster a hierarchy that promotes aristocracy.
Mercy Otis Warren highlights the paradox of wealth and independence. She argues that an abundance of wealth, along with dependence on domestic servants, can erode genuine liberty and instead cultivate a false sense of independence that ultimately contributes to the emergence of an aristocratic society, which may restrict the freedom of others and lead to social inequality.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion on economic inequality at a community meeting.
It is necessary for every American, with becoming energy to endeavor to stop the dissemination of principles evidently destructive of the cause for which they have bled. It must be the combined virtue of the rulers and of the people to do this, and to rescue and save their civil and religious rights from the outstretched arm of tyranny, which may appear under any mode or form of government.
Public emergencies may require the hand of severity to fall heavily on those who are not personally guilty, but compassion prompts, and ever urges to milder methods
I don't suppose anybody ever deliberately listens to a watch or a clock. You don't have to. You can be oblivious to the sound for a long while, then in a second of ticking it can create in the mind unbroken the long diminishing parade of time you didn't hear.
Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.
This is reality, whether you like it or not--all those frivolities of summer, the light and shadow, the living mask of green that trembled over everything, they were lies, and this is what was underneath. This is the truth.
If freedom makes social progress possible, so social progress strengthens and enlarges freedom. The two are inseparable partners in the great adventure of humanity.
My words in her mind: cold polished stones sinking through a quagmire.
One of the things I do take some pride in is that if you had never read an article about my life, if you knew nothing about me, except that my books were being set in front of you to read, and if you were to read those books in sequence, I don't think you would say to yourself, 'Oh my God, something terrible happened to this writer in 1989.'
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