Ran across this quote (attributed to Thomas Paine [0]) a couple of days ago: "A thousand years hence (for I must indulge in a few thoughts), perhaps in less, A

Ran across this quote (attributed to Thomas Paine [0]) a couple of days ago: "A thousand years hence (for I must indulge in a few thoughts), perhaps in less, America may be what England now is! The innocence of her character that won the hearts of all nations in her favor may sound like a romance, and her inimitable virtue as if it had never been. The ruins of that liberty which thousands bled for, or suffered to obtain, may just furnish materials for a village tale or extort a sigh from rustic sensibility, while the fashionable of that day, enveloped in dissipation, shall deride the principle and deny the fact. " [0] https://thomaspaine.org/works/major-works/letter-to-george-washington.html https://thomaspaine.org/works/major-works/letter-to-george-w...