Quotes from Paine
1. “When it can be said by any country in the world, my poor are happy, neither ignorance
nor distress is to be found among them, my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of
beggars, the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive, the rational world is my
friend because I am the friend of happiness. When these things can be said, then may that
country boast its constitution and government. Independence is my happiness, the world is
my country and my religion is to do good.”
― Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
Reading process.
Have students circle each
piece of punctuation that
divides out the “sections”
of the sentence, so circle
every comma, every dash,
every period, or
semicolon.
Have them look at the commas and determine whether you have interjections or list items.
These can be set aside for later. We’re looking for the main ideas. Here I’ve bracketed
interjections and numbered list items so they’re easier to deal with one at a time.
Now I have students look for transition words. These may be words that indicate time or
relationships, like “and” “but” “however” or “when.” These help tell the reader how ideas fit
together. I’m drawing a box around these words (no I don’t actually care how students mark
this on their papers, although I am looking for some marks.
Next, I look for the main ideas. In the first sentence, the author has a dependent clause with
no independent clause. Technically, this is a sentence fragment, but since I have no main
idea here, I’ll just underline that dependent clause even though that’s usually the less
important part of the sentence compared to the independent clause.
Now here is where students have to make a judgment call. If any of these main ideas are
really hard to understand, they need to go back and write some sort of summary or
paraphrase out to the side to keep the ideas clear in their heads. THIS IS WHERE
VOCABULARY MUST BE LOOKED UP, AS WELL. IF THEY DON’T KNOW A WORD, THEY CAN’T
SKIP IT. That’s not really necessary here, so I’m skipping that step as unneeded work.
So the next thing I need to do is start adding back in the interjections and lists. With each
pass, reread the entire sentence and figure out how the new information changes the
sentence.
When it can be said by any country in the world my poor are happy. Are they? Probably not.
When it can be said by any country in the world neither ignorance nor distress is found
among them. Who is them? (The poor). This this true at this time? Yeah, no.
When it can be said by any country in the world my jails are empty of prisoners. Are they?
So in other words, students have to stop and think through each piece, adding it back in one
step at a time. The last step is to put it all together.
1. What is Paine really saying? Put it into modern terms.
2. Who is he probably talking to? If he’s trying to convince people to fight England, who is
he likely to think needs to hear this?
3. Why is he saying this? Why would this be effective?
1. When a country can claim that the poor are happy and no one is ignorant and all the jails
are empty and no one has to beg or pay taxes that are too heavy… when old people aren’t
suffering and people are rational thinking people who are happy… when all these things are
true, then people should brag about their country. I’m happy being independent. I’m loyal to
my world, not my country, and the only religious rule I follow is to be a nice person.
2. He’s probably talking to people who talk about being proud citizens of England and
member of the Church of England. They want to be proud of their English roots, but Paine is
pointing out that they don’t have much to be proud of because their world has all these
things wrong with it, so they shouldn’t brag about how great England is.
3. He’s trying to get people to look at why they support England and trying to get them to
see that England has not created some glorious world that everyone is lucky to live in.
2. “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 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.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its
value.”
― Thomas Paine, Works of Thomas Paine
Now students can look at each line, and this time they probably will need to write some short
summaries in the margin before they try and do the final step. And they will HAVE TO LOOK
WORDS UP!!
These are the times that try men’s souls.
Days like we’ve had lately really make a person’s soul suffer.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will shrink from the service of their country
(ignore the interject and just translate the main sentence)
People who want to play soldier in summer or who only love their country while the sun is
shining and times are good will back away from serving.
A “but” divides these two. What is the contrast? Real patriots and fake ones
he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman
what does stands mean? Stands by
What is it? What would people have to stand by? Their country
People who support their country now deserve to have everyone thank them.
Tyranny is not easily conquered
Dictatorships and tyrants are pretty tough opponents.
A “yet” divides these two. Above times are hard, below we have comfort.
we have this consolation with us
Americans have one thing to comfort us.
the harder the conflict
The harder the fight
the more glorious the triumph
The better it’s going to feel when we win.
What we obtain too cheap
What comes too easily and what we don’t have to really pay for
we esteem too lightly
we don’t really value
it is dearness only that gives everything its value
It is having things be valuable or cherished that make them worth keeping.
Have them go back and reread to add in information from the two interjections. He
compares tyranny to hell, so that would make King George Satan.
He adds that the sunshine will shrink “in this crisis,” which might suggest that this crisis is
worse than others.
So in other words, students have to stop and think through each piece, adding it back in one
step at a time. The last step is to put it all together.
1. What is Paine really saying? Put it into modern terms.
2. Who is he probably talking to? If he’s trying to convince people to fight England, who is
he likely to think needs to hear this?
3. Why is he saying this? Why would this be effective?
1. These are really hard times. People who aren’t real patriots and who only want to play
soldier when times are easy are going to back away from serving because this is a really
difficult crisis we’re having. However, those real patriots who support their country are the
ones who will earn everyone’s thanks and respect. Dictatorships are a little like hell. They’re
hard to beat in a battle because they’re tough. But the harder the fight, the better it’s going
to feel when we win. What we get too cheaply, we really don’t value because it’s having
things be loved and having them be expensive that really makes them work keeping.
2. He’s talking to people who say the fight is too tough. He’s pointing out that a tough fight is
actually good because it’s going to feel all the better when we win, but he’s also making fun
of them. He’s calling them losers and “summer soldiers” for wanting to run away now when
it gets a little hard.
3. No one wants to be a quitter and everyone wants to earn respect, so this is going to appeal
to people who might be afraid to fight the hard fight, but who really do want America to win.