A man who is so exceedingly civil that for the sake of quietude and a peaceable name will silently see the community imposed upon, or their rights invaded, may, in his principles, be a good man, but cannot be stiled a useful one, neither does he come up to the full mark of his duty; for silence becomes a kind of crime when it operates as a cover or an encouragement to the guilty.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Thomas Paine (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.