Thomas Paine a-t-il vraiment dit « Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil » ?

Thomas Paine a-t-il vraiment dit « Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil » ?

Trouvé mot pour mot. Oui. Le texte figure dans des œuvres attribuées à Thomas Paine. Source et emplacement ci-dessous.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man …
Common Sense — Thomas Paine, ¶22 · Public domain (US), Project Gutenberg #147 · source

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