Those words, “temperate and moderate,” are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing moderately good, is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.
¶ "Letter Addressed to the Addressers on the Late Proclamation" (1791)
In The Writings of Thomas Paine, ed. Moncure Daniel Conway (1894). Vol. 3.
