He who thinks we are to pitch our tent here, and have attained the utmost prospect of reformation that the mortal glass wherein we contemplate can show us, till we come to beatific vision, that man by this very opinion declares that he is yet far short of truth.

John Milton
About This Quote

Thomas Paine, a political activist and writer, was not a very popular figure during his lifetime. A number of the things he wrote were censored, including this quote. How can we be sure that we have not yet seen perfection? Because there is no way of knowing what perfection might be until we have seen all there is to see.

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  1. Freely we serve Because we freely love, as in our will To love or not; in this we stand or fall.
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  3. Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n.
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