Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
It is a great idea, and as a quotation is most frequently (and inaccurately) found in that form. The exact quote is:
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
— John Philpot Curran (24 July 1750 – 14 October 1817), Irish politician. From his speech upon "The Right of Election" (1790), published in Speeches on the late very interesting State Trials (1808)
|