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These are the times that try men's souls

Cultural  

  1. The opening words of the series of pamphlets The American Crisis, by Thomas Paine, begun in late 1776. Paine, seeking to stir up revolutionary spirit in the colonies, continues, “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot may, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

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Paine's words are still quoted occasionally in troublesome situations.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.