Meaning

This opening line from Thomas Paine is an honest acknowledgment that moments of genuine historical crisis place an almost unbearable pressure on ordinary people. Paine is not being defeatist. He is naming the weight of the moment clearly so that readers understand the stakes and, in understanding them, find the resolve to keep going. The phrase has endured because it captures a universal human experience: the feeling that the present moment demands more than ordinary times.

Context

Paine wrote this pamphlet in December 1776, at one of the lowest points of the American Revolutionary War. General Washington's army had suffered serious setbacks and morale was fragile. Paine composed the piece under urgent conditions, and it was read aloud to soldiers to help restore their determination. The full pamphlet was the first in a series he called The American Crisis, each addressing a different phase of the struggle. His plain, direct language was deliberately chosen to reach a wide audience, not just educated elites.

About the author

Thomas Paine was an English-born writer and political thinker who emigrated to the American colonies in 1774 and quickly became one of the Revolution's most important propagandists. His earlier pamphlet Common Sense had done enormous work in building public support for independence. Paine had a gift for translating complex political arguments into language that working people could engage with directly. He later lived in France and was involved in the French Revolution as well, making him a significant figure in the broader Atlantic world of democratic ideas.