?:reviewBody
|
-
An image shared on Facebook claimed that English-American writer Thomas Paine once said, The duty of a true Patriot is to protect his country from its government. Verdict: False There is no evidence that Paine authored this saying. It may be a version of a quote by environmentalist writer Edward Abbey. Fact Check: This falsely-attributed quote has been circulating on the internet and elsewhere for years. In fact, Energy Secretary Rick Perry cited Paine as the source of the quote in a February 2015 speech . However, there is no record of Paine ever writing or speaking these words; it appears nowhere in his collected works. The quote has come to the attention of the Thomas Paine National Historical Association , which includes it in a list of quotes NOT from Thomas Paine on its website. According to etymologist Barry Popik , the quote may have originated with Abbey , an American environmentalist and anarchist author who passed away in 1989. A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government, he wrote in his 1989 work A Voice Crying in the Wilderness .
(en)
|