…yet my mind was not at rest, because nothing was acted, and thoughts run in me that words and writings were all nothing and must die, for action is the life of all, and if thou dost not act, thou dost nothing…
Gerrard Winstanley, ‘A Watch-word to the Citie of London’ (August 26, 1649)
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One reply on “quote #82”
dear tom,
hello and happy new year to you…very interested to see you are reading mr. winstanley, which i must do myself some time soon – i found this quote in alistair mcintoshs soil and soul very stimulating
“The power of enclosing land and owning property was brought into the creation by your ancestors by the sword; which first did murder their fellow creatures, men, and after plunder or steal away their land, and left this land successively to you, their children. And therefore, though you did not kill or thieve, yet you hold that cursed thing in your hand by the power of the sword; and so you justify the wicked deeds of your fathers, and that sin of your fathers shall be visited upon the head of you and your children to the third and fourth generation, and longer too, till your bloody and thieving power be rooted out of the land.” from the new law of freedom
and the fact that this was said by an englishman at a crucial point in our national history yet i never even got close to studying this at school, leading me to further reflection that it seems genuinely amazing that i didnt learn anything about my own countries major civil war, that arguably set the conditions for the way we are governed today…ho hum