The exact words
A pamphlet written on the retreat
By December 1776 the American cause looked close to finished. New York had been lost, Fort Washington and Fort Lee had fallen, and Washington’s shrinking army was crossing New Jersey toward the Delaware with the British behind it. Thomas Paine, who had already published Common Sense that January, was with that army. In the paper itself he says he was at Fort Lee when the enemy landed on the morning of November 20 and that he marched with the troops “to the edge of Pennsylvania.” He was writing as a witness.
The first Crisis paper appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal on December 19. It opens with the line everyone remembers and then, instead of reassuring readers, divides them: the “summer soldier and the sunshine patriot” will shrink from the service of their country, while “he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
What the words mean
A summer soldier fights in good weather and goes home when the campaign turns cold. A sunshine patriot loves the cause while it is winning. Paine’s phrases are insults, but they are also an argument that a crisis is useful because it shows who is sincere. Later in the paper he says panics “are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy” and bring “things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered.”
The next sentences are as often quoted as the first. “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Then comes the economic-sounding line: “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.” Freedom, he says, is a celestial article, and it would be strange if it were not highly rated.
The Trenton connection
The editor of the standard collected edition of Paine’s writings says the first Crisis was written during Washington’s retreat across the Delaware, that Washington had it read to groups of his tired soldiers, and that its opening sentence became the watchword of the movement on Trenton. The victory there on December 26, small in scale, lifted the army’s spirits. How much of that lift came from Paine’s words cannot be measured, but the pairing of paper and battle is why the line is so closely tied to the Revolution.
How to use it
The opening sentence is short enough to quote whole. It suits memorial speeches, talks to a team or a staff before something difficult, and essays on civic duty. Be careful with “sunshine patriot” in a toast: Paine meant it as a rebuke, so it works best when you are praising people who stayed through a hard stretch. Quote the line as Paine’s, not Washington’s, and give the year, because “these are the times” reads quite differently once the listener knows it was written in a December retreat.
What people get wrong
A stand-alone motto about hard times in general, sometimes shortened to “times that try men's souls.”
The sentence is the first line of a wartime pamphlet and goes straight on to name the people who will quit. Paine meant a specific winter, a specific army and a specific test of loyalty, not hardship in the abstract.
Timeline
- January 1776Paine publishes Common Sense, which argues for American independence and sells in huge numbers.
- November 20, 1776Paine is with the troops at Fort Lee, New Jersey, when British forces land nearby and the army begins its retreat toward Pennsylvania. He describes the march in the paper itself.
- December 19, 1776The first Crisis paper appears in the Pennsylvania Journal with the famous opening sentence.
- December 26, 1776Washington's army wins at Trenton. The editor of the standard collected edition writes that the paper was read to the troops by order of the commander and that its opening sentence became the watchword of the Trenton movement.
- April 19, 1783The last Crisis paper opens with the words “The times that tried men's souls are over,” on the eighth anniversary of Lexington.
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
Where does “These are the times that try men's souls” come from?
It is the first sentence of Thomas Paine's The American Crisis, No. I, first printed in the Pennsylvania Journal on December 19, 1776.
What is a “summer soldier” and a “sunshine patriot”?
Paine's names for people who support a cause only while it is easy. He says they will “shrink from the service of their country” in a crisis, while the one who stands it deserves thanks.
Did George Washington say it?
No. The words are Paine's. Paine was with the army during the retreat, and the standard collected edition says the paper was read to Washington's troops.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.