"Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed"

Human nature gravitates toward endurance rather than revolution, especially when faced with troubles that, however burdensome, remain bearable. People show a deep reluctance to let go of traditions, systems, or governments, even as they experience discomfort or hardship under them. A powerful force lies in habit and familiarity; the known, even if flawed or oppressive, seems more secure than the uncertainty of change. This tendency leads individuals and societies to continue enduring injustices or hardships for extended periods simply because those hardships fall within the bounds of what can be suffered without total despair.

This inclination is not rooted in cowardice, but in a measured conservatism, a calculation, conscious or not, that upheaval brings risks potentially greater than the current discomforts. The status quo acquires a moral or emotional legitimacy through custom, and disrupting it generates anxiety about the unknown. Fear of chaos replaces hope for improvement, and so the populace may tolerate abuses or dysfunctional institutions far longer than an outside observer might expect.

It is only when suffering becomes intolerable, when the evils inflicted by established forms surpass the threshold of endurability, that people summon the resolve required to abolish those forms. Until that point, incremental adjustments, soft complaints, and attempts at adaptation prevail over radical action. The gradual erosion of comfort or dignity wears away resistance slowly, but not definitively, leading to a situation where people are perennially close to revolt without quite embracing it.

Lasting, large-scale change is thus rare and comes at the end of considerable patient suffering. What appears from the outside as collective passivity is, in reality, a complex calculus of risk, custom, and the human preference for stability over the anxieties of the unknown. Only profound injury or oppression can disrupt this balance enough to motivate true transformation.