Parker Pillsbury: "Without his 'Common Sense,' written in 1775, we should not have had the Declaration of Independence in 1776."
Samuel Bryan: "This book, 'Common Sense,' may be called the Book of Genesis, for it was the beginning. From this book spread the Declaration of Independence, that not only laid the foundation of liberty in our own country, but the good of mankind throughout the world."
"The open movement to Independence dates from its publication."—Encyclopedia Britannica (11th Ed.)
Elkanah Watson (one of Paine's calumniators): "It everywhere flashed conviction, and aroused a determined spirit which resulted in the Declaration of Independence."
Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL. D.: "This spark was sufficient to rouse the Americans, who at once signed the Declaration of Independence."
William Howitt: "It at once seized on the imagination of the public, cast all other writers into the shades and flew in thousands and tens of thousands all over the Colonies.... The common fire blazed up in Congress, and the thing was done."
"He became the great oracle on the subject of governments and constitutions."
Thomas Gaspey: "He was treated with great consideration by the members of the Revolutionary government, who took no steps of importance without consulting him."
Grand Dictionary Universel: "He became the political catechism of the movement."
Dictionary of National Biography (America): "Joined the Provincial army in the autumn 1776 and became a volunteer aid-de-camp to General Nathaniel Greene, animating the troops by his writings [the 'Crisis']."