"The so-called 'republics' of antiquity and the Middle Ages were only oligarchies resting upon the slavery or serfdom of the masses, and in fact the reverse of republics."
National Encyclopedia (England): "Paine, from his first starting in public life, was a Republican, uniformly consistent and apparently sincere."
"The Democratic movement of the last eighty years, be it a finality or only a phase of progress toward a more perfect state, is the grand historic fact of modern times, and Paine's name is intimately connected with it."—Atlantic Monthly, July, 1859.
"After contributing by one publication to the establishment of a transatlantic republic in North America, he introduced, with astonishing effect the doctrines of democratic government into the first states of Europe."—Edward Baines, LL.D.
"'Invent printing,' wrote Carlyle, 'and you invent democracy.' Not quite so! Invent a sort of writing which when printed shall be understood by the people, then you invent democracy. And this, earlier and better than any other man, is what Thomas Paine did."—The Nation, London.
"As the champion of popular power in opposition to the abuses of monarchical government, Paine will always stand pre-eminent in the world."—William Cobbett.
Mrs. Marilla M. Ricker: "Thomas Paine dreamed the most glorious dream of human freedom that ever enchanted the mind of man; fairer and sweeter than lay under the broken marbles of Greece, brighter and better than was buried with the dead eagles of Rome."
"Paine stands between two epochs: the epoch of Kings and the epoch of Man. To the King he said, 'The night is coming'; to Man he said, 'The day is dawning.'"