One bookseller of New York says that his sales of the "Age of Reason" now average more than five thousand copies a year. He is but one of many New York booksellers who sell Paine's book, while New York is but one of many cities where it has an extensive sale. A Chicago bookseller says that the "Age of Reason" is his best seller, that he sells thousands of them every year.
William Heaford (1913): "Two large editions of forty thousand copies each will be issued of this invaluable edition of Paine's great text book of Biblical exegesis [by Watts & Co., London]."
"There were sold in Burma [mostly to Buddhists] over ten thousand copies of the 'Age of Reason' last year."—U. Dhamaloka, President Buddhist Tract Society.
Arthur B. Moss: "During the past fifty years hundreds of thousands of copies of the 'Age of Reason' have been circulated in England and America alone.... The steady circulation of this work has done more than that of any other book to undermine the faith of Christians in all parts of the world."
H. Percy Ward (formerly an English clergyman): "Thomas Paine's 'Age of Reason' gave the first shock to my faith."
Wilson MacDonald: "I read the 'Age of Reason' when a boy, and I said, Paine is the hero for me."
Susan H. Wixon: "I read that book again and again, and always with increased interest. It set me to thinking more than any other bode I had ever read."
Sir Hiram Maxim: "It is indeed a very remarkable work. As a boy I read it with great care; as a man I have read it thoughtfully."
James D. Shaw: "Of all the books ever published, I doubt if any other has ever equaled the 'Age of Reason' in breaking from the human mind superstition's fetters."
"The effect of this pamphlet was vast."—London Times.