Thomas Paine Quotes About Humanity

Common Sense (1776), Introduction. The represented wording is verified in Project Gutenberg #147 and the validated scan-backed Wikisource transcription; Paine frames the American dispute as involving principles of natural rights and human concern beyond one locality.

Rights of Man, Part II, Project Gutenberg public-domain collection #3742. The line appears in Paine’s statement of independence from place or person while criticizing hereditary political privilege. The exact text is “my country is the world, and my religion is to do good,” not the later expanded attribution “all mankind are my brethren.”

Rights of Man, Part I, Conclusion; represented from Moncure Daniel Conway’s public-domain Project Gutenberg #3742 collection. The passage attributes national hostility to old systems of government rather than to an inevitable enmity between people.

Rights of Man, Part II; the surrounding passage attributes much ordinary social coordination to society itself.

Rights of Man, Part I; represented through Moncure Daniel Conway’s public-domain Project Gutenberg collection.

The Age of Reason, Part I, Chapter I, “The Author’s Profession of Faith”; Moncure Daniel Conway collected/edited text represented by Project Gutenberg #3743 and cross-checked against Wikisource. The retained catalog wording says “I believe in the equality of man,” while the Conway/Gutenberg and Wikisource witness reads “I believe the equality of man.” This collection keeps its frozen legacy wording and discloses the edition-level variant rather than silently rewriting it. The passage is Paine’s deist profession of faith joining equality, justice, mercy and the happiness of fellow-creatures.