“To God, and not to man, are all men to account for their belief.”

— Thomas Paine

1790s, Discourse to the Theophilanthropists (1798)
Context: It was the excess to which imaginary systems of religion had been carried, and the intolerance, persecutions, burnings, and massacres, they occasioned, that first induced certain persons to propagate infidelity; thinking, that upon the whole, that it was better not to believe at all, than to believe a multitude of things and complicated creeds, that occasioned so much mischief in the world. But those days are past, persecution has ceased, and the antidote then set up against it has no longer even the shadow of apology. We profess, and we proclaim in peace, the pure, unmixed, comfortable, and rational belief of a God, as manifested to us in the universe. We do this without any apprehension of that belief being made a cause of persecution as other beliefs have been, or of suffering persecution ourselves. To God, and not to man, are all men to account for their belief.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "To God, and not to man, are all men to account for their belief." by Thomas Paine?

Thomas Paine 262

English and American political activist 1737–1809

Related quotes

“God will call evil men to a strict account for all the outward good that they have enjoyed.”

Thomas Brooks (1608–1680) English Puritan

Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, 1652

“Christianity does not involve the belief that all things were made for man. It does involve the belief that God loves man and for his sake became man and died.”

Clive Staples Lewis book Miracles

Source: Miracles (1947), Ch. 7: "A Chapter of Red Herrings"

“Sin which men account small brings God's great wrath on men.”

Thomas Brooks (1608–1680) English Puritan

Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, 1652

“A man who tries to please all men by weakening his position or compromising his beliefs, in the end has neither position nor beliefs.”

Pierre Trudeau (1919–2000) 15th Prime Minister of Canada

A man must say what he believes clearly, without dogma, and without guile.
Statement during the 1968 election campaign, as quoted in party literature. "Pierre Elliott Trudeau for Canada", 1968 leaflet http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau-for-Canada-1968-Leaflet-Bill-Vander-Zalm-Liberal-Party-BC/322004097304?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3D9020a37aa0b24dd68f1d3f5025b50b52%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D381542319016

“Men tend to have the beliefs that suit their passions. Cruel men believe in a cruel God, and use their belief to excuse their cruelty. Only kindly men believe in a kindly God, and they would be kindly in any case.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

In London Calling http://books.google.pt/books?id=l80fAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Men+tend+to+have+the+beliefs+that+suit+their+passions.%22&dq=%22Men+tend+to+have+the+beliefs+that+suit+their+passions.%22&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ei=q9mEUcj-AoqM7AbW3IGoBQ&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBw (1947), p. 18
1940s

“Moral conduct includes every thing in which men are active and for which they are accountable. They are active in their desires, their affections, their designs, their intentions, and in every thing they say and do of choice; and for all these things they are accountable to God.”

Nathaniel Emmons (1745–1840) American clergy

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 1.

“Giving then to matter all the properties which philosophy knows it has, or all that atheism ascribes to it, and can prove, and even supposing matter to be eternal, it will not account for the system of the universe or of the solar system, because it will not account for motion, and it is motion that preserves it. When, therefore, we discover a circumstance of such immense importance, that without it the universe could not exist, and for which neither matter, nor any, nor all, the properties of matter can account, we are by necessity forced into the rational and comfortable belief of the existence of a cause superior to matter, and that cause man calls, God.”

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist

1790s, Discourse to the Theophilanthropists (1798)

“The belief in a Divine education, open to each man and to all men, takes up into itself all that is true in the end proposed by culture, supplements, and perfects it.”

John Campbell Shairp (1819–1885) British writer

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 504.

“All men are made in the image of God. All men are brothers. All men are created equal. Every man is an heir to a legacy of dignity and worth. Every man has rights that are neither conferred by, nor derived from the State — they are God-given. Out of one blood, God made all men to dwell upon the face of the earth. What a marvelous foundation for any home!”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam (1967)
Context: We are presently moving down a dead-end road that can lead to national disaster. America has strayed to the far country of racism and militarism. The home that all too many Americans left was solidly structured idealistically; its pillars were solidly grounded in the insights of our Judeo-Christian heritage. All men are made in the image of God. All men are brothers. All men are created equal. Every man is an heir to a legacy of dignity and worth. Every man has rights that are neither conferred by, nor derived from the State — they are God-given. Out of one blood, God made all men to dwell upon the face of the earth. What a marvelous foundation for any home! What a glorious and healthy place to inhabit. But America's strayed away, and this unnatural excursion has brought only confusion and bewilderment. It has left hearts aching with guilt and minds distorted with irrationality.

“Genius is 'the inspired gift of God.' It is the clearer presence of God Most High in a man. Dim, potential in all men; in this man it has become clear, actual.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1840s, Past and Present (1843)

“To God, and not to man, are all men to account for their belief.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Thomas Paine 262

Related quotes

Related topics