“But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.”

1770s, Common Sense (1776)

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 "But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that i…" by Thomas Paine?
Thomas Paine photo
Thomas Paine262
English and American political activist 1737–1809

Related quotes

David Hume photo

“Heaven and Hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad; but the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue.”

David Hume (1711–1776) Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian

Essay on the Immortality of the Soul
Context: Heaven and Hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad; but the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue. -- Were one to go round the world with an intention of giving a good supper to the righteous, and a sound drubbing to the wicked, he would frequently be embarrassed in his choice, and would find that the merits and the demerits of most men and women scarcely amount to the value of either.

Edith Stein photo

“The distinction of the female sex is that a woman was the person who was permitted to help establish God's new kingdom; the distinction of the male sex is that redemption came through the Son of Man, the new Adam.”

Edith Stein (1891–1942) Jewish-German nun, theologian and philosopher

Essays on Woman (1996), The Separate Vocations of Man and Woman According to Nature and Grace (1932)

Charles Lamb photo
Karl Barth photo
Charles Darwin photo

“It may be doubted whether any character can be named which is distinctive of a race and is constant.”

Charles Darwin book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

volume I, chapter VII: &quot;On the Races of Man&quot;, page 225 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=238&amp;itemID=F937.1&amp;viewtype=image <br class="br">The Descent of Man (1871)

African Spir photo

“Arbitrariness and true liberty are as distinct from each other that the empirical nature is distinct from the higher nature of man.”

African Spir (1837–1890) Russian philosopher

Source: Words of a Sage : Selected thoughts of African Spir (1937), p. 50.

Denise Levertov photo

“I like to find
what's not found
at once, but lies within something of another nature,
in repose, distinct.”

Denise Levertov (1923–1997) Poet

Pleasures
With Eyes at the Back of Our Heads (1960)

Elizabeth Blackwell photo

“A serious difficulty in understanding how to educate and regulate the relations of sex arises from the fact that it is the relation of two equal but distinct halves of the human race, and exists in the dual form—male and female. Unless the distinctive characteristics and requirements of each of these equal halves are fully understood, the relation between them cannot be satisfactory.”

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910) England-born American physician, abolitionist, women's rights activist

p. 8 https://books.google.com/books?id=7VlHAQAAMAAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&amp;q=regulate&amp;f=false <br class="br">Essays in Medical Sociology (1899)

Angelus Silesius photo

“Ah, were men's voices like the wood-birds' melody— Each happy note distinct, but all in harmony!”

Angelus Silesius (1624–1677) German writer

The Cherubinic Wanderer

Gerard Manley Hopkins photo

Related topics