Thomas Paine — "A man's religion is not to be inquired into, not even by the state itself."

"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary."

"Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise."

"Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

"Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by…"

"The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in the place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun."