John Adams on Thomas Paine

“You know that the unanimity of the States finally depended on the vote of Joseph Hewes, and was finally determined by him. And yet history is to ascribe the American Revolution to Thomas Paine! Sat verbum sapienti ["a word to the wise is sufficient"].”

“I know not whether any man in the world has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Tom Paine.”