QuoteProject
Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.
Thomas Paine
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Our beliefs significantly shape our character and behavior towards others.

Thomas Paine's quote suggests that the perception of a harsh and unforgiving deity will lead individuals to adopt similar cruelty in their own actions and judgments. It implies that one’s understanding of divinity can deeply influence their moral compass and interactions with others, thus emphasizing the impact of belief systems on human behavior.

Themes

BeliefCrueltyCharacterGodPhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

In a debate on the influence of religion on morality, this quote could illustrate how belief systems shape ethical behavior.

More from Thomas Paine

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not.
Thomas PaineRead
I consider the war of America against Britain as the country's war, the public's war, or the war of the people in their own behalf, for the security of their natural rights, and the protection of their own property.
Thomas PaineRead
Had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it.
Thomas PaineRead
The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression.
Thomas PaineRead
To reason with goverments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves that reforms can be expected
Thomas PaineRead

Similar quotes

I don't like the word 'strong,' because a strong character is never an interesting character. A character is made interesting by their vulnerabilities and their weaknesses.
Helen MirrenRead
God's law is our pleasure when the God of the law is our God.
Charles SpurgeonRead
The purpose of the present study is not as it is in other inquiries, the attainment of knowledge, we are not conducting this inquiry in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, else there would be no advantage in studying it. For that reason, it becomes necessary to examine the problem of our actions and to ask how they are to be performed. For as we have said, the actions determine what kind of characteristics are developed.
AristotleRead
God is not upset that Gandhi was not a Christian, because God is not a Christian! All of God's children and their different faiths help us to realize the immensity of God.
Desmond TutuRead
MAJESTY, n. The state and title of a king. Regarded with a just contempt by the Most Eminent Grand Masters, Grand Chancellors, Great Incohonees and Imperial Potentates of the ancient and honorable orders of republican America.
Ambrose BierceRead
Perhaps the most significant moral characteristic of a nation is its hypocrisy.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Thomas Paine | QuoteProject