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Robert Green Ingersoll

Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes

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Famous Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes

“At the bottom of religious persecution is the doctrine of self-defence; that is to say, the defence of the soul. If the founder of Christianity had plainly said: 'It is not necessary to believe in order to be saved; it is only necessary to do, and he who really loves his fellow-men, who is kind, honest, just and charitable, is to be forever blest' - if he had only said that, there would probably have been but little persecution.”

IfsMenBelieveKindLittlesHas BeensSaidSoulSelfOrderReligiousChristianityForeverHonestFellowsBottomSavedDoctrineFoundersPersecutionFellow ManDefenceCharitableSelf DefenceReligious Persecution
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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“No one, in the world's whole history, ever attempted to substantiate a truth by a miracle. Truth scorns the assistance of miracle. Nothing but falsehood ever attested itself by signs and wonders. No miracle ever was performed, and no sane man ever thought he had performed one, and until one is performed, there can be no evidence of the existence of any power superior to, and independent of nature.”

MenWorldWholeExistenceWonderEvidenceMiracleIndependentSuperiorsSaneFalsehoodAssistanceScornSigns And Wonders
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“Not one of the orthodox ministers dare preach what he thinks if he knows a majority of his congregation think otherwise. He knows that every member of his church stands guard over his brain with a creed, like a club, in his hand. He knows that he is not expected to search after the truth, but that he is employed to defend the creed. Every pulpit is a pillory, in which stands a hired culprit, defending the justice of his own imprisonment.”

IfsThinkingKnowsHandsChurchJusticeBrainMembersMajorityDareClubsExpectedMinistersOrthodoxCreedsEmployedImprisonmentCongregationPulpitCulprit
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation, and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be believed only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance, called faith.”

ReasonPainReligionChristReligiousIgnoranceEternityNotionUnhappyAbsurdObservationInsanityBlissMeritDependenceEverlastingMixturesRefutation
Book:On The Gods and Other Essays
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“If the account given in Genesis is really true, ought we not, after all, to thank this serpent? He was the first schoolmaster, the first advocate of learning, the first enemy of ignorance, the first to whisper in human ears the sacred word liberty, the creator of ambition, the author of modesty, of inquiry, of doubt, of investigation, of progress and of civilization.”

IfsFirstsHumansGivenLibertyEnemyDoubtProgressIgnoranceOughtCivilizationAmbitionEarsAccountsSacredCreatorModestyInvestigationInquiryGenesisSerpentReally True
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“All of the Ten Commandments that are good were old; all that were new art foolish. If Jehovah had been civilized he would have left out the commandment about keeping the Sabbath, and in its place would have said: "Thou shalt not enslave thy fellow-men." He would have omitted the one about swearing, and said: "The man shall have but one wife, and the woman but one husband." He would have left out the one about graven images, and in its stead would have said: "Thou shalt not wage wars of extermination, and thou shalt not unsheathe the sword except in self-defence.”

IfsMenArtSaidWarSelfLeftWifeTenHusbandFellowsFoolishCivilizedCommandmentsFellow ManDefenceSabbathJehovahLeft OutTen CommandmentsSwearingExterminationSelf Defence
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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“We must remember that there is a great difference between a myth and a miracle. A myth is the idealization of a fact. A miracle is the counterfeit of a fact. There is the same difference between a myth and a miracle that there is between fiction and falsehood -- between poetry and perjury. Miracles belong to the far past and the far future. The little line of sand, called the present, between the seas, belongs to common sense to the natural.”

LittlesFactsPastRememberNaturalDifferencesLinesCommonFictionSeaMiracleMythCommon SenseSandFalsehoodCounterfeitPerjury
Book:Ingersoll's Greatest Lectures
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“It is a splendid thing to think that the woman you really love will never grow old to you. Through the wrinkles of time, through the mask of years, if you really love her, you will always see the face you love and won. And a woman who really loves a man does not see that he grows old; he is not decrepit to her; she always sees the same gallant gentleman who won her hand and heart.”

IfsThinkingMenYearsHeartDoeHandsFacesGrowsGentlemanMaskSplendidWrinklesGallantDecrepit
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“If abuses are destroyed, man must destroy them. If slaves are freed, man must free them. If new truths are discovered, man must discover them. If the naked are clothed; if the hungry are fed; if justice is done; if labor is rewarded; if superstition is driven from the mind; if the defenseless are protected, and if the right finally triumphs, all must be the work of man. The grand victories of the future must be won by man, and by man alone.”

PeopleIfsMindDoneHumanityJusticeVictoryLaborAbuseSlaveHumanismDrivenHungryNakedDestroyedTriumphFedsSuperstitionsProtectedDefenseless
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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“They who stand with breaking hearts around this little grave, need have no fear. The larger and the nobler faith in all that is, and is to be, tells us that death, even at its worst, is only perfect rest ... The dead do not suffer.”

NeedsHeartLittlesSufferingPerfectWorstGravesNo FearHeart BreakHave No Fear
Book:Popular edition of col. Ingersoll's lectures. (Freethought publ. co.'s ed.).
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“The agnostic does not simply say, "l do not know." He goes another step, and he says, with great emphasis, that you do not know. He insists that you are trading on the ignorance of others, and on the fear of others. He is not satisfied with saying that you do not know, -- he demonstrates that you do not know, and he drives you from the field of fact -- he drives you from the realm of reason -- he drives you from the light, into the darkness of conjecture -- into the world of dreams and shadows, and he compels you to say, at last, that your faith has no foundation in fact.”

KnowsWorldDoeReasonFactsDreamLightLastsStepsDarknessFieldsIgnoranceShadowFoundationPositive AtheismSatisfiedRealmsAgnosticEmphasisTradingAgnosticismConjecture
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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“The Church says the Earth is flat. But I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the Moon. And I have more faith in a shadow than in the Church.”

KnowsMotivationalEarthSpiritualScienceDeathReligionFaithChurchReligiousAtheismDyingMoonShadowRoundsAtheistPositive AtheismFlatsSecularAgnosticReligious FaithThere Is No GodAtheisticFreethinkerPhilosophy Of ReligionTheismIf There Is A GodTheistFounding Fathers AtheistAnti ReligiousReligious PhilosophyThere Being No GodPhilosophy And ReligionFaith ReligionDaily AtheistSecular SocietyRound EarthMagellan
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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