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Robert Green Ingersoll

Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes

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Famous Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes

“The real searcher after truth will not receive the old because it is old, or reject the new because it is new. He will not believe men because they are dead, or contradict them because they are alive. With him an utterance is worth the truth, the reason it contains, without the slightest regard to the author. He may have been a king or serf - a philosopher or servant, - but the utterance neither gains nor loses in truth or reason. Its value is absolutely independent of the fame or station of the man who gave it to the world.”

MenWorldBelieveMayHas BeensRealReasonWisdomTruthValuesLosesAliveHe ManKingsFameGainsRegardIndependentPhilosopherServantRejectsStationsBelieve In MeUtteranceSearchersSerfs
Book:Superstition and Other Essays
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“When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust.”

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Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“The Catholics have a Pope. Protestants laugh at them, and yet the Pope is capable of intellectual advancement. In addition to this, the Pope is mortal, and the church cannot be afflicted with the same idiot forever. The Protestants have a book for their Pope. The book cannot advance. Year after year, and century after century, the book remains as ignorant as ever.”

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Book:Discussions
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“Love is the only bow on Life's dark cloud. It is the Morning and the Evening Star. It shines upon the cradle of the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the mother of Art—inspirer of poet, patriot, and philosopher. It is the air and light of every heart— builder of every home—kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody, for Music is the voice of Love.”

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Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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“The greatest superstition now entertained by public men is that hypocrisy is the royal road to success.”

MenSuccessAchievementHypocrisySuperstitionsRoyalRoad To Success
Book:Ingersoll: Fifty Great Selections, Lectures, Tributes, After Dinner Speeches and Essays, Carefully Selected from the Twelve Volume Dresden Edition of Colonel Ingersoll's Complete Works
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“I have made up my mind that if there is a God, he will be merciful to the merciful. Upon that rock I stand. That he will not torture the forgiving. Upon that rock I stand. That every man should be true to himself, and that there is no world, no star in which honesty is a crime. Upon that rock I stand.”

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Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“When one of your children tells a lie, be honest with him; tell him that you have told hundreds of them yourself. Tell him it is not the best way; that you have tried it. Tell him as the man did in Maine when his boy left home: "John, honesty is the best policy; I have tried both."”

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Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“Our ignorance is God; what we know is science. When we abandon the doctrine that some infinite being created matter and force, and enacted a code of laws for their government ... the real priest will then be, not the mouth-piece of some pretended deity, but the interpreter of nature.”

KnowsRealMatterGodGovernmentLawScienceForcePiecesCreationIgnoranceMouthsAccountsInfiniteDoctrineIgnorantCodeAbandonPriestsDeitiesInterpreter
Book:An Oration on the Gods
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“Do you not know that every religion in the world has declared every other religion a fraud? Yes, we all know it. That is the time all religions tell the truth - each of the other.”

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Book:Lectures of Col. R.G. Ingersoll: Including His Letters on the Chinese God--Is Suicide a Sin?--The Right to One's Life--etc. Etc. Etc
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“Whenever a man believes that he has the exact truth from God, there is in that man no spirit of compromise. He has not the modesty born of the imperfections of human nature; he has the arrogance of theological certainty and the tyranny born of ignorant assurance. Believing himself to be the slave of God, he imitates his master, and of all tyrants the worst is a slave in power.”

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Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“It has always seemed to me that a being coming from another world, with a message of infinite importance to mankind, should at least have verified that message by his own signature. Is it not wonderful that not one word was written by Christ?”

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Book:What Must We Do to be Saved?: A Study of the Christian Religion, Its Creeds, and Its Sacred Book
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“Fear paints pictures of ghosts and hangs them in the gallery of ignorance.”

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Book:Wit, Wisdom, Eloquence, and Great Speeches of Col. R. G. Ingersoll: Including Eloquent Extracts, Witty, Wise, Pungent, Truthful Sayings and Full Reports of the Great Speeches of this Celebrated Man, Together with the Funeral Oration at His Brother's Grave
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