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Robert Green Ingersoll

Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes

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Famous Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes

“Tell me there is a God in the serene heavens that will damn his children for the expression of an honest belief! More men have died in their sins, judged by your orthodox creeds, than there are leaves in all the forests in the wide world ten thousand times over. Tell me these men are in Hell; that these men are in torment; that these children are in eternal pain, and that they are to be punished forever and forever! I denounce this doctrine as the most infamous of lies.”

MenWorldChildrenPainLyingReligionBeliefHeavenSinHellForeverAtheismHonestExpressionThousandTenEternalDiedAtheistWideForestsDoctrineDamnOrthodoxJudgedCreedsTormentSereneInfamousAnti Religious
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“He was a worshiper of liberty, a friend of the oppressed. A thousand times I have heard him quote these words: 'For Justice all place a temple, and all season, summer.' He believed that happiness is the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only worship, humanity the only religion, and love the only priest. He added to the sum of human joy; and were every one to whom he did some loving service to bring a blossom to his grave, he would sleep tonight beneath a wilderness of flowers. . . .”

LoveHumansReasonJoyHumanityJusticeSleepCompassionLibertyHeardFlowerThousandSummerWorshipAnd LoveSeasonsGravesTemplesTonightWildernessPriestsOppressedTorchesReligion And Love
Book:Colonel Bob Ingersoll: a biographical narrative of the great American orator and agnostic
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“When your little child tells a lie, do not rush at him as though the world were about to go into bankruptcy. Be honest with him. A tyrant father will have liars for his children; do you know that? A lie is born of tyranny upon the one hand and weakness upon the other, and when you rush at a poor little boy with a club in your hand, of course he lies.”

KnowsWorldChildrenLittlesHandsLyingCoursesFatherBornPoorBoysKindnessHonestWeaknessClubsTyrannyBeing HonestLiarsDo You KnowTyrantsLittle BoysBankruptcy
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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“Small people delight in what they call consistency-that is, it gives them immense pleasure to say that they believe now exactly as they did ten years ago. This simply amounts to a certificate that they have not grown-that they have not developed-and that they know just as little now as they ever did. The highest possible conception of consistency is to be true to the knowledge of today, without the slightest reference to what your opinion was years ago.”

PeopleKnowsGivingYearsBelieveLittlesTodayGrowthPleasureOpinionAmountIntegrityTenHighestYears AgoDelightBeing TrueConceptionImmenseConsistencyCertificates
Book:Tributes and miscellany
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“While I am opposed to all orthodox creeds, I have a creed myself; and my creed is this. Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so. This creed is somewhat short, but it is long enough for this life, strong enough for this world. If there is another world, when we get there we can make another creed.”

IfsWorldWayLongEnoughStrongThis WorldThis LifeOrthodoxFavouriteCreedsStrong EnoughAnother World
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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“They say that when god was in Jerusalem he forgave his murderers, but now he will not forgive an honest man for differing with him on the subject of the Trinity. They say that God says to me, "Forgive your enemies." I say, "I do;" but he says, "I will damn mine." God should be consistent. If he wants me to forgive my enemies he should forgive his. I am asked to forgive enemies who can hurt me. God is only asked to forgive enemies who cannot hurt him. He certainly ought to be as generous as he asks us to be.”

IfsMenWantShouldReligionAsksHurtEnemyHellSubjectsHonestMinesOughtForgivingDamnGenerousConsistentWant MeMurdererHurt MeHonest ManJerusalemTrinityHe Wants MeForgive Your Enemies
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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“I would not for my life destroy one star of human hope, but I want it so that when a poor woman rocks the cradle and sings a lullaby to the dimpled darling, she will not be compelled to believe that ninety-nine chances in a hundred she is raising kindling wood for hell.”

WantBelieveHumansStarsChancePoorHellAtheismRocksHundredWoodsPositive AtheismNineCompelledNinetyDarlingCradleNinety NineLullabyKindling
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“The only thing that makes life endurable in this world is human love, and yet, according to Christianity, that is the very thing that we are not to have in the other world. We are to be so taken up with Jesus and angels, that we shall care nothing about our brothers and sisters that have been damned. We shall be so carried away with the music of the harp that we shall not even hear the wail of father and mother. Such a religion is a disgrace to human nature.”

WorldHumansHas BeensCareMotherFatherJesusChristianityHellTakenHuman NatureThis WorldBrotherAngelAfterlifeBrothers And SistersDisgraceOther WorldsHarpsCarried AwayHuman Love
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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“God cannot send to eternal pain a man who has done something toward improving the condition of his fellow-man. If he can, I had rather go to hell than to heaven and keep company with such a god.”

IfsMenDonePainHeavenCompanyHellConditionsEternalFellowsImprovingFellow ManGo To Hell
Book:Lectures: Including His Letters on The Chinese God. Is Suicide a Sin? The Right to One's Life. Etc., Etc., Etc
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“Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy, and makes right royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.”

LoveHeartEarthJoyPassionHeavenLove IsCommonDivineFlowerKingsSacredGod LoveQueensBeastRoyalWorthlessPerfumeMagicianClayWondrousKings And Queens
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“Years should not be devoted to the acquisition of dead languages or to the study of history which, for the most part, is a detailed account of things that never occurred. It is useless to fill the individual with dates of great battles, with the births and deaths of kings. They should be taught the philosophy of history, the growth of nations, of philosophies, theories, and, above all, of the sciences.”

ShouldYearsPhilosophyIndividualLanguageNationsGrowthHistoryStudyTaughtTheoryBirthKingsBattleAccountsUselessDevotedAcquisitionBirth And DeathGreat Battle
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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“My heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain... to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.”

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Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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“If a man really believes that God once upheld slavery; that he commanded soldiers to kill women and babes; that he believed in polygamy; that he persecuted for opinion's sake; that he will punish forever, and that he hates an unbeliever, the effect in my judgment will be bad. It always has been bad. This belief built the dungeons of the Inquisition. This belief made the Puritan murder the Quaker.”

IfsMenBelieveHas BeensMadeReligionHateBeliefOpinionForeverEffectsJudgmentBuiltMurderSlaverySakeSoldierPunishmentBabePersecutedPolygamyPuritanInquisitionDungeonsUnbelieversQuaker
Book:Interviews
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“It is like most other ancient books - a mingling of falsehood and truth, of philosophy and folly - all written by men, and most of the men only partially civilized. Some of its laws are good - some infinitely barbarous. None of the miracles related were performed. . . . Take out the absurdities, the miracles, all that pertains to the supernatural - all the cruel and barbaric laws - and to the remainder I have no objection. Neither would I have for it any great admiration.”

MenBookPhilosophyLawReligionWrittenHe ManMiracleAncientRelatedFollyAdmirationCivilizedFalsehoodAbsurdityObjectionsBarbaricMingling
Book:Life and letters
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“The old doctrine that God wanted man to do something for him, and that he kept a watchful eye upon all the children of men; that he rewarded the virtuous and punished the wicked, is gradually fading from the mind. We know that some of the worst men have what the world calls success. We know that some of the best men lie upon the straw of failure. We know that honesty goes hungry, while larceny sits at the banquet. We know that the vicious have every physical comfort, while the virtuous are often clad in rags.”

KnowsMenWorldMindChildrenEyeWantedLyingReligionWorstHonestyComfortPunishmentHungryDoctrineWickedVirtuousViciousStrawsRagsFadingBanquetsLying MenChildren Of MenLarceny
Book:The Works of Robert G.Ingersoll. [Dresden Ed.]
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“Just to the extent that the Bible was appealed to in matters of science, science was retarded; and just to the extent that science has been appealed to in matters of religion, religion has advanced - so that now the object of intelligent religionists is to adopt a creed that will bear the test and criticism of science.”

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Book:Superstition and Other Essays
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