Quotessence
Home / Authors / Robert Green Ingersoll
Robert Green Ingersoll

Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes

Lawyer

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsAtheismReligionWorldPositive AtheismShouldKnowsLibertyBelievePeopleHumansGivingHas BeensThinkingChurchReasonChildrenCreedsDoe

Famous Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes

“Do not tell me that you have got to be rich! We have a false standard of greatness in the United States. We think here that a man must be great, that he must be notorious; that he must be extremely wealthy, or that his name must be upon the putrid lips of rumor. It is all a mistake. It is not necessary to be rich or to be great, or to be powerful, to be happy. The happy man is the successful man. Happiness is the legal tender of the soul.Joy is wealth.”

ThinkingMenSoulStatesJoyNamesWealthUnitedPowerfulMistakeUnited StatesSuccessfulRichGreatnessStandardsLipsContentmentWealthyRumorNotoriousHappy ManSuccessful Man
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
Create image

“The mechanic, when a wheel refuses to turn, never thinks of dropping on his knees and asking the assistance of some divine power. He knows there is a reason. He knows that something is too large or too small; that there is something wrong with his machine; and he goes to work and he makes it larger or smaller, here or there, until the wheel will turn.”

ThinkingKnowsReasonTurnsAtheismDivineMachinesAskingRefusePositive AtheismKneesWheelsAssistanceMechanicDroppingDivine Power
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
Create image

“All that is necessary, as it seems to me, to convince any reasonable person that the Bible is simply and purely of human invention - of barbarian invention - is to read it. Read it as you would any other book; think of it as you would of any other; get the bandage of reverence from your eyes; drive from your heart the phantom of fear; push from the throne of your brain the cowled form of superstition - then read the Holy Bible, and you will be amazed that you ever, for one moment, supposed a being of infinite wisdom, goodness and purity, to be the author of such ignorance and of such atrocity.”

ThinkingHumansHeartPersonsBookMomentsSeemsEyeFormBrainIgnoranceHolyGoodnessInfiniteInventionPurityReasonableConvinceReverenceSuperstitionsThronesAmazedPhantomsAtrocitiesBarbariansHoly BibleBandagesHuman Inventions
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
Create image

“I do not believe that the tendency is to make men and women brave and glorious when you tell them that there are certain ideas upon certain subjects that they must never express; that they must go through life with a pretence as a shield; that their neighbors will think much more of them if they will only keep still; and that above all is a God who despises one who honestly expresses what he believes.”

IfsThinkingMenBelieveStillsIdeasCertainSubjectsMen And WomenBraveNeighborHonestlyTendenciesGloriousDespiseShieldsPretence
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
Create image

“Who can estimate the misery that has been caused by this infamous doctrine of eternal punishment? Think of the lives it has blighted-of the tears it has caused-of the agony it has produced. Think of the millions who have been driven to insanity by this most terrible of dogmas. This doctrine renters God the basest and most cruel being in the universe. ... There is nothing more degrading than to worship such a god.”

ThinkingHas BeensUniverseEvilReligiousMillionsTearsTerribleEternalWorshipMiseryDrivenPunishmentDoctrineInsanityDogmaAgonyDegradingInfamous
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
Create image

“I love to think of the whole universe together as one eternal fact. I love to think that everything is alive; that crystallization is itself a step toward joy. I love to think that when a bud bursts into blossom: it feels a thrill. I love to have the universe full of feeling and full of joy, and not full of simple dead, inert matter, managed by an old bachelor for all eternity.”

ThinkingFeelsMatterWholeFactsFeelingsTogetherJoyUniverseSimpleStepsAliveEternalEternityThrillBudBachelorsTogether As One
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
Create image

“Of course, ministers look upon theaters as rival attractions, and most of their hatred is born of business views. They think people ought to be driven to church by having all other places closed. In my judgment the theater has done good, while the church has done harm. The drama never has insisted upon burning anybody. Persecution is not born of the stage.”

PeopleThinkingLooksDoneCoursesBornChurchViewsStageOughtDramaJudgmentHatredTheaterHarmAttractionDrivenBurningMinistersLook UpPersecutionRivals
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
Create image

“I want it so that every minister will be not a parrot, not an owl sitting upon a dead limb of the tree of knowledge and hooting the hoots that have been hooted for eighteen hundred years. But I want it so that each one can be an investigator, a thinker; and I want to make his congregation grand enough so that they will not only allow him to think, but will demand that he shall think, and give to them the honest truth of his thought.”

ThinkingWantGivingYearsHas BeensEnoughTreeHonestDemandHundredSittingMinistersThinkerLimbsEighteenCongregationOwlParrotsHonest TruthInvestigatorsHootTree Of Knowledge
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
Create image

“Would God give a bird wings and make it a crime to fly? Would he give me brains and make it a crime to think? Any God that would damn one of his children for the expression of his honest thought wouldn't make a decent thief. When I read a book and don't believe it, I ought to say so. I will do so and take the consequences like a man.”

ThinkingMenGivingBelieveChildrenBookBrainHonestCrimeExpressionOughtBirdConsequenceGive MeWingsDon't BelieveDamnDecentThievesBirds Wings
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
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“I believe in the religion of reason -- the gospel of this world; in the development of the mind, in the accumulation of intellectual wealth, to the end that man may free himself from superstitious fear, to the end that he may take advantage of the forces of nature to feed and clothe the world.”

ThinkingMenWorldMindBelieveMayEndsReasonForceI BelieveWealthThis WorldDevelopmentIntellectualAdvantageI Believe InAccumulationSuperstitiousForces Of Nature
Book:Lectures and Essays (a Selection)
Create image

“For ages, a deadly conflict has been waged between a few brave men and women of thought and genius upon the one side, and the great ignorant religious mass on the other. This is the war between Science and Faith. The few have appealed to reason, to honor, to law, to freedom, to the known, and to happiness here in this world. The many have appealed to prejudice, to fear, to miracle, to slavery, to the unknown, and to misery hereafter. The few have said "Think" The many have said "Believe!"”

ThinkingMenWorldBelieveHas BeensSaidWarReasonAgeLawFaithBeliefSidesReligiousKnownThis WorldGeniusHonorConflictMassMen And WomenMiraclePrejudiceSlaveryBraveMiseryIgnorantHereafterBrave Man
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
Create image

“If God created the universe, there was a time when he commenced to create. Back of that commencement there must have been an eternity. In that eternity what was this God doing? He certainly did not think. There was nothing to think about. He did not remember. Nothing had ever happened. What did he do? Can you imagine anything more absurd than an infinite intelligence in infinite nothing wasting an eternity?”

IfsThinkingHas BeensRememberUniverseImagineHappenedEternityInfiniteAbsurdCommencementInfinite Intelligence
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
Create image

“An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. Certainly he ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep him from being laughed at. No one thinks of protecting Shakespeare from ridicule, by the threat of fine and imprisonment.”

ThinkingStatesAbleLawFineOughtProtectInfiniteThreatLaughedPartnershipRidiculeLegislatureImprisonmentState Legislatures
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
Create image