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Robert Green Ingersoll

Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes

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Famous Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes

“It is incredible that only idiots are absolutely sure of salvation. It is incredible that the more brain you have the less your chance is. There can be no danger in honest thought, and if the world ever advances beyond what it is to-day, it must be led by men who express their real opinions.”

IfsMenWorldRealReasonReligionChanceBrainOpinionHonestHonestyDangerSalvationIncrediblesIdiotChances Are
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“All the martyrs in the history of the world are not sufficient to establish the correctness of an opinion. Martyrdom, as a rule, establishes the sincerity of the martyr, - never the correctness of his thought. Things are true or false in themselves. Truth cannot be affected by opinions; it cannot be changed, established, or affected by martyrdom. An error cannot be believed sincerely enough to make it a truth.”

WorldEnoughTruthReligionOpinionChangedErrorsSufficientAffectedSincerityWorld HistorySincerelyMartyrCorrectnessMartyrdomTrue Or False
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“Instead of loving a God, we love each other. Instead of the religion of the sky-the religion of this world-the religion of the family-the love of husband for wife, of wife for husband-the love of all for children. So that now the real religion is: Let us live for each other; let us live for this world without regard for the past and without fear for the future. Let us use our faculties and our powers for the benefit of ourselves and others, knowing that if there be another world, the same philosophy that gives us joy here will make us happy there.”

IfsWorldLoveGivingChildrenRealPhilosophyUsePastJoyKnowingWifeSkyThis WorldHusbandBenefitsRegardFacultyLove Each OtherAnother World
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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“There may or may not be a Supreme Ruler of the universe-but we are certain that man exists, and we believe that freedom is the condition of progress; that it is the sunshine of the mental and moral world, and that without it man will go back to the den of savagery, and wll become the fit associate of wild and ferocious beasts.”

MenWorldBelieveMayCertainUniverseMoralProgressConditionsFitIndependenceSupremeBeastSunshineRulersAssociatesSavageryDens
Book:Miscellany
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“Abraham Lincoln was, in my judgment, in many respects, the grandest man ever President of the United States. Upon his monument these words should be written: "Here sleeps the only man in the history of the world who, having been clothed with almost absolute power, never abused it, except upon the side of mercy."”

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Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“I am simply in favor of intellectual hospitality-that is all. You come to me with a new idea. I invite you into the house. Let us see what you have. Let us talk it over. If I do not like your thought, I will bid it a polite "good day." If I do like it, I will say: "Sit down; stay with me, and become a part of the intellectual wealth of my world."”

IfsWorldIdeasHouseWealthLike YouIntellectualFavorsOpennessInvitesNew IdeasPoliteHospitalityGood DayStay With Me
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“Our civilization is not Christian. It does not come from the skies. It is not a result of inspiration. It is the child of invention, of discovery, of applied knowledge - that is to say, of science. When man becomes great and grand enough to admit that all have equal rights; when thought is untrammeled; when worship shall consist in doing useful things; when religion means the discharge of obligations to our fellow-men, then, and not until then, will the world be civilized.”

MenWorldMeanChildrenDoeEnoughInspirationChristianResultsRightsSkyAtheismCivilizationEqualWorshipDiscoveryFellowsPositive AtheismInventionObligationCivilizedFellow ManEqual RightsDischargeUseful Things
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“The hands that help are better far / Than lips that pray. / Love is the ever gleaming star / That leads the way, / That shines, not on vague worlds of bliss, / But on a paradise in this.”

WorldWayHelpingHandsStarsLove IsAtheismPrayingShiningLipsBlissParadiseVaguePray Love
Book:Lectures.- v.5-7. Discussions.- v.8. Interviews.- v.9. Political.- v.10. Legal.- v.11.-12. Miscellany
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“If cathedrals had been universities If dungeons of the Inquisition had been laboratories If Christians had believed in character instead of creed If they had taken from the bible only that which is GOOD and thrown away the wicked and absurd If temple domes had been observatories If priests had been philosophers If missionaries had taught useful arts instead of bible lore If astrology had been astronomy If the black arts had been chemistry If superstition had been science If religion had been humanity The world then would be a heaven filled with love, and liberty and joy”

IfsWorldArtCharacterWould BeChristianJoyHumanityHeavenBlackLibertyTakenTaughtFilledUniversityPhilosopherAstronomyAbsurdWickedThrownTemplesPriestsChemistrySuperstitionsCreedsAstrologyLaboratoryCathedralsInquisitionDungeonsDomesBlack Art
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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“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 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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“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.”

WorldLoveFirstsHeartArtHomeDreamLightJoyMotherStarsDarkLove IsCommonMorningFireAirLove YouPoetKingsQuietShiningTrue LoveCloudsPhilosopherEveningImmortalityMelodyBowsShedPatriotRoyalWorthlessMagicianClayCradleTombsBabeBuilderRadianceKinderDark Clouds
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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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.”

IfsMenWorldShouldMindMadeStarsRocksCrimeHonestyForgivingEvery ManBeing TrueTortureMercifulIf There Is A God
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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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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“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?”

WorldShouldReligionChristWonderfulWrittenAtheismMankindMessagesImportanceInfiniteOne WordAnother WorldSignatures
Book:What Must We Do to be Saved?: A Study of the Christian Religion, Its Creeds, and Its Sacred Book
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“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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“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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“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.”

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Author:Robert Green 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.”

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Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
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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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“Everyone should be taught the nobility of labor, the heroism and splendor of honest effort. As long as it is considered disgraceful to labor, or aristocratic not to labor, the world will be filled with idleness and crime, and with every possible moral deformity.”

WorldShouldLongWorkEffortMoralHonestCrimeTaughtLaborFilledHeroismNobilityIdlenessSplendorDisgracefulDeformityAristocratic
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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