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Martyr Quotes

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Martyr Quotes

“It is often argued that religion is valuable because it makes men good, but even if this were true it would not be a proof that religion is true. That would be an extension of pragmatism beyond endurance. Santa Claus makes children good in precisely the same way, and yet no one would argue seriously that the fact proves his existence. The defense of religion is full of such logical imbecilities. The theologians, taking one with another, are adept logicians, but every now and then they have to resort to sophistries so obvious that their whole case takes on an air of the ridiculous. Even the most logical religion starts out with patently false assumptions. It is often argued in support of this or that one that men are so devoted to it that they are willing to die for it. That, of course, is as silly as the Santa Claus proof. Other men are just as devoted to manifestly false religions, and just as willing to die for them. Every theologian spends a large part of his time and energy trying to prove that religions for which multitudes of honest men have fought and died are false, wicked, and against God.”

HumorTruthDeathEnergyExistenceSupportSacrificeAtheismMoralityArgumentLogicValueProofRidiculousDevotionWickedEnduranceMartyrSantaSanta ClausAssumptionsPragmatismFalseImbecilitySophistryTheologiansLogicians
Book:Minority Report
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“{The final resolutions at Robert Ingersoll's funeral, quoted here} Whereas, in the order of nature -- that nature which moves with unerring certainty in obedience to fixed laws -- Robert G. Ingersoll has gone to that repose which we call death. We, his old friends and fellow-citizens, who have shared his friendship in the past, hereby manifest the respect due his memory. At a time when everything impelled him to conceal his opinions or to withhold their expression, when the highest honors of the state were his if he would but avoid discussion of the questions that relate to futurity, he avowed his belief; he did not bow his knee to superstition nor countenance a creed which his intellect dissented. Casting aside all the things for which men most sigh -- political honor, the power to direct the futures of the state, riches and emoluments, the association of the worldly and the well- to-do -- he stood forth and expressed his honest doubts, and he welcomed the ostracism that came with it, as a crown of glory, no less than did the martyrs of old. Even this self-sacrifice has been accounted shame to him, saying that he was urged thereto by a desire for financial gain, when at the time he made his stand there was before him only the prospect of loss and the scorn of the public. We, therefore, who know what a struggle it was to cut loose from his old associations, and what it meant to him at that time, rejoice in his triumph and in the plaudits that came to him from thus boldly avowing his opinions, and we desire to record the fact that we feel that he was greater than a saint, greater than a mere hero -- he was a thoroughly honest man. He was a believer, not in the narrow creed of a past barbarous age, but a true believer in all that men ought to hold sacred, the sanctity of the home, the purity of friendship, and the honesty of the individual. He was not afraid to advocate the fact that eternal truth was eternal justice; he was not afraid of the truth, nor to avow that he owed allegiance to it first of all, and he was willing to suffer shame and condemnation for its sake. The laws of the universe were his bible; to do good, his religion, and he was true to his creed. We therefore commend his life, for he was the apostle of the fireside, the evangel of justice and love and charity and happiness. We who knew him when he first began his struggle, his old neighbors and friends, rejoice at the testimony he has left us, and we commend his life and efforts as worthy of emulation.”

LoveTruthHappinessDeathNatureFriendshipJusticeDoubtHonestyHeroHonorGloryRespectBraveryPraiseCharityIntellectTriumphObedienceResolutionRejoiceMartyrSuperstitionSelf SacrificeEulogyCreedIngersollRobert G IngersollRobert IngersollRobert Green Ingersoll
Book:Ingersoll: A Biographical Appreciation
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“If the Pentateuch is inspired, the civilization of of our day is a mistake and crime. There should be no political liberty. Heresy should be trodden out beneath the bigot's brutal feet. Husbands should divorce their wives at will, and make the mothers of their children houseless and weeping wanderers. Polygamy ought to be practiced; women should become slaves; we should buy the sons and daughters of the heathen and make them bondmen and bondwomen forever. We should sell our own flesh and blood, and have the right to kill our slaves. Men and women should be stoned to death for laboring on the seventh day. 'Mediums,' such as have familiar spirits, should be burned with fire. Every vestige of mental liberty should be destroyed, and reason's holy torch extinguished in the martyr's blood.”

PoliticsMistakeLibertyChristianityForeverCrimeHolyCivilizationBibleMurderInspiredDivorceWanderBurningMothersBrutalMentalJudaismMartyrDeath PenaltyWeepingHeresyKillSabbathPolygamyHeathenSpiritsSlavesThe BibleHusbandsSellBigotPentateuchStoningTorth
Book:Some Mistakes of Moses
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“No one has to be a martyr. On the contrary, everyone should be entirely selfish; not selfish in the normal sense of the word but selfish in the way of knowing that the spiritual path means we value everything which adds to our own well-being. When we love, we live with connectedness. When we forgive, we feel stress-free. When we create, we live with inspiration. When we follow our inner direction, we feel alive. Is that even a choice?”

LoveSoulHappinessSacrificeDivineMartyrSpiritual PathMartyrdomGreat SoulsMissionary Work
Book:The Love of Devotion
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“{On the death of Hale's esteemed friend and fellow scientist, Luther Burbank. Burbank was much beloved by the population unil in an interview he revealed that he was an atheist. After this, the public turned on him and sent him thousands of letters with death threats. This upset the kind-hearted Burbank, who tried to amiably reply to each letter, so much that it ultimately led to his death} . . . he was misled into believing that logic, kindliness, and reason could convince and help the bigoted. He fell sick. The sickness was fated to be his last. What killed Luther Burbank, at just that time and in just that abrupt and tragic fashion, was his baffled, yearning, desperate effort to make people understand. His desire to help them, to clarify their minds, and to induce them to substitute fact for hysteria drove him beyond his strength. He grew suddenly old attempting to make reasonable a people which had been unreasonable through twenty stiff-necked generations. . . He died, not a martyr to truth, but a victim of the fatuity of blasting dogged falsehood.”

ReasonDeathDesireUnderstandingFriendshipLogicTragedyVictimDesperateTragicHelpFalsehoodMartyrHysteriaKindlinessBigotedLuther BurbankBurbank
Author:Wilbur Hale
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“Amidst the sea of joy-seeking juveniles, Be the one anomaly that feasts on pain. Seek out the pain among those around, Rush down to heal like monsoon rain.”

PainSacrificeHelping OthersService Of HumanityHumanistSelflessAltruismSocial WorkMartyrAltruistic
Book:Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations
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“Homecoming Sonnet Salutations to all, today is my homecoming, To dwell in grief is treachery on life. I sought plenty escape in translations, but true ointment lies in the soil of life. So I return, shattering shackles of sorrow - Reignite me oh life, resuscitate me unto duty! I want no more to sob through the alleys of pity - Sanctify me oh divine nature, with renewed tenacity. Today I break all spell of ominous cowardice, Today I vivify my veins as the volcanic vanguard! I refuse to be castrated by pathetic redundancy, Today I revive my vows as defender of the world!”

GriefHumanitarianService Of HumanityMartyrBereavementPeace ActivistReformerMoraleHuman Rights Activist
Book:World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets
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“The Devil's Chapel by Stewart Stafford Spires writhing in audacity's sky, Laced masonry's Faustian high, The Devil's Chapel invites by lie, Embalmed, a cracked stone altar dry. The golden Madonna rises above all, Lucifer's War, in stained glass, tall, In horned shadow, the angelic fall, Dark kingdom formed of a lightning ball. Bartholomew flayed by sadistic chagrin, Bones laid bare, devotion anchored within, Skin in the game took centuries to win, Gargoyles leer in the paying tourist din. Behind the veil of confession wood, The all-seeing eye drips with blood, Trickster's snare in nightmare's flood, A gift shop trades where sacrifice stood. Pungent echoes in incense crawl, Catacombs beckon entombed gall, To witness ornate veneration's pall, Silent to a martyr's last breath call. Croziers rest in chilled silver's display, As pink-veined marble taints today. © 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”

ChristianitySacrificeCorruptionMartyrSocial CommentaryGood Vs EvilChapelDark PoetryGothic HorrorReligious Horror
Author:Stewart Stafford
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“Try me good king, but let me have a lawful trial, and let not my sworn enemies sit as my accusers and judges… My last and only request shall be, that myself may only bear the burden of your grace’s displeasure, and that it may not touch the innocent souls of those poor gentlemen, whom (as I understand) are likewise in strait imprisonment for my sake. If ever I have found favour in your sight; if ever the name of Anne Boleyn hath been pleasing in your ears, let me obtain this request. (A letter to King Henry   VIII from the Tower, attributed to Anne Boleyn)”

SacrificeMartyrHenry ViiiAnne BoleynWrongly AccusedBeheadedLoyal To The CrownRoyal Execution
Book:The Final Year of Anne Boleyn
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“Honor He Wrote Sonnet 12 After all this time, the sun doesn't say to us, Listen you guys, you owe all your light to me. The trees don’t grab our throat with its vines, And yell, all your air and food are my charity. A candle does not burn to be appraised, But because to burn is the purpose of a candle. A candle not burning is no candle at all, Be a burning candle and live life purpose-driven. Life is a vessel of infinite majesty and potential, Let us not let it rot at the shore playing safe. Come hail or high water, let us be shredded, Let us be annihilated in service and in help. Let us be human, let us be alive across all narrowness. Let us be the shinning beacon of supreme unselfishness.”

SacrificeHelping OthersService Of HumanitySelflessnessSocial WorkMartyrService To OthersSelfless ServiceServing SocietyHumanitarian Poetry
Book:Honor He Wrote: 100 Sonnets For Humans Not Vegetables
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“Look up, look at the stars. You know, some of those shining stars don't exist any more, they exploded long ago, yet their light keeps shining. Be a star my friend, and burn with all your might, so that your light lives on, even after you die.”

SacrificeBrainy QuotesHumanitarianImmortalityService Of HumanitySocial WorkMartyrSelfless ServiceMartyrdom
Book:Making Britain Civilized: How to Gain Readmission to The Human Race
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“Goodbye Mother (The Sonnet) Bid me goodbye o mother, Be right back once I plant unity. If I do not return from my journey, Soothe yourself knowing I've died happily. These rusted shackles hurt too much, It's time o mother to abolish them forever. Shoulder to shoulder your children will walk, At the sight of our conviction bigots will quiver. The sacred river of life has long gone dry, I'll resuscitate it with my blood and integrity. Your children are my family o mother, With my last breath I will fortify their destiny. Bless me o mother of all for my mission awaits. I'll return victorious or die a martyr's death.”

SacrificePoemHumanitarianService Of HumanityHumanitarianismSocial WorkMartyrSonnetMartyrdomHuman Rights Violation
Book:The Shape of A Human: Our America Their America
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