Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes - Page 8

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Let every man teach his son, teach his daughter, that labor is honorable.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Daughter, Son, Men

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.1027, Library of Alexandria

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If Jehovah cannot support his religion without going into partnership with a State Legislature, I think he ought to give it up.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Thinking, Giving, Support

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2425, Library of Alexandria

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The idea of immortality, that like a sea has ebbed and flowed in the human heart, with its countless waves of hope and fear, beating against the shores and rocks of time and fate, was not born of any book, nor of any creed, nor of any religion. It was born of human affection, and it will continue to ebb and flow beneath the mists and clouds of doubt and darkness as long as love kisses the lips of death. It is the rainbow -- Hope shining upon the tears of grief.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Grief, Book, Heart

Robert Green Ingersoll, Clinton P. Farrell (1900). “The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll: Discussions”

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It has always seemed absurd to suppose that a god would choose for his companions, during all eternity, the dear souls whose highest and only ambition is to obey.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Ambition, Soul, Eternity

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.107, Library of Alexandria

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To give up your individuality is to annihilate yourself.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Giving Up, Giving, Individuality

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.103, Library of Alexandria

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No one infers a god from the simple, from the known, from what is understood, but from the complex, from the unknown, and incomprehensible. Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Ignorance, Simple, Understood

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.36, Library of Alexandria

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Whoever increases the sum of human joy, is a worshiper. He who adds to the sum of human misery, is a blasphemer.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Joy, Add, Misery

Robert Green Ingersoll, Isaac Newton Baker (1899). “Trial of C.B. Reynolds for Blasphemy, at Morristown, N.J., May 19th and 20th, 1887”

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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.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Dream, Ignorance, Light

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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!"

Robert Green Ingersoll

Faith, Religious, War

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.51, Library of Alexandria

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Justice should remove the bandage from her eyes long enough to distinguish between the vicious and the unfortunate.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Eye, Justice For All, Long

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.4411, Library of Alexandria

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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.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Bible, Book, Biblical

Robert Green Ingersoll (1902). “Discussions”

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But honest men do not pretend to know; they are candid and sincere; they love the truth; they admit their ignorance, and they say, We do not know.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Ignorance, Men, Atheism

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.1080, Library of Alexandria

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If this religion is true, then there is only one Savior, only one narrow path to life. Christianity cannot live in peace with any other religion.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Path, Christianity, Christian Life

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In a world of cruelty, sympathy is a crime, and in a world of lies, truth is blasphemy.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Lying, World, Truth Is

Robert Green Ingersoll (1898). “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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Honesty is the mother of confidence; it unites, combines and solidifies society. Dishonesty is disintegration; it destroys confidence; it brings social chaos. . . .

Robert Green Ingersoll

Mother, Honesty, Chaos

Robert Green Ingersoll, Clinton P. Farrell (1911). “The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll”

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One thing I do know, and that is, that neither hope, nor fear, belief, nor denial, can change the fact. It is as it is, and it will be as it must be.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Religion, Denial, Facts

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.929, Library of Alexandria

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When a man really believes that it is necessary to do a certain thing to be happy forever, or that a certain belief is necessary to ensure eternal joy, there is in that man no spirit of concession. He divides the whole world into saints and sinners, into believers and unbelievers, into God's sheep and Devil's goats, into people who will be glorified and people who are damned.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Believe, Men, Sheep

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.444, Library of Alexandria

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It cannot be said too often that actions are good or bad in the light of consequences, and that a clear perception of consequences would control actions. That which increases the sum of human happiness is moral; and that which diminishes the sum of human happiness is immoral. . . . Blind, unreasoning obedience is the enemy of morality.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Light, Perception, Enemy

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.4445, Library of Alexandria

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Every sect is a certificate that God has not plainly revealed his will to man. To each reader the Bible conveys a different meaning.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Men, Different, Certificates

Robert Green Ingersoll (1912). “Some Mistakes of Moses”, p.77, Library of Alexandria

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The God of Hell should be held in loathing, contempt and scorn. A God who threatens eternal pain should be hated, not loved - cursed, not worshiped. A heaven presided over by such a God must be below the lowest hell.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Pain, Heaven, Religion

"The Great Infidels" by Robert Green Ingersoll, 1881.

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And what is the great thing that the stage does? It cultivates the imagination. And . . . the imagination constitutes the great difference between human beings. . . . The imagination is the mother of pity, the mother of generosity, the mother of every possible virtue. It is by the imagination that you are enabled to put yourself in the place of another.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Life, Mother, Differences

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.4535, Library of Alexandria

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Argument cannot be answered with insults. Kindness is strength; anger blows out the lamp of the mind.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Kindness, Blow, Mind

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.1588, Library of Alexandria

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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.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Stars, Honesty, Men

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.291, Library of Alexandria

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Our hope of immortality does not come from any religions, but nearly all religions come from that hope.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Religion, Immortal Soul, Doe

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2417, Library of Alexandria

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As a matter of fact, no one knows that God exists and no one knows that God does not exist. To my mind there is no evidence that God exists - that this world is governed by a being of infinite goodness, wisdom and power, but I do not pretend to know.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Mind, Religion, Doe

Robert Green Ingersoll (1905). “Lectures and Essays (a Selection)”

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Born: August 11, 1833
Died: July 21, 1899
Occupation: Lawyer
Cite this Page: Citation

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