Robert Green Ingersoll
Robert Green Ingersoll
Robert Green "Bob" Ingersollwas an American lawyer, a Civil War veteran, political leader, and orator of the United States during the Golden Age of Free Thought, noted for his broad range of culture and his defense of agnosticism. He was nicknamed "The Great Agnostic"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionLawyer
Date of Birth11 August 1833
CountryUnited States of America
kings truth real
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.
men rights perfect
The rights of men and women should be equal and sacred-marriage should be a perfect partnership.
joy add misery
Whoever increases the sum of human joy, is a worshiper. He who adds to the sum of human misery, is a blasphemer.
sorry religion wish
The only evidence, so far as I know, about another life is, first, that we have no evidence; and secondly, that we are rather sorry that we have not, and wish we had.
love-you practice evil
And yet this same Deity says to me, resist not evil; pray for those that despitefully use you; love your enemies, but I will eternally damn mine. It seems to me that even gods should practice what they preach.
liberty progress politics
Liberty is the breath of progress.
country patriotic patriotism
He loves his country best who strives to make it best.
flower climbing joy
Every flower about a house certifies to the refinement of somebody. Every vine climbing and blossoming tells of love and joy
care superstitions prejudice
Logic is not satisfied with assertion. It cares nothing for the opinions of the great; nothing for the prejudices of the many, and least of all for the superstitions of the dead.
prayer spring thinking
It may be that ministers really think that their prayers do good, and it may be that frogs imagine that their croaking brings spring.
book hymns religion
All religions are inconsistent with mental freedom. Shakespeare is my bible, Burns my hymn-book.
pain son past
The Old Testament filled this world with tyranny and injustice, and the New gives us a future filled with pain for nearly all of the sons of men. The Old Testament describes the hell of the past, and the New the hell of the future.
believe men tyrants
Whenever a man believes that he has the exact truth from God, there is in that man no spirit of compromise. He has not the modesty born of the imperfections of human nature; he has the arrogance of theological certainty and the tyranny born of ignorant assurance. Believing himself to be the slave of God, he imitates his master, and of all tyrants the worst is a slave in power.
religion atheism church
Every church that has a standard higher than human welfare is dangerous.