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
cannot creed dogma freely permitted until
Until every soul is freely permitted to investigate every book and creed and dogma for itself, the world cannot be free.
cannot mind shrink
The mind cannot be securely anchored. If we do not advance, we go backward. If we do not grow, we decay. If we do not develop, we shrink and shrivel.
bribed cannot disaster failure fear highway promise refuses stands success walks
He who refuses to stoop, who cannot be bribed by the promise of success or the fear of failure - who walks the highway of the right, and in disaster stands erect, is the only victor.
cannot change conclusion hypocrites nor social
You cannot change the conclusion of the brain by torture, nor by social ostracism. But I will tell you what you can do by these and what you have done. You can make hypocrites by the million.
cannot cessation conceive eternity farthest imagination infinite matter star time
We can conceive of eternity because we cannot conceive of a cessation of time. We can conceive of infinite space because we cannot conceive of so much matter that our imagination will not stand upon the farthest star and see infinite space beyond.
cannot create determines government money paid prospect
The government, in my judgment, cannot create money; the government can give its note, like an individual, and the prospect of its being paid determines its value.
cannot robe sharp thick
I want to tell you this: you cannot get the robe of hypocrisy on you so thick that the sharp eye of childhood will not see through every veil.
belong filled four nor religion thousand wherever
You need not go back four thousand years for heroines. The world is filled with them today. They do not belong to any nation, nor to any religion, nor exclusively to any race. Wherever woman is found, they are found.
change men physically
You have to change men physically before you change them intellectually.
dreary elevates happiness loves shop whether whoever works
Whoever labors for the happiness of those he loves elevates himself, no matter whether he works in the dreary shop or the perfumed field.
human lower sympathy
What is it that distinguishes you and me from the lower animals - from the beasts? More, I say, than anything else, human sympathy - human sympathy.
art builds defended fills home love passion purity sacredness walt whitman
Walt Whitman defended the sacredness of love, the purity of passion - the passion that builds every home and fills the world with art and song.
expense full giving ideas life prince subjects summer
Voltaire, as full of life as summer is full of blossoms, giving his ideas upon all subjects at the expense of prince and king, was exiled to England.
best life prepare somebody
There may be another life, and if there is, the best way to prepare for it is by making somebody happy in this.