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
beauty contain neither oak poetry rude runs simply truth vine
Beauty is not all there is of poetry. It must contain the truth. It is not simply an oak, rude and grand, neither is it simply a vine. It is both. Around the oak of truth runs the vine of beauty.
arts begin grows life love men nature painter poet stage thousand work
When men are prosperous, they are in love with life. Nature grows beautiful, the arts begin to flourish, there is work for painter and sculptor, the poet is born, the stage is erected - and this life with which men are in love is represented in a thousand forms.
ages great high human lifted poets power torch uttered
The great poets have sympathized with the people. They have uttered in all ages the human cry. Unbought by gold, unawed by power, they have lifted high the torch that illuminates the world.
great outlast painted painter pictures poet statues
The great poet is a great artist. He is painter and sculptor. The greatest pictures and statues have been painted and chiseled with words. They outlast all others.
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.
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.
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.
common field home man undo
There is no common sense in going to the field to fight and leaving a man at home to undo all that you accomplish.
business hope life profession quiet serene
There is a quiet about the life of a farmer, and the hope of a serene old age, that no other business or profession can promise.