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
running sweet memories
The record of a generous life runs like a vine around the memory of our dead, and every sweet unselfish act is now a perfumed flower.
running hate believe
I honestly believe that the doctrine of hell was born in the glittering eyes of snakes that run in frightful coils watching for their prey. I believe it was born with the yelping, howling, growling and snarling of wild beasts... I despise it, I defy it, and I hate it.
running long abuse
Arguments cannot be answered by personal abuse; there is no logic in slander, and falsehood, in the long run, defeats itself.
running bullying past
Every church pretends to have found the exact truth. This is the end of progress. Why pursue that which you have? Why investigate when you know? Every creed is a rock in running water: humanity sweeps by it. Every creed cries to the universe, "Halt!" A creed is the ignorant Past bullying the enlightened Present. The ignorant are not satisfied with what can be demonstrated. Science is too slow for them, and so they invent creeds. They demand completeness. A sublime segment, a grand fragment, are of no value to them. They demand the complete circle... the entire structure.
running past rocks
Every creed is a rock in running water: humanity sweeps by it. Every creed cries to the universe, "Halt!" A creed is the ignorant Past bulling the enlightened Present.
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.