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Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes - Page 14

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Where is the soul? . . . I refuse to believe anything of that kind without proof. The idea that, as soon as a man's breath leaves his body, the soul flops out like a chicken's head and flies off into space to find a

Where is the soul? . . . I refuse to believe anything of that kind without proof. The idea that, as soon as a man's breath leaves his body, the soul flops out like a chicken's head and flies off into space to find a lodgment where there [are] harps and haloes. Too much for me.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Believe, Men, Ideas

Eternal punishment must be eternal cruelty, and I do not see how any man, unless he has the brain of an idiot, or the heart of a wild beast, can believe in eternal punishment.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Believe, Heart, Men

It has always seemed to me that a being coming from another world, with a message of infinite importance to mankind, should at least have verified that message by his own signature. Is it not wonderful that not one word was written by Christ?

Robert Green Ingersoll
Religion, Atheism, Signatures
Robert Green Ingersoll (1903). “What Must We Do to be Saved?: A Study of the Christian Religion, Its Creeds, and Its Sacred Book”

There is no evidence that God ever interfered in the affairs of man. The hand of earth is stretched uselessly towards heaven. From the clouds there comes no help.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Men, Clouds, Hands
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.1216, Library of Alexandria

Is not the history of real civilization the slow and gradual emancipation of the intellect, of the judgment, from the mastery of passion? Is not that man civilized whose reason sits the crowned monarch of his brain - whose passions are his servants?

Robert Green Ingersoll
Real, Passion, Men
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.1778, Library of Alexandria

If I go to heaven I want to take my reason with me.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Heaven, Want, Reason

The emblem of equal rights. It means free hands, free lips, self- government, and the sovereignty of the individual.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Mean, Rights, Government
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.3250, Library of Alexandria

The meanest hut with love in it is a palace fit for the gods, and a palace without love is a den only fit for wild beasts.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Love, Palaces, Fit
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.207, Library of Alexandria

How any human being ever has had the impudence to speak against the right to speak, is beyond the power of my imagination. Here is a man who speaks-who exercises a right that he, by his speech, denies. Can liberty go further than that? Is there any toleration possible beyond the liberty to speak against liberty-the real believer in free speech allowing others to speak against the right to speak?

Robert Green Ingersoll
Real, Exercise, Men
Robert Green Ingersoll (1889). “The Limitations of Toleration: A Discussion Between Robert G. Ingersoll, Frederic R. Coudert, Stewart L. Woodford, Before the Nineteenth Century Club, of New York, at the Metropolitan Opera House”

We must remember that we have to make judges out of men, and that by being made judges their prejudices are not diminished and their intelligence is not increased.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Men, Judging, Prejudice
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The Works of Robert G.Ingersoll. [Dresden Ed.]”

Science built the Academy, superstition the Inquisition.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Superstitions, Academy, Built
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”

The more a man knows, the more willing he is to learn-the less a man knows, the more positive he is that he knows everything.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Humility, Men, Willing
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The Works of Robert G.Ingersoll. [Dresden Ed.]”

The church in all ages and among all peoples has been the consistent enemy of the human race. Everywhere and at all times, it has opposed the liberty of thought and expression. It has been the sworn enemy of investigation and intellectual development. It has denied the existence of facts, the tendency of which was to undermine its power. It has always been carrying fagots to the feet of Philosophy. It has erected the gallows for Genius. It has built the dungeon for Thinkers.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Religious, Philosophy, Race
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.4052, Library of Alexandria

Civilization has gotten further and further from the so-called 'natural' man, who uses all his faculties: perception, invention, improvisation.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Men, Civilization, Perception

I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Memorial Day, Cheer, Soldier
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.3100, Library of Alexandria

Meekness is the mask of malice.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Evil, Wickedness, Mask
Robert Green Ingersoll (1888). “Prose-poems and Selections from the Writings and Sayings of Robert G. Ingersoll”

Nothing but truth is immortal.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Truth Is, Immortal
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.174, Library of Alexandria

Custom meets us at the cradle and leaves us only at the tomb.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Peer Pressure, Cradle, Tombs
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.97, Library of Alexandria

If the reason I give is a good one, you will act upon it. If it is a bad one I cannot make it better by piling epithet upon epithet. There is no logic in abuse; there is no argument in an epithet.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Giving, Abuse, Logic
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.3823, Library of Alexandria

The laboring people should unite and should protect themselves against all idlers. You can divide mankind into two classes: the laborers and the idlers, the supporters and the supported, the honest and the dishonest. Every man is dishonest who lives upon the unpaid labor of others, no matter if he occupies a throne. All laborers should be brothers.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Brother, Men, Class
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.236, Library of Alexandria

I am simply in favor of intellectual hospitality-that is all. You come to me with a new idea. I invite you into the house. Let us see what you have. Let us talk it over. If I do not like your thought, I will bid it a polite "good day." If I do like it, I will say: "Sit down; stay with me, and become a part of the intellectual wealth of my world."

Robert Green Ingersoll
Good Day, Ideas, House
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2196, Library of Alexandria

In making up my mind as to what Mr. Lincoln really believed, I do not take into consideration the evidence of unnamed persons or the contents of anonymous letters; I take the testimony of those who knew and loved him, of those to whom he opened his heart and to whom he spoke in the freedom of perfect confidence.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Heart, Perfect, Mind
Robert Green Ingersoll (1920). “Ingersoll: Fifty Great Selections, Lectures, Tributes, After Dinner Speeches and Essays, Carefully Selected from the Twelve Volume Dresden Edition of Colonel Ingersoll's Complete Works”

If the property belongs to God he is able to pay the tax.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Church, Pay, Able
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”

Good nature is the cheapest commodity in the world, and love is the only thing that will pay ten percent to both borrower and lender.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Love, World, Pay

In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.

Robert Green Ingersoll
World, Holiness, Eras

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