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Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes - Page 6

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Few nations have been so poor as to have but one god. Gods were made so easily, and the raw material cost so little, that generally the god market was fairly glutted and heaven crammed with these phantoms.

Few nations have been so poor as to have but one god. Gods were made so easily, and the raw material cost so little, that generally the god market was fairly glutted and heaven crammed with these phantoms.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Religious, Heaven, Raw Materials
Robert Green Ingersoll (1874). “The Gods, and Other Lectures”, p.10

Whoever imagines himself a favorite with God holds others in contempt.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Imagine, Contempt
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.444, Library of Alexandria

Take from the church the miraculous, the supernatural, the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the unknowable, the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Religious, Atheist, If There Is A God
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.159, Library of Alexandria

Progress is born of doubt and inquiry. The Church never doubts, never inquires. To doubt is heresy, to inquire is to admit that you do not know—the Church does neither.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Doubt, Progress, Church
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.88, Library of Alexandria

Nothing could be more dangerous to the existence of this Republic than to introduce religion into politics

Robert Green Ingersoll
Republic, Introducing, Existence
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.1408, Library of Alexandria

Age after age, the strong have trampled upon the weak; the crafty and heartless have ensnared and enslaved the simple and innocent, and nowhere, in all the annals of mankind, has any god succored the oppressed

Robert Green Ingersoll
Strong, Simple, Heartless
Robert Green Ingersoll (1874). “The Gods, and Other Lectures”, p.59

If there is a God who will damn his children forever, I would rather go to hell than to go to heaven and keep the society of such an infamous tyrant.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Children, If There Is A God, Tyrants
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.217, Library of Alexandria

If cathedrals had been universities If dungeons of the Inquisition had been laboratories If Christians had believed in character instead of creed If they had taken from the bible only that which is GOOD and thrown away the wicked and absurd If temple domes had been observatories If priests had been philosophers If missionaries had taught useful arts instead of bible lore If astrology had been astronomy If the black arts had been chemistry If superstition had been science If religion had been humanity The world then would be a heaven filled with love, and liberty and joy

Robert Green Ingersoll
Christian, Art, Taken

We are told in the Pentateuch, that god, the father of us all, gave thousands of maidens, after having killed their fathers, their mothers, and their brothers, to satisfy the brutal lusts of savage men. If there be a god, I pray him to write in his book, opposite my name, that I denied this lie for him.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Mother, Brother, Father
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.435, Library of Alexandria

The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation, and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be believed only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance, called faith.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Religious, Pain, Ignorance
Robert Green Ingersoll (1990). “On The Gods and Other Essays”

I would rather live with the woman I love in a world full of trouble, than to live in heaven with nobody but men.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Men, Heaven, World
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.202, Library of Alexandria

The only thing that makes life endurable in this world is human love, and yet, according to Christianity, that is the very thing that we are not to have in the other world. We are to be so taken up with Jesus and angels, that we shall care nothing about our brothers and sisters that have been damned. We shall be so carried away with the music of the harp that we shall not even hear the wail of father and mother. Such a religion is a disgrace to human nature.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Mother, Brother, Jesus

Upon the great questions of origin, of destiny, of immortality, of . . . other worlds, every honest man must say, 'I do not know.' Upon these questions, this is the creed of intelligence.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Death, Destiny, Men
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.4260, Library of Alexandria

The savage prays to a stone that he calls a god, while the Christian prays to a god he calls a spirit, and the prayers of both are equally useful.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Christian, Prayer, Savages
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.320, Library of Alexandria

It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions, -- some one who had the grandeur to say his say. I believe it was Magellan who said, The church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the church. On the prow of his ship were disobedience, defiance, scorn, and success.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Faith, Believe, Blessed
Robert Green Ingersoll (1874). “The Gods, and Other Lectures”, p.171

To give up your individuality is to annihilate yourself.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Giving Up, Giving, Individuality
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.103, Library of Alexandria

He loves his country best who strives to make it best.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Country, 4th Of July, Patriotic
Robert Green Ingersoll (1952). “Life and Letters”

The inspiration of the Bible depends upon the ignorance of the gentleman who reads it.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Bible, Inspiration, Ignorance
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”

As long as every question is answered by the word "God," scientific inquiry is simply impossible.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Long, Atheism, Inquiry
Robert Green Ingersoll (1873). “An Oration on the Gods”, p.35

The idea of immortality, that like a sea has ebbed and flowed in the human heart, with its countless waves of hope and fear, beating against the shores and rocks of time and fate, was not born of any book, nor of any creed, nor of any religion. It was born of human affection, and it will continue to ebb and flow beneath the mists and clouds of doubt and darkness as long as love kisses the lips of death. It is the rainbow -- Hope shining upon the tears of grief.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Grief, Book, Heart
Robert Green Ingersoll, Clinton P. Farrell (1900). “The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll: Discussions”

They say that when god was in Jerusalem he forgave his murderers, but now he will not forgive an honest man for differing with him on the subject of the Trinity. They say that God says to me, "Forgive your enemies." I say, "I do;" but he says, "I will damn mine." God should be consistent. If he wants me to forgive my enemies he should forgive his. I am asked to forgive enemies who can hurt me. God is only asked to forgive enemies who cannot hurt him. He certainly ought to be as generous as he asks us to be.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Hurt, Men, Forgiving

If priests had not been fond of mutton, lambs never would have been sacrified to god. Nothing was ever carried to the temple that the priest could not use, and it always happened that god wanted what his agents liked.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Use, Agents, Lambs
Robert Green Ingersoll (1901). “Discussions”

The God of Hell should be held in loathing, contempt and scorn. A God who threatens eternal pain should be hated, not loved - cursed, not worshiped. A heaven presided over by such a God must be below the lowest hell.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Pain, Heaven, Religion
"The Great Infidels" by Robert Green Ingersoll, 1881.

TO PLOW IS TO PRAY; TO PLANT IS TO PROPHESY, AND THE HARVEST ANSWERS AND FULFILLS.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Answers, Praying, Harvest
Robert Green Ingersoll (1888). “Prose-poems and Selections from the Writings and Sayings of Robert G. Ingersoll”

If this religion is true, then there is only one Savior, only one narrow path to life. Christianity cannot live in peace with any other religion.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Path, Christianity, Christian Life

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