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Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes - Page 7

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If there be an infinite Being, he does not need our help - we need not waste our energies in his defense.

If there be an infinite Being, he does not need our help - we need not waste our energies in his defense.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Atheism, Energy, Doe
Robert Green Ingersoll (1909). “Miscellany”

In a world of cruelty, sympathy is a crime, and in a world of lies, truth is blasphemy.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Lying, World, Truth Is
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”

I want no heaven for which I must give my reason; no happiness in exchange for my liberty, and no immortality that demands the surrender of my individuality. Better rot in the windowless tomb, to which there is no door but the red mouth of the pallid worm, than to wear the jeweled collar of a god.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Doors, Giving, Heaven
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.107, Library of Alexandria

To know that the Bible is the literature of a barbarous people, to know that it is uninspired, to be certain that the supernatural does not and cannot exist - all this is but the beginning of wisdom.

Robert Green Ingersoll
People, Doe, Literature
Robert Green Ingersoll (1951). “Letters”

It may be that ministers really think that their prayers do good, and it may be that frogs imagine that their croaking brings spring.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Prayer, Spring, Thinking
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.827, Library of Alexandria

Suppose, however, that God did give this law to the Jews, and did tell them that whenever a man preached a heresy, or proposed to worship any other God that they should kill him; and suppose that afterward this same God took upon himself flesh, and came to this very chosen people and taught a different religion, and that thereupon the Jews crucified him; I ask you, did he not reap exactly what he had sown? What right would this god have to complain of a crucifixion suffered in accordance with his own command?

Robert Green Ingersoll
Men, Law, People
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.437, Library of Alexandria

I have made up my mind that if there is a God, he will be merciful to the merciful. Upon that rock I stand. That he will not torture the forgiving. Upon that rock I stand. That every man should be true to himself, and that there is no world, no star in which honesty is a crime. Upon that rock I stand.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Stars, Honesty, Men
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.291, Library of Alexandria

No one infers a god from the simple, from the known, from what is understood, but from the complex, from the unknown, and incomprehensible. Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Ignorance, Simple, Understood
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.36, Library of Alexandria

If Jehovah cannot support his religion without going into partnership with a State Legislature, I think he ought to give it up.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Thinking, Giving, Support
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2425, Library of Alexandria

Every sect is a certificate that God has not plainly revealed his will to man. To each reader the Bible conveys a different meaning.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Men, Different, Certificates
Robert Green Ingersoll (1912). “Some Mistakes of Moses”, p.77, Library of Alexandria

Let us account for all we see by the facts we know. If there are things for which we cannot account, let us wait for light. To account for anything by supernatural agencies is, in fact to say that we do not know. Theology is not what we know about God, but what we do not know about Nature.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Agency, Light, Waiting
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.322, Library of Alexandria

The Catholics have a Pope. Protestants laugh at them, and yet the Pope is capable of intellectual advancement. In addition to this, the Pope is mortal, and the church cannot be afflicted with the same idiot forever. The Protestants have a book for their Pope. The book cannot advance. Year after year, and century after century, the book remains as ignorant as ever.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Bible, Book, Biblical
Robert Green Ingersoll (1902). “Discussions”

If all the historic books of the Bible were blotted from the memory of mankind, nothing of value would be lost.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Memories, Book, Atheism
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.4158, Library of Alexandria

It has always seemed absurd to suppose that a god would choose for his companions, during all eternity, the dear souls whose highest and only ambition is to obey.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Ambition, Soul, Eternity
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.107, Library of Alexandria

Catholicism is contrary to human liberty. Catholicism bases salvation upon belief. Catholicism teaches man to trample his reason under foot. And for that reason it is wrong.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Men, Feet, Religion
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.277, Library of Alexandria

Let every man teach his son, teach his daughter, that labor is honorable.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Daughter, Son, Men
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.1027, Library of Alexandria

But honest men do not pretend to know; they are candid and sincere; they love the truth; they admit their ignorance, and they say, We do not know.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Ignorance, Men, Atheism
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.1080, Library of Alexandria

The agnostic does not simply say, "l do not know." He goes another step, and he says, with great emphasis, that you do not know. He insists that you are trading on the ignorance of others, and on the fear of others. He is not satisfied with saying that you do not know, -- he demonstrates that you do not know, and he drives you from the field of fact -- he drives you from the realm of reason -- he drives you from the light, into the darkness of conjecture -- into the world of dreams and shadows, and he compels you to say, at last, that your faith has no foundation in fact.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Dream, Ignorance, Light

All of the Ten Commandments that are good were old; all that were new art foolish. If Jehovah had been civilized he would have left out the commandment about keeping the Sabbath, and in its place would have said: "Thou shalt not enslave thy fellow-men." He would have omitted the one about swearing, and said: "The man shall have but one wife, and the woman but one husband." He would have left out the one about graven images, and in its stead would have said: "Thou shalt not wage wars of extermination, and thou shalt not unsheathe the sword except in self-defence.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Art, Husband, War

When a man really believes that it is necessary to do a certain thing to be happy forever, or that a certain belief is necessary to ensure eternal joy, there is in that man no spirit of concession. He divides the whole world into saints and sinners, into believers and unbelievers, into God's sheep and Devil's goats, into people who will be glorified and people who are damned.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Believe, Men, Sheep
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.444, Library of Alexandria

Whoever increases the sum of human joy, is a worshiper. He who adds to the sum of human misery, is a blasphemer.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Joy, Add, Misery
Robert Green Ingersoll, Isaac Newton Baker (1899). “Trial of C.B. Reynolds for Blasphemy, at Morristown, N.J., May 19th and 20th, 1887”

Only the very ignorant are perfectly satisfied that they know. To the common man the great problems are easy. He has no trouble in accounting for the universe. He can tell you the origin and destiny of man and the why and wherefore of things.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Destiny, Men, Ignorant
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.747, Library of Alexandria

I have no reverence for any book that teaches a doctrine contrary to my reason; no reverence for any book that teaches a doctrine contrary to my heart; and, no matter how old it is, no matter how many have believed it, no matter how many have died on account of it, no matter how many live for it, I have no reverence for that book, and I am glad of it.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Book, Heart, Doctrine
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2354, Library of Alexandria

I do not believe in loving enemies; I have pretty hard work to love my friends.

Robert Green Ingersoll
Believe, Hard Work, Enemy
Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2185, Library of Alexandria

The book, called the Bible, is filled with passages equally horrible, unjust and atrocious. This is the book to be read in schools in order to make our children loving, kind and gentle! This is the book they wish to be recognized in our Constitution as the source of all authority and justice!

Robert Green Ingersoll
Children, Book, School

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