Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes - Page 20

Quotes about:

Abuse Acceptance Affection Age Ambition Angels Arrogance

Every church that has a standard higher than human welfare is dangerous.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Religion, Atheism, Church

Robert Green Ingersoll, Herman Eugene Kittredge (1912). “Interviews”

4 Copy quote
Every man who expresses an honest thought is a soldier in the army of intellectual liberty.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Honesty, Army, Men

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.1285, Library of Alexandria

7 Copy quote
The combined wisdom and genius of all mankind cannot possibly conceive of an argument against liberty of thought.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Independence, Liberty, Genius

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.83, Library of Alexandria

4 Copy quote
The object of all education should be to increase the usefulness of man - usefulness to himself and others.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Education, Men, Increase

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.4081, Library of Alexandria

7 Copy quote
Heresy is what the minority believe; it is the name given by the powerful to the doctrines of the weak.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Powerful, Believe, Names

Robert Green Ingersoll “Heretics and Heresies: From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'”, Library of Alexandria

4 Copy quote
Intellect, without heart, is infinitely cruel. . . . So that, after all, the real aristocracy must be that of goodness where the intellect is directed by the heart.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Wisdom, Real, Heart

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2169, Library of Alexandria

4 Copy quote
The undressed is vulgar; the nude is pure, and the well-dressed tainted.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Fashion, Vulgarity Is, Clothes

6 Copy quote
Of course, ministers look upon theaters as rival attractions, and most of their hatred is born of business views. They think people ought to be driven to church by having all other places closed. In my judgment the theater has done good, while the church has done harm. The drama never has insisted upon burning anybody. Persecution is not born of the stage.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Drama, Thinking, Views

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2164, Library of Alexandria

4 Copy quote
No man has a right to leave his wife to fight the battle alone if he is able to help. No man has a right to desert his children if he can possibly be of use. As long as he can add to the comfort of those he loves, as long as he can . . . be of any use, it is his duty to remain.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Life, Children, Fighting

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2305, Library of Alexandria

4 Copy quote
Do the best that can be done and then . . . be resigned.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Life, Done, Resigned

Robert Green Ingersoll (1952). “Life and Letters”

4 Copy quote
Why should we desire the destruction of human passions? Take passions from human beings and what is left? The great object should be not to destroy passions, but to make them obedient to the intellect. To indulge passion to the utmost is one form of intemperance - to destroy passion is another. The reasonable gratification of passion under the domination of the intellect is true wisdom and perfect virtue.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Passion, Perfect, Desire

Robert Green Ingersoll (1993). “Reason, Tolerance, and Christianity: The Ingersoll Debates”

6 Copy quote
I admit that reason is a small and feeble flame, a flickering torch by stumblers carried in the star-less night, - blown and flared by passion's storm, - and yet, it is the only light. Extinguish that, and nought remains.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Stars, Passion, Night

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.1721, Library of Alexandria

5 Copy quote
In the presence of death I affirm and reaffirm the truth of all that I have said against the superstitions of the world. I would say that much on the subject with my last breath.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Atheism, World, Superstitions

Robert Green Ingersoll, Herman Eugene Kittredge (1909). “The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll”

4 Copy quote
We are all children of the same mother, and the same fate awaits us all. We, too, have our religion, and it is this: Help for the living-Hope for the dead.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Mother, Children, Fate

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.4678, Library of Alexandria

4 Copy quote
There may or may not be a Supreme Ruler of the universe-but we are certain that man exists, and we believe that freedom is the condition of progress; that it is the sunshine of the mental and moral world, and that without it man will go back to the den of savagery, and wll become the fit associate of wild and ferocious beasts.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Believe, Sunshine, Men

Robert Green Ingersoll (1909). “Miscellany”

4 Copy quote
If upon this earth we ever have a glimpse of heaven,it is when we pass a home in winter, at night,and through the windows, the curtains drawn aside,we see the family about the pleasant hearth; the old lady knitting; the cat playing with the yarn;the children wishing they had as many dolls or dollars or knivesor somethings, as there are sparks going out to join the roaring blast;the father reading and smoking, and the clouds rising like incense from the altar of domestic joy.I never passed such a house without feeling thatI had received a benediction.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Children, Father, Reading

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.220, Library of Alexandria

7 Copy quote
At thirty most men have prejudices rather than opinions-that is to say, rather than judgments-and few men have lived to be sixty without materially modifying the opinions they held at thirty.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Men, Growth, Prejudice

4 Copy quote
Intellect, without heart, is infinitely cruel. . . .

Robert Green Ingersoll

Heart, Humanist, Intellect

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2169, Library of Alexandria

5 Copy quote
It is like most other ancient books - a mingling of falsehood and truth, of philosophy and folly - all written by men, and most of the men only partially civilized. Some of its laws are good - some infinitely barbarous. None of the miracles related were performed. . . . Take out the absurdities, the miracles, all that pertains to the supernatural - all the cruel and barbaric laws - and to the remainder I have no objection. Neither would I have for it any great admiration.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Philosophy, Book, Men

Robert Green Ingersoll (1952). “Life and Letters”

7 Copy quote
To destroy guide-boards that point in the wrong direction . . . to drive the fiend of fear from the mind . . . is the task of the Freethinker.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Mind, Tasks, Boards

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.4285, Library of Alexandria

34 Copy quote
Above all things, one should maintain his self-respect, and there is but one way to do that, and that is to live in accordance with your highest ideal.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Self, Way, Should

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.3998, Library of Alexandria

4 Copy quote
If there is a God, there should be no slaves.

Robert Green Ingersoll

If There Is A God, Slave, Should

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.200, Library of Alexandria

4 Copy quote
Great virtues may draw attention from defects, they cannot sanctify them. A pebble surrounded by diamonds remains a common stone, and a diamond surrounded by pebbles is still a gem.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Attention, May, Stones

Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.770, Library of Alexandria

4 Copy quote
Our ignorance is God; what we know is science. When we abandon the doctrine that some infinite being created matter and force, and enacted a code of laws for their government ... the real priest will then be, not the mouth-piece of some pretended deity, but the interpreter of nature.

Robert Green Ingersoll

God, Real, Ignorance

Robert Green Ingersoll (1873). “An Oration on the Gods”, p.31

4 Copy quote
The hope of science is the perfection of the human race. The hope of theology is the salvation of a few, and the damnation of almost everybody.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Race, Perfection, Damnation

1867 The Age of Reason, Mar.

4 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Wislawa Szymborska

Robert Green Ingersoll

Follow

Born: August 11, 1833
Died: July 21, 1899
Occupation: Lawyer
Cite this Page: Citation

Popular Topics