A believer is a bird in a cage, a freethinker is an eagle parting the clouds with tireless wing. Robert Green Ingersoll More Quotes by Robert Green Ingersoll More Quotes From Robert Green Ingersoll I will follow my logic, no matter where it goes, after it has consulted with my heart. If you ever come to a conclusion without calling the heart in, you will come to a bad conclusion. Robert Green Ingersoll callingheartlife If the Bible is true, it needs no inspiration, and - if not true, inspiration can do it no good. Robert Green Ingersoll inspirationbibleneeds TO PLOW IS TO PRAY; TO PLANT IS TO PROPHESY, Robert Green Ingersoll harvestprayinganswers Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science. Robert Green Ingersoll scientific-methodexperiencescience To avoid pain we must know the conditions of health. For the accomplishment of this end we must rely upon investigation instead of faith, upon labor in place of prayer. Most misery is produced by ignorance. Passions sow the seeds of pain. Robert Green Ingersoll passionpainprayer In the search for truth - that everything in nature seems to hide - man needs the assistance of all his faculties. All the senses should be awake. Robert Green Ingersoll shouldmenneeds In all ages, hypocrites, called priests, have put crowns upon the heads of thieves, called kings. Robert Green Ingersoll hypocrisyhypocritekings Nothing could add to the horror of hell, except the presence of its creator, God. While I have life, as long as I draw breath, I shall deny with all my strength, and hate with every drop of my blood, this infinite lie. Robert Green Ingersoll hatelyingblood 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 menheavenworld The superior man is the providence of the inferior. He is eyes for the blind, strength for the weak, and a shield for the defenseless. He stands erect by bending above the fallen. He rises by lifting others. Robert Green Ingersoll bendingeyemen All the martyrs in the history of the world are not sufficient to establish the correctness of an opinion. Martyrdom, as a rule, establishes the sincerity of the martyr, - never the correctness of his thought. Things are true or false in themselves. Truth cannot be affected by opinions; it cannot be changed, established, or affected by martyrdom. An error cannot be believed sincerely enough to make it a truth. Robert Green Ingersoll errorstruthreligion In the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing. Robert Green Ingersoll sadstarssympathy ...in every religion the priest insists on five things - Robert Green Ingersoll failingmessagesfirsts If the world ever advances beyond what it is today, it must be led by men who express their real opinions. Robert Green Ingersoll realmenworld On every hand there seems to be design to defeat design. If God created man - if he is the father of us all, why did he make the criminals, the insane, the deformed and idiotic? Should the mother, who clasps to her breast an idiot child, thank God? Robert Green Ingersoll motherfatherchildren This is my creed: Happiness is the only good; reason the only torch; justice the only worship, humanity the only religion, and love the only priest. Robert Green Ingersoll humanityjusticehappiness My objection to Christianity is that it is infinitely cruel, infinitely selfish, and, I might add, infinitely absurd. Robert Green Ingersoll selfishreligiousreligion Labor is the only prayer that Nature answers. Robert Green Ingersoll labor-dayprayeranswers In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous. Robert Green Ingersoll indiageniuswork An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. Certainly he ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep him from being laughed at. No one thinks of protecting Shakespeare from ridicule, by the threat of fine and imprisonment. Robert Green Ingersoll ablelawthinking
