I will not attack your doctrines nor your creeds if they accord liberty to me. If they hold thought to be dangerous - if they aver that doubt is a crime, then I attack them one and all, because they enslave the minds of men. Robert Green Ingersoll More Quotes by Robert Green Ingersoll More Quotes From Robert Green Ingersoll Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy, and makes right royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods. Robert Green Ingersoll queens kings love As we become civilized we are governed less by persons and more by principles. . . . The best of all leaders is the man who teaches people to lead themselves. Robert Green Ingersoll leadership men people Some president wishes to be re-elected, and thereupon speaks about the Bible as "the corner-stone of American Liberty." This sentence is a mouth large enough to swallow any church, and from that time forward the religious people will be citing that remark of the politician to substantiate the inspiration of the Scriptures. Robert Green Ingersoll inspiration religious people All laws for the purpose of making man worship God, are born of the same spirit that kindled the fires of the auto da fe, and lovingly built the dungeons of the Inquisition. All laws defining and punishing blasphemy - making it a crime to give your honest ideas about the Bible, or to laugh at the ignorance of the ancient Jews, or to enjoy yourself on the Sabbath, or to give your opinion of Jehovah, were passed by impudent bigots, and should be at once repealed by honest men. An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. Robert Green Ingersoll ignorance law men I hate above all things a cross man. What right has he to murder the sunshine of a day? What right has he to assassinate the Joy of life? When you go home, you ought to go like a ray of light-so that it will, even in the night, burst out of the doors and windows and illuminate the darkness. Robert Green Ingersoll sunshine hate home If you have ever clothed another with woe, as with a garment of pain, you will never be quite as happy as though you had not done that thing. Robert Green Ingersoll unity pain done Injustice upon earth renders the justice of of heaven impossible. Robert Green Ingersoll earth justice heaven The real searcher after truth will not receive the old because it is old, or reject the new because it is new. He will not believe men because they are dead, or contradict them because they are alive. With him an utterance is worth the truth, the reason it contains, without the slightest regard to the author. He may have been a king or serf - a philosopher or servant, - but the utterance neither gains nor loses in truth or reason. Its value is absolutely independent of the fame or station of the man who gave it to the world. Robert Green Ingersoll wisdom truth kings Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. Robert Green Ingersoll use-of-power use character 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 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 atheism ignorance men I have not the slightest confidence in 'spiritual manifestations.' Robert Green Ingersoll manifestation spiritual All the professors in all the religious colleges in this country rolled into one, would not equal Charles Darwin. Robert Green Ingersoll college religious country We do not need the forgiveness of God, but of each other and of ourselves. Robert Green Ingersoll needs Now the struggle for life is so sharp, competition is so severe, that few men can succeed who carry a useless burden. The businessmen of our country are compelled to lead temperate lives, otherwise their credit is gone. Robert Green Ingersoll struggle men country Religion is one of the phases of thought through which the world is passing. Robert Green Ingersoll phases world religion The Church says the Earth is flat. But I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the Moon. And I have more faith in a shadow than in the Church. Robert Green Ingersoll faith motivational death Honesty is the mother of confidence; it unites, combines and solidifies society. Dishonesty is disintegration; it destroys confidence; it brings social chaos. . . . Robert Green Ingersoll chaos honesty mother Reason is the light, the sun of the brain. It is the compass of the mind, the ever-constant Northern Star, the mountain peak that lifts itself above all clouds. Robert Green Ingersoll stars light clouds Shakespeare has done far more for the world than the Bible. Robert Green Ingersoll done world
