Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes (61 Quotes)




    I would rather be a beggar and spend my money like a king, than be a king and spend money like a beggar.

    It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.





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

    It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had the individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions.

    Every man is dishonest who lives upon the labor of others, no matter if he occupies a throne.

    What light is to the eyes - what air is to the lungs - what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of man.

    Every flower about a house certifies to the refinement of somebody. Every vine climbing and blossoming tells of love and joy.



    Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

    Let us put theology out of religion. Theology has always sent the worst to heaven, the best to hell.


    Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.

    Anger blows out the lamp of the mind. In the examination of a great and important question, everyone should be serene, slow-pulsed and calm.


    If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.

    A fact never went into partnership with a miracle. Truth scorns the assistance of wonders. A fact will fit every other fact in the universe, and that is how you can tell whether it is or is not a fact. A lie will not fit anything except another lie.



    I believe it was Magellan who said, 'The Church says that 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 the Shadow than in the Church.'

    The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself.

    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.




    A believer is a bird in a cage, a free-thinker is an eagle parting the clouds with tireless wing.


    When the will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate, when honor scorns to compromise with death - that is heroism.



    Happiness is not a reward - it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment - it is a result.




    The destroyer of weeds, thistles, and thorns is a benefactor whether he soweth grain or not.

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

    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.


    Love is the only bow on life's dark cloud. It is the Morning and the Evening Star. It shines upon the cradle of the babe, and sheds its radiance upon the quiet tomb. It is the Mother of Art, inspirer of poet, patriot, and philosopher. It is the air and light of every heart, builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody, for music is the voice of Love. Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy, and makes right royal kings of common clay. It is the perfume of the wondrous flowerthe heartand without that sacred passion, ... we are less than beasts but with it, earth and heaven are gods.

    Our hope of immortality does not come from any religions, But nearly all religions come from that hope.

    Learn to love good books. There are treasures in books that all the money in the world cannot buy, but the poorest laborer can have for nothing.

    Justice should remove the bandage from her eyes long enough to distinguish between the vicious and the unfortunate.

    In the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing.

    We need men with moral courage to speak and write their real thoughts, and to stand by their convictions, even to the very death.

    Surely there is grandeur in knowing that in the realm of thought, at least, you are without a chain; that you have the right to explore all heights and depth; that there are no walls nor fences, nor prohibited places, nor sacred corners in all the vast expanse of thought.


    More Robert Green Ingersoll Quotations (Based on Topics)


    Man - Mind - Love - Hope - Happiness - Heaven - Place - God - World - Ignorance - Death & Dying - Religions & Spirituality - Anger - Immortality - Crime - Punishment - Liberty & Freedom - Thought & Thinking - Joy & Excitement - View All Robert Green Ingersoll Quotations

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