Robert G. Ingersoll quotes - page 4

I do not believe that the tendency is to make men and women brave and glorious when you tell them that there are certain ideas upon certain subjects that they must never express; that they must go through life with a pretence as a shield; that their neighbors will think much more of them if they will only keep still; and that above all is a God who despises one who honestly expresses what he believes. (Robert G. Ingersoll)
An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
I simply claim that what ideas I have, I have a right to express; and that any man who denies that right to me is an intellectual thief and robber. That is all. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
I would rather have been a French peasant and worn wooden shoes; I would rather have lived in a hut, with a vine growing over the door and the grapes growing and ripening in the autumn sun; I would rather have been that peasant, with my wife by my side and my children upon my knees, twining their arms of affection about me; I would rather have been that poor French peasant and gone down at last to the eternal promiscuity of the dust, followed by those who loved me; I would a thousand times rather have been that French peasant than that imperial personative of force and murder; and so I would -ten thousand thousand times. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
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. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
There is no slavery but ignorance. Liberty is the child of intelligence. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
It taught that the business of this life was to prepare for death. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
Blasphemy is what an old mistake says of a newly discovered truth. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
The most important thing in this world is liberty. More important than food or clothes - more important than gold or houses or lands - more important than art or science - more important than all religions, is the liberty of man. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
Marriages are made by men and women; not by society; not by the state; not by the church; not by supernatural beings. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
It seems to me that if there is some infinite being who wants us to think alike he would have made us alike. (Robert G. Ingersoll)
Why should a Christian hesitate to kill a man that his God is waiting to damn? Why should a Christian pity an unbeliever-one who has rejected the Bible-when he knows that God will be pitiless forever? View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
And the brain thinks in spite of you. Should you express that thought? Certainly you should, if others express theirs. You have exactly the same right. He who takes it from you is a robber. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
The intelligent men of the world do not believe in orthodox Christianity. It is today a symptom of intellectual decay. The conservative ministers are the stupid ones. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
Liberty is the condition of progress. Without Liberty, there remains only barbarism. Without Liberty, there can be no civilization. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
The promise of Christ to reward those who will believe is a bribe. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
Give me the storm and tempest of thought and action, rather than the dead calm of ignorance and faith! Banish me from Eden when you will; but first let me eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge! View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
Progress is born of doubt and inquiry. The Church never doubts, never inquires. To doubt is heresy, to inquire is to admit that you do not know-the Church does neither. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
The truth shall make you free, but first it shall make you angry. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
With soap, baptism is a good thing. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
What light is to the eyes, what love is to the heart, Liberty is to the soul of man. Without it, there come suffocation, degradation and death. (Robert G. Ingersoll)
Some tell us that it is the desire of God that we should worship him. What for? Why does he desire worship? Others tell us that we should sacrifice something to him. What for? Is he in want? Can we assist him? Is he unhappy? Is he in trouble? View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
I like Voltaire, because for half a century he was the intellectual emperor of Europe. I like him, because from his throne at the foot of the Alps he pointed the finger of scorn at every hypocrite in Christendom. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
Celibacy is the essence of vulgarity. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll
I happened to be in the company of six or seven Baptist elders-how I ever got into such bad company, I don't know,-and one of them asked what I thought about baptism. Well, I never thought much about it; did not know much about it; didn't want to say anything, but they insisted upon it. I said, "Well, I'll give you my opinion-with soap, baptism is a good thing.”. View quote
Robert G. Ingersoll