Quotes by Robert G. Ingersoll

About Robert G. Ingersoll:

Robert Green was a lawyer, a Civil War veteran, political leader, and orator of United States during the Golden Age of Free Thought, noted for his broad range of culture and his defense of agnosticism. He was nicknamed "The Great Agnostic".
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Theology is a superstition—Humanity a religion.

Robert G. Ingersoll

If the Pentateuch is inspired, the civilization of of our day is a mistake and crime. There should be no political liberty. Heresy should be trodden out beneath the bigot's brutal feet. Husbands should divorce their wives at will, and make the mother...

Robert G. Ingersoll

It has always been a mystery to me how Adam, Eve, and the serpent were taught the same language. Where did they get it? We know now, that it requires a great number of years to form a language; that it is of exceedingly slow growth. We also know that...

Robert G. Ingersoll

Is it true that man was once perfectly pure and innocent, and that he became degenerate by disobedience? No. The real truth is, and the history of man shows, that he has advanced. Events, like the pendulum of a clock have swung forward and backward, ...

Robert G. Ingersoll

The sciences are not sectarian. People do not persecute each other on account of disagreements in mathematics. Families are not divided about botany, and astronomy does not even tend to make a man hate his father and mother. It is what people do not ...

Robert G. Ingersoll

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

Robert G. Ingersoll

Not one of the learned gentlemen who pretend that the Mosaic laws are filled with justice and intelligence, would live, for a moment, in any country where such laws were in force.

Robert G. Ingersoll

Who can over estimate the progress of the world if all the money wasted in superstition could be used to enlighten, elevate and civilize mankind?

Robert G. Ingersoll

Suppose, however, that God did give this law to the Jews, and did tell them that whenever a man preached a heresy, or proposed to worship any other God that they should kill him; and suppose that afterward this same God took upon himself flesh, and c...

Robert G. Ingersoll

The hands that help are better far than lips that pray.

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!

Robert G. Ingersoll

I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample under foot. Men are not superior by reason of the accidents of race or color. They are superior who have the best heart — the best brain.

Robert G. Ingersoll

Blasphemy is an epithet bestowed by superstition upon common sense.

Robert G. Ingersoll

Suppose it should turn out that no such person as Christ ever lived. What harm would that do justice or mercy? Wouldn't the tear of pity be as pure as now, and wouldn't justice, holding aloft her scales, from which she blows even the dust of prejudic...

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.

Robert G. Ingersoll

Heresy is the eternal dawn, the morning star, the glittering herald of the day. Heresy is the last and best thought. It is the perpetual New World, the unknown sea, toward which the brave all sail. It is the eternal horizon of progress. Heresy extend...

Robert G. Ingersoll

The glory of science is, that it is freeing the soul -- breaking the mental manacles -- getting the brain out of bondage -- giving courage to thought -- filling the world with mercy, justice, and joy.

Robert G. Ingersoll

In all ages the people have honored those who dishonored them. They have worshiped their destroyers; they have canonized the most gigantic liars, and buried the great thieves in marble and gold. Under the loftiest monuments sleeps the dust of murder.

Robert G. Ingersoll

The religionist is a living fossil, embedded in that rock called faith.

Robert G. Ingersoll

The idea of immortality, that like a sea has ebbed and flowed in the human heart, with its countless waves of hope and fear, beating against the shores and rocks of time and fate, was not born of any book, nor of any creed, nor of any religion. It wa...

Robert G. Ingersoll

Injustice upon earth renders the justice of of heaven impossible.

Robert G. Ingersoll

Author Bio

  • NameRobert G. Ingersoll
  • DescriptionUnion United States Army officer
  • BornAugust 11, 1833
  • DiedJuly 21, 1899
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionLawyer; Politician; Writer; Essayist