Nothing is greater than to
break the chains from the bodies of men -- nothing nobler than to destroy the
phantom of the soul.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, quoted from the Address, Ingersoll the
Magnificent, delivered by Joseph Lewis on August 11th 1954 dedicating, as a
Public Memorial, the house in which Robert G. Ingersoll was born, Dresden, Yates
County, in the state of New York.
We need men with moral
courage to speak and write their real thoughts, and to stand by their
convictions, even to the very death.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, "Thomas Paine" (1870)
The man who does not do his
own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow-men.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, "The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child"
They knew no better, but I
do not propose to follow the example of a barbarian because he was honestly a
barbarian.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, "The Limitations of Toleration"
The moment you introduce a
despotism in the world of thought, you succeed in making hypocrites -- and you
get in such a position that you never know what your neighbor thinks.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, "The Limitations of Toleration"
The doctrine of eternal
punishment is in perfect harmony with the savagery of the men who made the
orthodox creeds. It is in harmony with torture, with flaying alive, and with
burnings. The men who burned their fellow-men for a moment, believed that God
would burn his enemies forever.
-- Robert Green
Ingersoll, "Crumbling Creeds"
We have heard talk enough.
We have listened to all the drowsy, idealess, vapid sermons that we wish to
hear. We have read your Bible and the works of your best minds. We have heard
your prayers, your solemn groans and your reverential amens. All these amount to
less than nothing. We want one fact. We beg at the doors of your churches for
just one little fact. We pass our hats along your pews and under your pulpits
and implore you for just one fact. We know all about your mouldy wonders and
your stale miracles. We want a this year's fact. We ask only one. Give us one
fact for charity. Your miracles are too ancient. The witnesses have been dead
for nearly two thousand years.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, "The Gods" (1872)
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 Green Ingersoll, "Some Mistakes of Moses"
We have already compared the
benefits of theology and science. When the theologian governed the world, it was
covered with huts and hovels for the many, palaces and cathedrals for the few.
To nearly all the children of men, reading and writing were unknown arts. The
poor were clad in rags and skins -- they devoured crusts, and gnawed bones. The
day of Science dawned, and the luxuries of a century ago are the necessities of
to-day. Men in the middle ranks of life have more of the conveniences and
elegancies than the princes and kings of the theological times. But above and
over all this, is the development of mind. There is more of value in the brain
of an average man of to-day -- of a master-mechanic, of a chemist, of a
naturalist, of an inventor, than there was in the brain of the world four
hundred years ago.
These blessings did not fall from the skies. These benefits did not drop
from the outstretched hands of priests. They were not found in cathedrals or
behind altars -- neither were they searched for with holy candles. They were not
discovered by the closed eyes of prayer, nor did they come in answer to
superstitious supplication. They are the children of freedom, the gifts of
reason, observation and experience -- and for them all, man is indebted to man.
-- Robert Green
Ingersoll, "God In The Constitution"
Orthodox Christians have the
habit of claiming all great men, all men who have held important positions, men
of reputation, men of wealth. As soon as the funeral is over clergymen begin to
relate imaginary conversations with the deceased, and in a very little while the
great man is changed to a Christian -- possibly to a saint.
-- Robert Green
Ingersoll, "The Religious Belief of Abraham Lincoln"
Only a few years ago there
was no person too ignorant to successfully answer Charles Darwin; and the more
ignorant he was the more cheerfully he undertook the task.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, "Orthodoxy" (1884)
The ministers, who preached
at these revivals, were in earnest. They were zealous and sincere. They were not
philosophers. To them science was the name of a vague dread -- a dangerous
enemy. They did not know much, but they believed a great deal.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, from "Why I Am an Agnostic" (1896)
The old lady who said there
must be a devil, else how could they make pictures that looked exactly like him,
reasoned like a trained theologian -- like a doctor of divinity.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, from "Superstition" (1898)
[Excerpt]
The notion that faith in
Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon
reason, observation and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for
refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and
ignorance, called "faith."
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, The Gods
[Passage]
The doctrine that future
happiness depends upon belief is monstrous. It is the infamy of infamies. The
notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a
dependence upon reason, observation and experience merits everlasting pain, is
too absurd for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of
insanity and ignorance, called "faith." What man, who ever thinks, can believe
that blood can appease God? And yet, our entire system of religion is based upon
that belief. The Jews pacified Jehovah with the blood of animals, and according
to the Christian system, the blood of Jesus softened the heart of God a little,
and rendered possible the salvation of a fortunate few. It is hard to conceive
how the human mind can give assent to such terrible ideas, or how any sane man
can read the Bible and still believe in the doctrine of inspiration.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, The Gods
It is contended by many that
ours is a Christian government, founded upon the Bible, and that all who look
upon the book as false or foolish are destroying the foundation of our country.
The truth is, our government is not founded upon the rights of gods, but upon
the rights of men. Our Constitution was framed, not to declare and uphold the
deity of Christ, but the sacredness of humanity. Ours is the first government
made by the people and for the people. It is the only nation with which the gods
have had nothing to do. And yet there are some judges dishonest and cowardly
enough to solemnly decide that this is a Christian country, and that our free
institutions are based upon the infamous laws of Jehovah.
--
Robert Green Ingersoll, "Individuality" (1873)
