Famous Robert Ingersoll Quotations

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"Courage without conscience is a wild beast."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"Happiness is not a reward -- it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment -- it is a result."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind."
by Robert Ingersoll
"The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"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."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"Any doctrine that will not bear investigation is not a fit tenant for the mind of an honest man."
by Robert Ingersoll
"Colleges are places where pebbles are polished and diamonds are dimmed."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"Every man is dishonest who lives upon the labour of others, no matter if he occupies a throne."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"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."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"Few rich men own their own property. The property owns them."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself."
by Robert Ingersoll
"Happiness is not a reward-it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment-it is a result."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"Happiness is not a reward - it is a consequence.
Suffering is not a punishment - it is a result."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"Hope, deceitful as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"I am 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."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"I would rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"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."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"If we are immortal it is a fact in nature, and we are not indebted to priests for it, nor to bibles for it, and it cannot be destroyed by unbelief."
by Robert Ingersoll
"In nature there are neither rewards not punishments--there are consequences."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishment - there are consequences."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"In the republic of mediocrity genius is dangerous."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"Intellectual liberty is the air of the soul, the sunshine of the mind, and without it, the world is a prison, the universe a dungeon."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"It is a blessed thing that in every age someone has had the individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"It is an old habit with theologians to beat the living with the bones of the dead."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"The present is the necessary product of all the past, the necessary cause of all the future."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"The triumph of justice is the only peace."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments, there are consequences."
by Robert Ingersoll
"There is no slavery but ignorance."
by Robert Ingersoll
"Under the influence of art the walls expand, the roof rises, and it becomes a temple."
by Robert Ingersoll
"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."
by Robert Green Ingersoll
"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."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are only consequences."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"When the will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate, when honor scorns to compromise with death -- that is heroism."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"If I owe Smith ten dollars and God forgives me, that doesn't pay Smith."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"He who sleeps here, when dying, mistaking the approach of death for the return of health, whispered with his latest breath, I am better now. Let us believe, in spite of doubts and dogmas, of fears and tears, that these dear words are true of all the countless dead. The record of a generous life runs like a vine around the memory of our dead, and every sweet, unselfish act is now a perfumed flower."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"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."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"These heroes are dead. They died for liberty - they died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless Place of Rest. Earth may run red with other wars - they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"He stands erect by bending over the fallen. He rises by lifting others."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"Every man is dishonest who lives upon the labor of others, no matter if he occupies a throne."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"The inspiration of the bible depends on the ignorance of the person who reads it."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"I have the right to do my own thinking. I am going to do it. I have never met any minister that I thought had brain enough to think for himself and for me too. I do my own. I have no reverence for barbarism, no matter how ancient it may be, and no reverence for the savagery of the Old Testament; no reverence for the malice of the New. And let me tell you here tonight that the Old Testament is a thousand times better than the New. The Old Testament threatened no vengeance beyond the grave. God was satisfied when his enemy was dead. It was reserved for the New Testament-it was reserved for universal benevolence - to rend the veil between time and eternity and fix the horrified gaze of man upon the abyss of hell. The New Testament is just as much worse than the Old, as hell is worse than sleep. And yet it is the fashion to say that the Old Testament is bad and that the New Testament is good. I have no reverence for any book that teaches a doctrine contrary to my reason; no reverence for any book that teaches a doctrine contrary to my heart; and, no matter how old it is, no matter how many have believed it, no matter how many have died on account of it, no matter how many live for it, I have no reverence for that book, and I am glad of it."
by Robert G. Ingersoll
"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..."
by Robert G. Ingersoll


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