Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
If people are not being told the truth about their problems, the majority not only may, but invariably must, make the wrong judgments.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Truth
The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow-men.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
The triumph of justice is the only peace.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Justice
Religion is one of the phases of thought through which the world is passing
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Religion
The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Courage, Difficulty, Defeat, Bravery
I would rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Love
The present is the necessary product of all the past, the necessary cause of all the future.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: The Present
Every man who expresses an honest thought is a soldier in the army of intellectual liberty.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Soldiers, Army
Man is a marvelous curiosity … he thinks he is the Creator’s pet … he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes, and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to him and thinks He listens. Isn’t it a quaint idea?
—Robert G. Ingersoll
There is something wrong in a government where they who do the most have the least. There is something wrong when honesty wears a rag, and rascality a robe; when the loving, the tender, eat a crust, while the infamous sit at banquets.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Equality
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.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: God
Kindness is the sunshine in which virtue grows.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Kindness
Religion has not civilized man, man has civilized religion.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Religion
A college is a place where pebbles are polished and diamonds dimmed.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: One liners, Universities, Colleges, Education
It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions,—some one who had the grandeur to say his say. I believe it was Magellan who said, The church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the church. On the prow of his ship were disobedience, defiance, scorn, and success.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Courage, Faith
Don’t you know that if people could bottle the air they would? Don’t you know that there would be an American Air-bottling Association? And don’t you know that they would allow thousands and millions to die for want of breath, if they could not pay for air? I am not blaming anybody. I am just telling how it is.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Property
I would rather be a beggar and spend my money like a king, than be a king and spend money like a beggar.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Money
In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Perspective
Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Tolerance
A believer is a songless bird in a cage, a freethinker is an eagle parting the clouds with tireless wings.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
The more liberty you give away the more you will have.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Liberty
In all ages, hypocrites, called priests, have put crowns upon the heads of thieves, called kings.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Hypocrisy
Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Hope
Our hope of immortality does not come from any religions, but nearly all religions come from that hope.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Immortality, Religion
Every man is dishonest who lives upon the labor of others, no matter if he occupies a throne.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Labor
The destroyer of weeds, thistles and thorns is a benefactor, whether he soweth grain or not.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Consistency, Helping
Justice should remove the bandage from her eyes long enough to distinguish between the vicious and the unfortunate.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Justice, Opportunity, Difficulties, Adversity, Opportunities
Good nature is the cheapest commodity in the world, and love is the only thing that will pay ten percent to both borrower and lender.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Love
It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
Topics: Common Sense, Education
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Robert F. Kennedy American Politician
- Hugo Black American Attorney
- Earl Warren American Judge, Politician
- Rudy Giuliani American Politician
- William Bennett American Politician
- Harry Browne American Author, Economist
- Thomas Brackett Reed American Politician
- Horace Greeley American Journalist
- George Madison Adams American Writer
- Wendell Willkie American Politician
Leave a Reply