If the people were a little more ignorant, astrology would flourish - if a little more enlightened, religion would perish. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
One thing I do know, and that is, that neither hope, nor fear, belief, nor denial, can change the fact. It is… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Heresy is what the minority believe; it is the name given by the powerful to the doctrines of the weak. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
The first step is for man to cease to be the slave of man. The second, is to cease to be the… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Nothing could be more dangerous to the existence of this Republic than to introduce religion into politics — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Superstition is, always has been, and forever will be, the foe of progress, the enemy of education and the assassin of freedom. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Prayer is of no avail. The lightning falls on the just and the unjust in accordance with natural laws. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Our hope of immortality does not come from any religions, but nearly all religions come from that hope. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
All I have to say is, Love one another - that is the height of all philosophy. It is beyond all religions.… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
The idea that there is a God who rewards and punishes, and who can reward, if he so wishes, the meanest and… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
The Catholics have a Pope. Protestants laugh at them, and yet the Pope is capable of intellectual advancement. In addition to this,… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
All religious systems enslave the mind. Certain things are demanded-certain things must be believed-certain things must be done-and the man who becomes… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
The Christians say, that among the ancient Jews, if you committed a crime you had to kill a sheep. Now they say… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
I believe in the religion of reason -- the gospel of this world; in the development of the mind, in the accumulation… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
I belong to the Great Church which holds the world within its starlit aisles; that claims the great and good of every… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
...in every religion the priest insists on five things - First: There is a God. Second: He has made known his will.… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
“Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery. It is far better to be free, to leave the forts and barricades… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Most men are followers, and implicitly rely upon the judgment of others. They mistake solemnity for wisdom, and regard a grave countenance… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Environment is a sculptor - a painter. If we had been born in Constantinople, then most of us would have said: 'There… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Tell me there is a God in the serene heavens that will damn his children for the expression of an honest belief!… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
At the bottom of religious persecution is the doctrine of self-defence; that is to say, the defence of the soul. If the… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
They say that when god was in Jerusalem he forgave his murderers, but now he will not forgive an honest man for… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
I admit that books were voted in and out, and that the Bible was finally formed in accordance with a vote. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
I concluded that all religions had the same foundation - a belief in the supernatural - a power above nature that man… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Commerce makes friends, religion makes enemies; the one enriches, and the other impoverishes; the one thrives best where the truth is told,… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
All the professors in all the religious colleges in this country rolled into one, would not equal Charles Darwin. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
The only evidence, so far as I know, about another life is, first, that we have no evidence; and secondly, that we… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Calvin founded a little theocracy, modeled after the Old Testament, and succeeded in erecting the most detestable government that ever existed, except… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
The church hates a thinker precisely for the same reason a robber dislikes a sheriff, or a thief despises the prosecuting witness. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
If all the historic books of the Bible were blotted from the memory of mankind, nothing of value would be lost.. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Every sect is a certificate that God has not plainly revealed his will to man. To each reader the Bible conveys a… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
An infinite God ought to be able to protect Himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Every religion in the world has denounced every other religion as a fraud. That proves to me that they all tell the… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Let us put theology out of religion. Theology has always sent the worst to heaven, the best to hell. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
I know of no crime that has not been defended by the church, in one form or other. The church is not… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
This is my creed: Happiness is the only good; reason the only torch; justice the only worship, humanity the only religion, and… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
My objection to Christianity is that it is infinitely cruel, infinitely selfish, and I might add infinitely absurd — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Only those who live on the labor of the ignorant are the enemies of science. Real love and real religion are in… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
The intellectual advancement of man depends on how often he can exchange an old superstition for a new truth. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
According to the celestial multiplication table, once one is three, and three times one is one, and according to heavenly subtraction if… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share Image
Our hope of immortality does not come from any religions, but nearly all religions come from that hope. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
If, with all the time at my disposal, with all the wealth of the resources of this vast universe, to do with as I… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
Honest investigation is utterly impossible within the pale of any church, for the reason, that if you think the church is right you will… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
I read the other day an account of a meeting between John Knox and John Calvin. Imagine a dialogue between a pestilence and a… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
Every man who expresses an honest thought is a soldier in the army of intellectual liberty. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
Liberty is the condition of progress. Without Liberty, there remains only barbarism. Without Liberty, there can be no civilization. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
It has been said that a man of genius should select his ancestors with great care - and yet there does not seem to… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
When passions and appetites are stronger than the intellect, men are savages; when the intellect governs the passions, when the passions are servants, men… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
In spite of my surroundings, of my education, I had no love for God. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
The combined wisdom and genius of all mankind cannot possibly conceive of an argument against liberty of thought. — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
Calvin founded a little theocracy, modeled after the Old Testament, and succeeded in erecting the most detestable government that ever existed, except the one… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
I do not believe in loving enemies; I have pretty hard work to love my friends. Neither do I believe in revenge. No man… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
What is it that distinguishes you and me from the lower animals - from the beasts? More, I say, than anything else, human sympathy… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
The literature of many lands is rich with the tributes that gratitude, admiration and love have paid to the great and honored dead. These… — Robert Green Ingersoll Copy Share
