Robert G. Ingersoll

“The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”

“One laugh of a child will make the holiest day more sacred still.”

“In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous.”

“An honest God is the noblest work of man.”

“My creed is that: Happiness is the only good. The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to make others so.”

“Few rich men own their own property. Their property owns them.”

“I suppose it can be truthfully said that hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity.”

“Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.”

“In the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing.”

“In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments - there are consequences.”

“With soap baptism is a good thing.”

“And why does this same God tell me how to raise my children when he had to drown his?”

“If the people of Europe had known as much of astronomy and geology when the bible was introduced among them, as they do now, there never could have been one believer in the doctrine of inspi...”

“When the great ship containing the hopes and aspirations of the world, when the great ship freighted with mankind goes down in the night of death, chaos and disaster, I am willing to go down...”

“Nothing but truth is immortal.”

“Not one of the orthodox ministers dare preach what he thinks if he knows a majority of his congregation think otherwise. He knows that every member of his church stands guard over his brain...”

“Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? Was he kinder, more forgiving, more self-sacrificing than Buddha? Was he wiser, did he meet death with more perfect calmne...”

“Love is the only bow on Life’s dark cloud. It is the morning and the evening star. It shines upon the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the mother of art, inspirer of poe...”

“In my judgment, the woman is the equal of the man. She has all the rights I have and one more, and that is the right to be protected. That is my doctrine. You are married; try and make the w...”

“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 bo...”