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No One Infers A God From The Simple, From The Known, From What Is Understood, But From The Complex, From The Unknown, And Incomprehensible. Our Ignorance Is God; What We Know Is Science.

-Robert Green Ingersoll

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No One Infers A

Robert Green Ingersoll

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No One Infers A God From The Simple, From The Known, From What Is Understood, But From The Complex, From The Unknown, And Incomprehensible. Our Ignorance Is God; What We Know Is Science.

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Cruelty Hardens And Degrades, Kindness Reforms And Ennobles.

A Man Is Not Moral Because He Is Obedient Through Fear Or Ignorance. Morality Lives In The Realm Of Perceived Obligation.

Intellect, Without Heart, Is Infinitely Cruel. . . . So That, After All, The Real Aristocracy Must Be That Of Goodness Where The Intellect Is Directed By The Heart.

If We Have The Right To Use Our Reason, We Certainly Have The Right To Act In Accordance With It, And No God Can Have The Right To Punish Us For Such Action

The Old Man Has Been Long At The Fair. He Is Acquainted With The Jugglers At The Booths. His Curiosity Has Been Satisfied. He No Longer Cares For The Exceptional, The Monstrous, The Marvelous And Deformed. He Looks Through And Beyond The Gilding, The Glitter And Gloss, Not Only Of Things, But Of Conduct, Of Manners, Theories, Religions And Philosophies. He Sees Clearer. The Light No Longer Shines In His Eyes.

The Old Testament Filled This World With Tyranny And Injustice, And The New Gives Us A Future Filled With Pain For Nearly All Of The Sons Of Men. The Old Testament Describes The Hell Of The Past, And The New The Hell Of The Future.

One Good Schoolmaster Is Worth A Thousand Priests.

I Am Going To Put The Bible Out Of Business.

Arguments Cannot Be Answered By Personal Abuse; There Is No Logic In Slander, And Falsehood, In The Long Run, Defeats Itself.

Lincoln Was Not A Type. He Stands Alone - No Ancestors, No Fellows, No Successors.

It Is A Splendid Thing To Think That The Woman You Really Love Will Never Grow Old To You. Through The Wrinkles Of Time, Through The Mask Of Years, If You Really Love Her, You Will Always See The Face You Love And Won. And A Woman Who Really Loves A Man Does Not See That He Grows Old; He Is Not Decrepit To Her; She Always Sees The Same Gallant Gentleman Who Won Her Hand And Heart.

Nothing Discloses Real Character Like The Use Of Power. It Is Easy For The Weak To Be Gentle. Most People Can Bear Adversity. But If You Wish To Know What A Man Really Is, Give Him Power. This Is The Supreme Test. It Is The Glory Of Lincoln That, Having Almost Absolute Power, He Never Abused It, Except Upon The Side Of Mercy.

No Man With A Sense Of Humor Ever Founded A Religion.

There Is Only One Way To Be Happy, And That Is To Make Somebody Else So, And You Cannot Be Happy By Going Cross Lots; You Have Got To Go The Regular Turnpike Road.

An Honest God Is The Noblest Work Of Man. ... God Has Always Resembled His Creators. He Hated And Loved What They Hated And Loved And He Was Invariably Found On The Side Of Those In Power. ... Most Of The Gods Were Pleased With Sacrifice, And The Smell Of Innocent Blood Has Ever Been Considered A Divine Perfume.

But Honest Men Do Not Pretend To Know; They Are Candid And Sincere; They Love The Truth; They Admit Their Ignorance, And They Say, We Do Not Know.

Tell Me There Is A God In The Serene Heavens That Will Damn His Children For The Expression Of An Honest Belief! More Men Have Died In Their Sins, Judged By Your Orthodox Creeds, Than There Are Leaves In All The Forests In The Wide World Ten Thousand Times Over. Tell Me These Men Are In Hell; That These Men Are In Torment; That These Children Are In Eternal Pain, And That They Are To Be Punished Forever And Forever! I Denounce This Doctrine As The Most Infamous Of Lies.

They Say That When God Was In Jerusalem He Forgave His Murderers, But Now He Will Not Forgive An Honest Man For Differing With Him On The Subject Of The Trinity. They Say That God Says To Me, "forgive Your Enemies." I Say, "i Do;" But He Says, "i Will Damn Mine." God Should Be Consistent. If He Wants Me To Forgive My Enemies He Should Forgive His. I Am Asked To Forgive Enemies Who Can Hurt Me. God Is Only Asked To Forgive Enemies Who Cannot Hurt Him. He Certainly Ought To Be As Generous As He Asks Us To Be.

Wait Until The World Is Free Before You Write A Creed. In This Creed There Will Be But One Word -- Liberty.

Shakespeare Has Done Far More For The World Than The Bible.

Meekness Is The Mask Of Malice.

When One Of Your Children Tells A Lie, Be Honest With Him; Tell Him That You Have Told Hundreds Of Them Yourself. Tell Him It Is Not The Best Way; That You Have Tried It. Tell Him As The Man Did In Maine When His Boy Left Home: "john, Honesty Is The Best Policy; I Have Tried Both."

If We Admit That Some Infinite Being Has Controlled The Destinies Of Persons And Peoples, History Becomes A Most Cruel And Bloody Farce.

Give To Every Human Being Every Right That You Claim For Yourself.

The Inventor Of The Plow Did More Good Than The Maker Of The First Rosary - Because, Say What You Will, Plowing Is Better Than Praying.

To Know That The Bible Is The Literature Of A Barbarous People, To Know That It Is Uninspired, To Be Certain That The Supernatural Does Not And Cannot Exist - All This Is But The Beginning Of Wisdom.

Every Creed Is A Rock In Running Water: Humanity Sweeps By It. Every Creed Cries To The Universe, "halt!" A Creed Is The Ignorant Past Bulling The Enlightened Present.

Just To The Extent That The Bible Was Appealed To In Matters Of Science, Science Was Retarded; And Just To The Extent That Science Has Been Appealed To In Matters Of Religion, Religion Has Advanced - So That Now The Object Of Intelligent Religionists Is To Adopt A Creed That Will Bear The Test And Criticism Of Science.

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.

In All Ages, Hypocrites, Called Priests, Have Put Crowns Upon The Heads Of Thieves, Called Kings.

Who Can Estimate The Misery That Has Been Caused By This Infamous Doctrine Of Eternal Punishment? Think Of The Lives It Has Blighted-of The Tears It Has Caused-of The Agony It Has Produced. Think Of The Millions Who Have Been Driven To Insanity By This Most Terrible Of Dogmas. This Doctrine Renters God The Basest And Most Cruel Being In The Universe. ... There Is Nothing More Degrading Than To Worship Such A God.

I Thank Thee, Mother Nature, That Thou Hast Put Ingenuity Enough In The Brain Of A Child, When Attacked By A Brutal Parent, To Throw Up A Little Breastwork In The Shape Of A Lie.

The Triumph Of Justice Is The Only Peace.

I Would Rather Be A Beggar And Spend My Money Like A King, Than Be A King And Spend Money Like A Beggar.

The Agnostic Does Not Simply Say, "l Do Not Know." He Goes Another Step, And He Says, With Great Emphasis, That You Do Not Know. He Insists That You Are Trading On The Ignorance Of Others, And On The Fear Of Others. He Is Not Satisfied With Saying That You Do Not Know, -- He Demonstrates That You Do Not Know, And He Drives You From The Field Of Fact -- He Drives You From The Realm Of Reason -- He Drives You From The Light, Into The Darkness Of Conjecture -- Into The World Of Dreams And Shadows, And He Compels You To Say, At Last, That Your Faith Has No Foundation In Fact.

It Is Impossible For Me To Conceive Of A Character More Utterly Detestable Than That Of The Hebrew God.

Justice Should Remove The Bandage From Her Eyes Long Enough To Distinguish Between The Vicious And The Unfortunate.

Justice For All

Anger Is A Wind Which Blows Out The Lamp Of The Mind.

Above All Things, One Should Maintain His Self-respect, And There Is But One Way To Do That, And That Is To Live In Accordance With Your Highest Ideal.

Would God Give A Bird Wings And Make It A Crime To Fly? Would He Give Me Brains And Make It A Crime To Think? Any God That Would Damn One Of His Children For The Expression Of His Honest Thought Wouldn't Make A Decent Thief. When I Read A Book And Don't Believe It, I Ought To Say So. I Will Do So And Take The Consequences Like A Man.

God So Loved The World That He Made Up His Mind To Damn A Large Majority Of The Human Race.

There May Or May Not Be A Supreme Ruler Of The Universe-but We Are Certain That Man Exists, And We Believe That Freedom Is The Condition Of Progress; That It Is The Sunshine Of The Mental And Moral World, And That Without It Man Will Go Back To The Den Of Savagery, And Wll Become The Fit Associate Of Wild And Ferocious Beasts.

...in Every Religion The Priest Insists On Five Things - First: There Is A God. Second: He Has Made Known His Will. Third: He Has Selected Me To Explain This Message. Fourth: We Will Now Take Up A Collection; And Fifth: Those Who Fail To Subscribe Will Certainly Be Damned.

Every Library Is An Arsenal.

The Undressed Is Vulgar; The Nude Is Pure, And The Well-dressed Tainted.

I Would Rather Live And Love Where Death Is King Than Have Eternal Life Where Love Is Not.

I Do Not Believe In Loving Enemies; I Have Pretty Hard Work To Love My Friends.

Why Should We Desire The Destruction Of Human Passions? Take Passions From Human Beings And What Is Left? The Great Object Should Be Not To Destroy Passions, But To Make Them Obedient To The Intellect. To Indulge Passion To The Utmost Is One Form Of Intemperance - To Destroy Passion Is Another. The Reasonable Gratification Of Passion Under The Domination Of The Intellect Is True Wisdom And Perfect Virtue.

We Are All Children Of The Same Mother, And The Same Fate Awaits Us All. We, Too, Have Our Religion, And It Is This: Help For The Living-hope For The Dead.

All I Have To Say Is, Love One Another - That Is The Height Of All Philosophy. It Is Beyond All Religions. It Is The Secret Of Joy - The Fountain Of Perpetual Youth - The Only Rainbow On Life's Dark Cloud.

For Ages, A Deadly Conflict Has Been Waged Between A Few Brave Men And Women Of Thought And Genius Upon The One Side, And The Great Ignorant Religious Mass On The Other. This Is The War Between Science And Faith. The Few Have Appealed To Reason, To Honor, To Law, To Freedom, To The Known, And To Happiness Here In This World. The Many Have Appealed To Prejudice, To Fear, To Miracle, To Slavery, To The Unknown, And To Misery Hereafter. The Few Have Said "think" The Many Have Said "believe!"

Intelligence Is The Only Moral Guide.

Argument Cannot Be Answered With Insults. Kindness Is Strength; Anger Blows Out The Lamp Of The Mind.

We Are Told In The Pentateuch, That God, The Father Of Us All, Gave Thousands Of Maidens, After Having Killed Their Fathers, Their Mothers, And Their Brothers, To Satisfy The Brutal Lusts Of Savage Men. If There Be A God, I Pray Him To Write In His Book, Opposite My Name, That I Denied This Lie For Him.

You Cannot Be So Poor That You Cannot Help Somebody.

The Hope Of Science Is The Perfection Of The Human Race. The Hope Of Theology Is The Salvation Of A Few, And The Damnation Of Almost Everybody.

Liberty Is The Breath Of Progress.

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 Born Of Any Book, Nor Of Any Creed, Nor Of Any Religion. It Was Born Of Human Affection, And It Will Continue To Ebb And Flow Beneath The Mists And Clouds Of Doubt And Darkness As Long As Love Kisses The Lips Of Death. It Is The Rainbow -- Hope Shining Upon The Tears Of Grief.

Nothing But Truth Is Immortal.

When The Will Defies Fear, When Duty Throws The Gauntlet Down To Fate, When Honor Scorns To Compromise With Death - That Is Heroism.

Man Must Learn To Rely Upon Himself. Reading Bibles Will Not Protect Him From The Blasts Of Winter, But Houses, Fires. And Clothing Will. To Prevent Famine, One Plow Is Worth A Million Sermons, And Even Patent Medicines Will Cure More Diseases Than All The Prayers Uttered Since The Beginning Of The World.

To Hate Man And Worship God Seems To Be The Sum Of All The Creeds.

If There Be An Infinite Being, He Does Not Need Our Help - We Need Not Waste Our Energies In His Defense.

Logic Is Not Satisfied With Assertion. It Cares Nothing For The Opinions Of The Great; Nothing For The Prejudices Of The Many, And Least Of All For The Superstitions Of The Dead.

In The Presence Of Eternity, The Mountains Are As Transient As The Clouds.

When A Fact Can Be Demonstrated, Force Is Unnecessary; When It Cannot Be Demonstrated, Force Is Infamous.

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.

Prayer Is Of No Avail. The Lightning Falls On The Just And The Unjust In Accordance With Natural Laws.

There Are Treasures In Books That All The Money In The World Cannot Buy, But The Poorest Laborer Can Have For Nothing.

It Is A Blessed Thing That In Every Age Some One Has Had The Individuality Enough And Courage Enough To Stand By His Own Convictions.

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.

I Believe That Labor Is A Blessing. It Never Was And Never Will Be A Curse. It Is A Blessed Thing To Labor For . . . The Ones You Love. It Is A Blessed Thing To Have An Object In Life - Something To Do - Something To Call Into Play Your Best Thoughts, To Develop Your Faculties And To Make You A Man.

It Seems To Me That If There Is Some Infinite Being Who Wants Us To Think Alike He Would Have Made Us Alike.

And Yet This Same Deity Says To Me, Resist Not Evil; Pray For Those That Despitefully Use You; Love Your Enemies, But I Will Eternally Damn Mine. It Seems To Me That Even Gods Should Practice What They Preach.

The More A Man Knows, The More Willing He Is To Learn-the Less A Man Knows, The More Positive He Is That He Knows Everything.

Not Only Are We Here To Protect The Public From Vicious Criminals In The Street But Also To Protect The Public From Harmful Ideas.

Memory Is The Miser Of The Mind; Forgetfulness The Spendthrift.

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.

There Is Something Tenderly Appropriate In The Serene Death Of The Old. Nothing Is More Touching Than The Death Of The Young, The Strong.

Millions Of Men Give All Their Energies, As Well As Their Very Souls, For The Acquisition Of Gold. And This Will Continue As Long As Society Is Ignorant Enough And Hypocritical Enough To Hold In High Esteem The Man Of Wealth Without The Slightest Regard To The Character Of The Man.

A Few Years Ago The Deists Denied The Inspiration Of The Bible On Account Of Its Cruelty. At The Same Time They Worshiped What They Were Pleased To Call The God Of Nature. Now We Are Convinced That Nature Is As Cruel As The Bible; So That, If The God Of Nature Did Not Write The Bible, This God At Least Has Caused Earthquakes And Pestilence And Famine, And This God Has Allowed Millions Of His Children To Destroy One Another. So That Now We Have Arrived At The Question - Not As To Whether The Bible Is Inspired And Not As To Whether Jehovah Is The Real God, But Whether There Is A God Or Not.

Liberty A Word Without Which All Other Words Are Vain.

They Say: Belief Is Important. I Say: No, Actions Are Important. Judge By Deed, Not By Creed.

Temptations Are As Thick As The Leaves Of The Forest, And No One Can Be Out Of The Reach Of Temptation Unless He Is Dead. The Great Thing Is To Make People Intelligent Enough And Strong Enough, Not To Keep Away From Temptation, But To Resist It.

Jehovah Was Not A Moral God. He Had All The Vices And He Lacked All The Virtues. He Generally Carried Out All His Threats, But He Never Faithfully Kept A Promise.

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.

If We Are Immortal, It Is A Fact Of Nature, And That Fact Does Not Depend On Bibles, On Christs, Priest, Or Creeds.

Honesty Is The Mother Of Confidence; It Unites, Combines And Solidifies Society. Dishonesty Is Disintegration; It Destroys Confidence; It Brings Social Chaos. . . .

All Of The Ten Commandments That Are Good Were Old; All That Were New Art Foolish. If Jehovah Had Been Civilized He Would Have Left Out The Commandment About Keeping The Sabbath, And In Its Place Would Have Said: "thou Shalt Not Enslave Thy Fellow-men." He Would Have Omitted The One About Swearing, And Said: "the Man Shall Have But One Wife, And The Woman But One Husband." He Would Have Left Out The One About Graven Images, And In Its Stead Would Have Said: "thou Shalt Not Wage Wars Of Extermination, And Thou Shalt Not Unsheathe The Sword Except In Self-defence.

Secularism Is A Religion, A Religion That Is Understood. It Has No Mysteries, No Mumblings, No Priests, No Ceremonies, No Falsehoods, No Miracles, And No Persecutions.

There Is No Harmony Between Religion And Science. When Science Was A Child, Religion Sought To Strangle It In The Cradle. Now That Science Has Attained Its Youth, And Superstition Is In Its Dotage, The Trembling, Palsied Wreck Says To The Athlete: "let Us Be Friends."

For Thousands Of Years People Have Been Trying To Force Other People To Think Their Way. Did They Succeed? No. Will They Succeed? No. Why? Because Brute Force Is Not An Argument.

As More People Become More Intelligent They Care Less For Preachers And More For Teachers.

The Church Demonstrated The Falsity And Folly Of Darwin's Theories By Showing That They Contradicted The Mosaic Account Of Creation, And Now That The Theories Of Darwin Having Been Fairly Established, The Church Says That The Mosaic Account Is True Because It Is In Harmony With Darwin. Now, If It Should Turn Out That Darwin Was Mistaken, What Then?

The Church Hates A Thinker Precisely For The Same Reason A Robber Dislikes A Sheriff, Or A Thief Despises The Prosecuting Witness.

Whoever Imagines Himself A Favorite With God Holds Others In Contempt.

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 Myth Of Hell Represents All The Meanness, All The Revenge, All The Selfishness, All The Cruelty, All The Hatred, All The Infamy Of Which The Heart Of Man Is Capable.

If The Money Is Raised By Taxation, Then The Burden Will Fall Where It Ought To Fall, . . . And The Rich And Stingy Will No Longer Be Able To Evade The Duties Of Citizenship And Of Humanity.

The True Civilization Is Where Every Man Gives To Every Other Every Right That He Claims For Himself.

Reason, Observation, And Experience; The Holy Trinity Of Science.

Scientific Method

Like An Armed Warrior, Like A Plumed Knight, James G. Blaine Marched Down The Halls Of The American Congress And Threw His Shining Lance Full And Fair Against The Brazen Foreheads Of The Defamers Of His Country, And The Maligners Of His Honor.

It Is Hard To Overstate The Debt We Owe To The Men And Women Of Genius.

All The Professors In All The Religious Colleges In This Country Rolled Into One, Would Not Equal Charles Darwin.

Hope Is The Only Universal Liar Who Never Loses His Reputation For Veracity.

One Thing I Do Know, And That Is, That Neither Hope, Nor Fear, Belief, Nor Denial, Can Change The Fact. It Is As It Is, And It Will Be As It Must Be.

A Good Deed Is The Best Prayer.

Twenty Years After The Death Of Luther There Were More Catholics Than When He Was Born. And Twenty Years After The Death Of Voltaire There Were Millions Less Than When He Was Born.

No One Can Control His Own Opinion Or His Own Belief. My Belief Was Forced Upon Me By My Surroundings. I Am The Product Of All Circumstances That Have In Any Way Touched Me.

With Soap, Baptism Is A Good Thing.

The More False We Destroy, The More Room There Will Be For The True.

My Principal Objections To Orthodox Religion Are Two: Slavery Here And Hell Hereafter.

Fear Is Religion, Courage Is Science.

Abraham Lincoln Was, In My Judgment, In Many Respects, The Grandest Man Ever President Of The United States. Upon His Monument These Words Should Be Written: "here Sleeps The Only Man In The History Of The World Who, Having Been Clothed With Almost Absolute Power, Never Abused It, Except Upon The Side Of Mercy."

Injustice Upon Earth Renders The Justice Of Of Heaven Impossible.

It Is Labor That Has Made The World A Fit Habitation For The Human Race.

When A Man Really Believes That It Is Necessary To Do A Certain Thing To Be Happy Forever, Or That A Certain Belief Is Necessary To Ensure Eternal Joy, There Is In That Man No Spirit Of Concession. He Divides The Whole World Into Saints And Sinners, Into Believers And Unbelievers, Into God's Sheep And Devil's Goats, Into People Who Will Be Glorified And People Who Are Damned.

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 Believed Only By That Unhappy Mixture Of Insanity And Ignorance, Called Faith.

Too Much Doubt Is Better Than Too Much Credulity.

You Cannot Show Real Respect To Your Parents By Perpetuating Their Errors.... Do You Consider That The Inventor Of A Steel Plow Cast A Slur Upon His Father Who Scratched The Ground With A Wooden One? I Do Not Consider That An Invention By The Son Is A Slander Upon The Father; I Regard Each Invention Simply As An Improvement; And Every Father Should Be Exceedingly Proud Of An Ingenious Son. If Mr. Talmage Has A Son, It Will Be Impossible For Him To Honor His Father Except By Differing With Him.

If This Religion Is True, Then There Is Only One Savior, Only One Narrow Path To Life. Christianity Cannot Live In Peace With Any Other Religion.

If There Is One Subject In This World Worthy Of Being Discussed, Worthy Of Being Understood, It Is The Question Of Intellectual Liberty. Without That, We Are Simply Painted Clay.

Do Not Trust Those In Whom The Compulsion To Punish Is Strong.

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.

We Are Not Accountable For The Sins Of "adam".

Theology Is Not What We Know About God, But What We Do Not Know About Nature.

Laughing Has Always Been Considered By Theologians As A Crime.

We Can Be As Honest As We Are Ignorant. If We Are, When Asked What Is Beyond The Horizon Of The Known, We Must Say That We Do Not Know.

In My Judgment, The Deists Were All Successfully Answered. The God Of Nature Is Certainly As Bad As The God Of The Old Testament. It Is Only When We Discard The Idea Of A Deity, The Idea Of Cruelty Or Goodness In Nature, That We Are Able Ever To Bear With Patience The Ills Of Life. I Feel That I Am Neither A Favorite Nor A Victim. Nature Neither Loves Nor Hates Me.

Intellect, Without Heart, Is Infinitely Cruel. . . .

The Man Who Invented The Telescope Found Out More About Heaven Than The Closed Eyes Of Prayer Ever Discovered.

An Infinite Personality Is An Infinite Impossibility.

Do Not Tell Me That You Have Got To Be Rich! We Have A False Standard Of Greatness In The United States. We Think Here That A Man Must Be Great, That He Must Be Notorious; That He Must Be Extremely Wealthy, Or That His Name Must Be Upon The Putrid Lips Of Rumor. It Is All A Mistake. It Is Not Necessary To Be Rich Or To Be Great, Or To Be Powerful, To Be Happy. The Happy Man Is The Successful Man. Happiness Is The Legal Tender Of The Soul.joy Is Wealth.

The Man Who Accepts Opinions Because They Have Been Entertained By Distinguished People, Is A Mental Snob.

It Is Like Most Other Ancient Books - A Mingling Of Falsehood And Truth, Of Philosophy And Folly - All Written By Men, And Most Of The Men Only Partially Civilized. Some Of Its Laws Are Good - Some Infinitely Barbarous. None Of The Miracles Related Were Performed. . . . Take Out The Absurdities, The Miracles, All That Pertains To The Supernatural - All The Cruel And Barbaric Laws - And To The Remainder I Have No Objection. Neither Would I Have For It Any Great Admiration.

Every Church That Has A Standard Higher Than Human Welfare Is Dangerous.

Christianity Did Not Come With Tidings Of Great Joy, But With A Message Of Eternal Grief. It Came With The Threat Of Everlasting Torture On Its Lips. It Meant War On Earth And Perdition Hereafter.

Labor Is The Only Prayer That Nature Answers.

I Have Made Up My Mind That If There Is A God, He Will Be Merciful To The Merciful. Upon That Rock I Stand. That He Will Not Torture The Forgiving. Upon That Rock I Stand. That Every Man Should Be True To Himself, And That There Is No World, No Star In Which Honesty Is A Crime. Upon That Rock I Stand.

And What Is The Great Thing That The Stage Does? It Cultivates The Imagination. And . . . The Imagination Constitutes The Great Difference Between Human Beings. . . . The Imagination Is The Mother Of Pity, The Mother Of Generosity, The Mother Of Every Possible Virtue. It Is By The Imagination That You Are Enabled To Put Yourself In The Place Of Another.

Religion Can Never Reform Mankind Because Religion Is Slavery.

A Mule Has Neither Pride Of Ancestry Nor Hope Of Posterity.

It Is Told That The Great Angelo, In Decorating A Church, Painted Some Angels Wearing Sandals. A Cardinal Looking At The Picture Said To The Artist: Whoever Saw Angels With Sandals? Angelo Answered With Another Question: Whoever Saw An Angel Barefooted?

If The Account Given In Genesis Is Really True, Ought We Not, After All, To Thank This Serpent? He Was The First Schoolmaster, The First Advocate Of Learning, The First Enemy Of Ignorance, The First To Whisper In Human Ears The Sacred Word Liberty, The Creator Of Ambition, The Author Of Modesty, Of Inquiry, Of Doubt, Of Investigation, Of Progress And Of Civilization.

Our Hope Of Immortality Does Not Come From Any Religions, But Nearly All Religions Come From That Hope.

Catholicism Is Contrary To Human Liberty. Catholicism Bases Salvation Upon Belief. Catholicism Teaches Man To Trample His Reason Under Foot. And For That Reason It Is Wrong.

The Christians Say, That Among The Ancient Jews, If You Committed A Crime You Had To Kill A Sheep. Now They Say 'charge It.' 'put It On The Slate.' The Savior Will Pay It. In This Way, Rascality Is Sold On Credit, And The Credit System In Morals, As In Business, Breeds Extravagance.

One Man In The Right Will Finally Get To Be A Majority.

I Would Rather Smoke One Cigar Than Hear Two Sermons.

The Few Have Said, Think! The Many Have Said, Believe! The First Doubt Was The Womb And Cradle Of Progress, And From The First Doubt, Man Has Continued To Advance.

In Making Up My Mind As To What Mr. Lincoln Really Believed, I Do Not Take Into Consideration The Evidence Of Unnamed Persons Or The Contents Of Anonymous Letters; I Take The Testimony Of Those Who Knew And Loved Him, Of Those To Whom He Opened His Heart And To Whom He Spoke In The Freedom Of Perfect Confidence.

When Passions And Appetites Are Stronger Than The Intellect, Men Are Savages; When The Intellect Governs The Passions, When The Passions Are Servants, Men Are Civilized. The People Need Education - Facts - Philosophy.

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.

The Savage Prays To A Stone That He Calls A God, While The Christian Prays To A God He Calls A Spirit, And The Prayers Of Both Are Equally Useful.

The Superior Man Is The Providence Of The Inferior. He Is Eyes For The Blind, Strength For The Weak, And A Shield For The Defenseless. He Stands Erect By Bending Above The Fallen. He Rises By Lifting Others.

Diderot Took The Ground That, If Orthodox Religion Be True Christ Was Guilty Of Suicide. Having The Power To Defend Himself He Should Have Used It.

A False Friend, An Unjust Judge, A Braggart, Hypocrite, And Tyrant, Sincere In Hatred, Jealous, Vain And Revengeful, False In Promise, Honest In Curse, Suspicious, Ignorant, Infamous And Hideous-such Is The God Of The Pentateuch.

What Has Religion To Do With Facts? Nothing.

The Closer I'm Bound In Love To You, The Closer I Am To Free.

An Infinite God Ought To Be Able To Protect Himself, Without Going In Partnership With State Legislatures.

It Is Grander To Think And Investigate For Yourself Than To Repeat A Creed.

Give Me The Storm And Tempest Of Thought And Action, Rather Than The Dead Calm Of Ignorance And Faith! Banish Me From Eden When You Will; But First Let Me Eat Of The Fruit Of The Tree Of Knowledge!

Darwin Has Done More To Change Human Thought Than All The Priests Who Have Existed.

Liberty Sustains The Same Relation To Mind That Space Does To Matter.

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.

How Any Human Being Ever Has Had The Impudence To Speak Against The Right To Speak, Is Beyond The Power Of My Imagination. Here Is A Man Who Speaks-who Exercises A Right That He, By His Speech, Denies. Can Liberty Go Further Than That? Is There Any Toleration Possible Beyond The Liberty To Speak Against Liberty-the Real Believer In Free Speech Allowing Others To Speak Against The Right To Speak?

Upon The Great Questions Of Origin, Of Destiny, Of Immortality, Of . . . Other Worlds, Every Honest Man Must Say, 'i Do Not Know.' Upon These Questions, This Is The Creed Of Intelligence.

No Man Should Kill Himself As Long As He Can Be Of The Least Use To Anybody, And If You Cannot Find Some Person That You Are Willing To Do Something For, Find A Good Dog And Take Care Of Him. You Have No Idea How Much Better You Will Feel.

The Clergy Know That I Know That They Know That They Do Not Know.

Positive Atheism

There Is More Real Devotional Feeling Summoned From The Temple Of The Mind By Great Music Than By Any Sermon Ever Delivered.

Whoever Increases The Sum Of Human Joy, Is A Worshiper. He Who Adds To The Sum Of Human Misery, Is A Blasphemer.

No One, In The World's Whole History, Ever Attempted To Substantiate A Truth By A Miracle. Truth Scorns The Assistance Of Miracle. Nothing But Falsehood Ever Attested Itself By Signs And Wonders. No Miracle Ever Was Performed, And No Sane Man Ever Thought He Had Performed One, And Until One Is Performed, There Can Be No Evidence Of The Existence Of Any Power Superior To, And Independent Of Nature.

The Intelligent And Good Man Holds In His Affections The Good And True Of Every Land -- The Boundaries Of Countries Are Not The Limitations Of His Sympathies. Caring Nothing For Race, Or Color, He Loves Those Who Speak Other Languages And Worship Other Gods. Between Him And Those Who Suffer, There Is No Impassable Gulf. He Salutes The World, And Extends The Hand Of Friendship To The Human Race. He Does Not Bow Before A Provincial And Patriotic God -- One Who Protects His Tribe Or Nation, And Abhors The Rest Of Mankind.

A Crime Against God Is A Demonstrated Impossibility.

In The Search For Truth - That Everything In Nature Seems To Hide - Man Needs The Assistance Of All His Faculties. All The Senses Should Be Awake.

Truth Is The Mother Of Joy. Truth Civilizes, Ennobles And Purifies. The Grandest Ambition That Can Enter The Soul Is To Know The Truth.

The Destroyer Of Weeds, Thistles, And Thorns Is A Benefactor Whether He Soweth Grain Or Not.

Making A Difference

It Seems To Me Impossible For A Civilized Man To Love Or Worship, Or Respect The God Of The Old Testament. A Really Civilized Man, A Really Civilized Woman, Must Hold Such A God In Abhorrence And Contempt.

In The Presence Of Death I Affirm And Reaffirm The Truth Of All That I Have Said Against The Superstitions Of The World. I Would Say That Much On The Subject With My Last Breath.

If The Bible Is True, It Needs No Inspiration, And - If Not True, Inspiration Can Do It No Good.

The Church In All Ages And Among All Peoples Has Been The Consistent Enemy Of The Human Race. Everywhere And At All Times, It Has Opposed The Liberty Of Thought And Expression. It Has Been The Sworn Enemy Of Investigation And Intellectual Development. It Has Denied The Existence Of Facts, The Tendency Of Which Was To Undermine Its Power. It Has Always Been Carrying Fagots To The Feet Of Philosophy. It Has Erected The Gallows For Genius. It Has Built The Dungeon For Thinkers.

The Falling Leaf That Tells Of Autumn's Death Is, In A Subtler Sense, A Prophecy Of Spring.

If There Is A God, There Should Be No Slaves.

If There Is A God

The More Liberty You Give Away The More You Will Have.

They Who Stand With Breaking Hearts Around This Little Grave, Need Have No Fear. The Larger And The Nobler Faith In All That Is, And Is To Be, Tells Us That Death, Even At Its Worst, Is Only Perfect Rest ... The Dead Do Not Suffer.

Even In The Business Of Corporations Honesty Is The Best Policy, And The Companies That Have Acted In Accordance With The Highest Standard, Other Things Being Equal, Have Reaped The Richest Harvest.

Some President Wishes To Be Re-elected, And Thereupon Speaks About The Bible As "the Corner-stone Of American Liberty." This Sentence Is A Mouth Large Enough To Swallow Any Church, And From That Time Forward The Religious People Will Be Citing That Remark Of The Politician To Substantiate The Inspiration Of The Scriptures.

Colleges Are Places Where Pebbles Are Polished And Diamonds Are Dimmed.

Liberty Cannot Be Sacrificed For The Sake Of Anything.

Is There An Intelligent Man Or Woman Now In The World Who Believes In The Garden Of Eden Story? If You Find Any Man Who Believes It, Strike His Forehead And You Will Hear An Echo. Something Is For Rent.

To The Wise Man, To The Wise Nation, The Mistakes Of The Past Are The Torches Of The Present.

Every Man That Tried To Destroy The Government, Every Man That Shot At The Holy Flag In Heaven, Every Man That Starved Our Soldiers... Every Man That Wanted To Burn The Negro, Every One That Wanted To Scatter Yellow Fever In The North, Every Man That Opposed Human Liberty, That Regarded The Auction-block As An Altar And The Howling Of The Bloodhound As The Music Of The Union, Every Man Who Wept Over The Corpse Of Slavery, That Thought Lashes On The Naked Back Were A Legal Tender For Labour Performed, Every One Willing To Rob A Mother Of Her Child - Every Solitary One Was A Democrat.

Heresy Is A Cradle; Orthodoxy A Coffin.

In Our Era, The Road To Holiness Necessarily Passes Through The World Of Action.

The Old Doctrine That God Wanted Man To Do Something For Him, And That He Kept A Watchful Eye Upon All The Children Of Men; That He Rewarded The Virtuous And Punished The Wicked, Is Gradually Fading From The Mind. We Know That Some Of The Worst Men Have What The World Calls Success. We Know That Some Of The Best Men Lie Upon The Straw Of Failure. We Know That Honesty Goes Hungry, While Larceny Sits At The Banquet. We Know That The Vicious Have Every Physical Comfort, While The Virtuous Are Often Clad In Rags.

Commerce Makes Friends, Religion Makes Enemies; The One Enriches, And The Other Impoverishes; The One Thrives Best Where The Truth Is Told, The Other Where Falsehoods Are Believed.

The Emperor Constantine, Who Lifted Christianity Into Power, Murdered His Wife Fausta, And His Eldest Son Crispus, The Same Year That He Convened The Council Of Nice To Decide Whether Jesus Christ Was A Man Or The Son Of God. The Council Decided That Christ Was Consubstantial With The Father. This Was In The Year 325. We Are Thus Indebted To A Wife-murderer For Settling The Vexed Question Of The Divinity Of The Savior.

I Have Always Noticed That The People Who Have The Smallest Souls Make The Most Fuss About Getting Them Saved.

Religion Supports Nobody. It Has To Be Supported. It Produces No Wheat, No Corn; It Ploughs No Land; It Fells No Forests. It Is A Perpetual Mendicant. It Lives On The Labors Of Others, And Then Has The Arrogance To Pretend That It Supports The Giver.

At Thirty Most Men Have Prejudices Rather Than Opinions-that Is To Say, Rather Than Judgments-and Few Men Have Lived To Be Sixty Without Materially Modifying The Opinions They Held At Thirty.

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