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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.

-Robert Green Ingersoll

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They Say That When

Robert Green Ingersoll

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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.

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

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

To Plow Is To Pray; To Plant Is To Prophesy, And The Harvest Answers And Fulfills.

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

For Myself, I Have But Little Confidence In Any Business, Or Enterprise, Or Investment, That Promises Dividends Only After The Death Of The Stockholders.

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

If There Is A God

If Abuses Are Destroyed, Man Must Destroy Them. If Slaves Are Freed, Man Must Free Them. If New Truths Are Discovered, Man Must Discover Them. If The Naked Are Clothed; If The Hungry Are Fed; If Justice Is Done; If Labor Is Rewarded; If Superstition Is Driven From The Mind; If The Defenseless Are Protected, And If The Right Finally Triumphs, All Must Be The Work Of Man. The Grand Victories Of The Future Must Be Won By Man, And By Man Alone.

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.

I Will Not Attack Your Doctrines Nor Your Creeds If They Accord Liberty To Me. If They Hold Thought To Be Dangerous - If They Aver That Doubt Is A Crime, Then I Attack Them One And All, Because They Enslave The Minds Of Men.

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.

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, East A Crust, While The Infamous Sit At Banquets.

Progress Is Born Of Doubt And Inquiry. The Church Never Doubts, Never Inquires. To Doubt Is Heresy, To Inquire Is To Admit That You Do Not Know—the Church Does Neither.

Meekness Is The Mask Of Malice.

Nothing Could Add To The Horror Of Hell, Except The Presence Of Its Creator, God. While I Have Life, As Long As I Draw Breath, I Shall Deny With All My Strength, And Hate With Every Drop Of My Blood, This Infinite Lie.

Good Nature Is The Cheapest Commodity In The World.

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

I Would Rather Smoke One Cigar Than Hear Two Sermons.

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.

Shakespeare Was An Intellectual Ocean, Whose Waves Touched All The Shores Of Thought; Within Which Were All The Tides And Waves Of Destiny And Will; Over Which Swept All The Storms Of Fate, Ambition And Revenge; Upon Which Fell The Gloom And Darkness Of Despair And Death And All The Sunlight Of Content And Love, And Within Which Was The Inverted Sky Lit With The Eternal Stars -- An Intellectual Ocean -- Toward Which All Rivers Ran, And From Which Now The Isles And Continents Of Thought Receive Their Dew And Rain.

All The Martyrs In The History Of The World Are Not Sufficient To Establish The Correctness Of An Opinion. Martyrdom, As A Rule, Establishes The Sincerity Of The Martyr, - Never The Correctness Of His Thought. Things Are True Or False In Themselves. Truth Cannot Be Affected By Opinions; It Cannot Be Changed, Established, Or Affected By Martyrdom. An Error Cannot Be Believed Sincerely Enough To Make It A Truth.

Great Virtues May Draw Attention From Defects, They Cannot Sanctify Them. A Pebble Surrounded By Diamonds Remains A Common Stone, And A Diamond Surrounded By Pebbles Is Still A Gem.

With Their Backs To The Sunrise They Worship The Night.

If A Man Wishes To Have God Recognized In The Constitution Of Our Country, Let Him Read The History Of The Inquisition, And Let Him Remember That Hundreds Of Millions Of Men, Women, And Children Have Been Sacrificed To Placate The Wrath, Or Win The Approbation Of This God.

It Is With Men As With Other Things. The Mullein Needs Only A Year, But The Oak A Century, And The Greatest Men Are Those Who Have Continued To Grow As Long As They Have Lived.

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

No Man Has A Right To Leave His Wife To Fight The Battle Alone If He Is Able To Help. No Man Has A Right To Desert His Children If He Can Possibly Be Of Use. As Long As He Can Add To The Comfort Of Those He Loves, As Long As He Can . . . Be Of Any Use, It Is His Duty To Remain.

The Mechanic, When A Wheel Refuses To Turn, Never Thinks Of Dropping On His Knees And Asking The Assistance Of Some Divine Power. He Knows There Is A Reason. He Knows That Something Is Too Large Or Too Small; That There Is Something Wrong With His Machine; And He Goes To Work And He Makes It Larger Or Smaller, Here Or There, Until The Wheel Will Turn.

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.

Every Cradle Asks Us, Whence? And Every Coffin, Whither? The Poor Barbarian, Weeping Above His Dead, Can Answer These Questions As Intelligently As The Robed Priest Of The Most Authentic Creed.

So, Ministers Say That They Teach Charity. This Is Natural. They Live On Alms. All Beggars Teach That Others Should Give.

We Rise By Lifting Others.

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

Nothing But Truth Is Immortal.

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

Eternal Punishment Must Be Eternal Cruelty, And I Do Not See How Any Man, Unless He Has The Brain Of An Idiot, Or The Heart Of A Wild Beast, Can Believe In Eternal Punishment.

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.

The Church Has Always Been Willing To Swap Off Treasures In Heaven For Cash Down.

All Should Be Taught That The Highest Ambition Is To Be Happy, And To Add To The Well-being Of Others; That Place And Power Are Not Necessary To Success; That The Desire To Acquire Great Wealth Is A Kind Of Insanity. They Should Be Taught That It Is A Waste Of Energy, A Waste Of Thought, A Waste Of Life, To Acquire What You Do Not Need And What You Do Not Really Use For The Benefit Of Yourself Or Others.

Religion Has Not Civilized Man, Man Has Civilized Religion.

It Is An Old Habit With Theologians To Beat The Living With The Bones Of The Dead.

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

Do Right, Not To Deny Yourself But Because You Love Yourself And Because You Love Others.

Christianity Has Made More Lunatics Than It Ever Provided Asylums For.

If You Have Ever Clothed Another With Woe, As With A Garment Of Pain, You Will Never Be Quite As Happy As Though You Had Not Done That Thing.

Who Can Over Estimate The Progress Of The World If All The Money Wasted In Superstition Could Be Used To Enlighten, Elevate And Civilize Mankind?

I Believe In The Gospel Of Cheerfulness, The Gospel Of Good Nature; The Gospel Of Good Health. Let Us Pay Some Attention To Our Bodies. Take Care Of Our Bodies, And Our Souls Will Take Care Of Themselves.

Infidels In All Ages Have Battled For The Rights Of Man, And Have At All Times Been The Fearless Advocates Of Liberty And Justice.

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!"

Fear Is A Dagger With Which Hypocrisy Assassinates The Soul.

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.

My Objection To Christianity Is That It Is Infinitely Cruel, Infinitely Selfish, And, I Might Add, Infinitely Absurd.

On Every Hand There Seems To Be Design To Defeat Design. If God Created Man - If He Is The Father Of Us All, Why Did He Make The Criminals, The Insane, The Deformed And Idiotic? Should The Mother, Who Clasps To Her Breast An Idiot Child, Thank God?

An Infinite God Ought To Be Able To Protect Himself, Without Going In Partnership With State Legislatures. Certainly He Ought Not So To Act That Laws Become Necessary To Keep Him From Being Laughed At. No One Thinks Of Protecting Shakespeare From Ridicule, By The Threat Of Fine And Imprisonment.

The Emblem Of Equal Rights. It Means Free Hands, Free Lips, Self- Government, And The Sovereignty Of The Individual.

Intelligence Is The Only Moral Guide.

Every Library Is An Arsenal.

If Priests Had Not Been Fond Of Mutton, Lambs Never Would Have Been Sacrified To God. Nothing Was Ever Carried To The Temple That The Priest Could Not Use, And It Always Happened That God Wanted What His Agents Liked.

They Knew That It Was Necessary To Believe These Things And To Love God. They Knew That There Could Be No Salvation Except By Faith, And Through The Atoning Blood Of Jesus Christ.

I Would Have All The Professors In Colleges, All The Teachers In Schools Of Every Kind, Including Those In Sunday Schools, Agree That They Would Teach Only What They Know, That They Would Not Palm Off Guesses As Demonstrated Truths.

Let Us Agree Not To Step On Each Other’s Feet.

Orthodoxy Cannot Afford To Put Out The Fires Of Hell.

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

Custom Meets Us At The Cradle And Leaves Us Only At The Tomb.

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.

Commerce Is The Great Civilizer. We Exchange Ideas When We Exchange Fabrics.

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.

For The Most Part We Inherit Our Opinions. We Are The Heirs Of Habits And Mental Customs. Our Beliefs, Like The Fashion Of Our Garments, Depend On Where We Were Born. We Are Molded And Fashioned By Our Surroundings.

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.

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.

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

I Have Had Some Trouble In Regarding Evil As Having Been Intended By Infinite Goodness.

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.

Justice, Poised And Balanced In Eternal Calm, Will Shake From The Golden Scales In Which Are Weighed The Acts Of Men, The Very Dust Of Prejudice And Caste: No Race, No Color, No Previous Condition, Can Change The Rights Of Men.

To Me, The Most Obscene Word In Our Language Is Celibacy.

Epithets Are Not Arguments. Abuse Does Not Persuade.

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.

Reason Is The Light, The Sun Of The Brain. It Is The Compass Of The Mind, The Ever-constant Northern Star, The Mountain Peak That Lifts Itself Above All Clouds.

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.

Ignorance Worships Mystery; Reason Explains It; The One Grovels, The Other Soars.

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.

I Honestly Believe That The Doctrine Of Hell Was Born In The Glittering Eyes Of Snakes That Run In Frightful Coils Watching For Their Prey. I Believe It Was Born With The Yelping, Howling, Growling And Snarling Of Wild Beasts... I Despise It, I Defy It, And I Hate It.

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.

The Church Teaches Us That We Can Make God Happy By Being Miserable Ourselves.

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

If There Be Gods We Cannot Help Them, But We Can Assist Our Fellow Men. We Cannot Love The Inconceivable, But We Can Love Wife And Child And Friend.

If There Is A God

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

I Am Not So Much For The Freedom Of Religion As I Am For The Religion Of Freedom.

Freedom Of Religion

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.

When I Became Convinced That The Universe Is Natural, That All The Ghosts And Gods Are Myths, There Entered Into My Brain, Into My Soul, Into Every Drop Of My Blood The Sense, The Feeling, The Joy Of Freedom. The Walls Of My Prison Crumbled And Fell. The Dungeon Was Flooded With Light And All The Bolts And Bars And Manacles Became Dust.

Spirituality For The Most Part Is A Mask Worn By Idleness, Arrogance And Greed.

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.

No God Can Put A Man In Hell In Another World, Who Has Made A Little Heaven In This. God Cannot Make A Man Miserable If That Man Has Made Somebody Else Happy.

Is Not The History Of Real Civilization The Slow And Gradual Emancipation Of The Intellect, Of The Judgment, From The Mastery Of Passion? Is Not That Man Civilized Whose Reason Sits The Crowned Monarch Of His Brain - Whose Passions Are His Servants?

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

Why Should We Postpone Our Joy To Another World? Let Us Get All We Can Of The Good Between The Cradle And The Grave, All That We Can Of The Truly Dramatic. If, When Death Comes, That Is The End, We Have At Least Made The Best Of This Life.

The Combined Wisdom And Genius Of All Mankind Cannot Possibly Conceive Of An Argument Against Liberty Of Thought.

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

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.

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.

The Present Is The Necessary Product Of All The Past, The Necessary Cause Of All The Future.

To Be Like Other People Is To Be Unlike Ourselves.

I Love To Think Of The Whole Universe Together As One Eternal Fact. I Love To Think That Everything Is Alive; That Crystallization Is Itself A Step Toward Joy. I Love To Think That When A Bud Bursts Into Blossom: It Feels A Thrill. I Love To Have The Universe Full Of Feeling And Full Of Joy, And Not Full Of Simple Dead, Inert Matter, Managed By An Old Bachelor For All Eternity.

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.

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

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.

If There Is A God Who Will Damn His Children Forever, I Would Rather Go To Hell Than To Go To Heaven And Keep The Society Of Such An Infamous Tyrant.

If There Is A God

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.

I Hate Above All Things A Cross Man. What Right Has He To Murder The Sunshine Of A Day? What Right Has He To Assassinate The Joy Of Life? When You Go Home, You Ought To Go Like A Ray Of Light-so That It Will, Even In The Night, Burst Out Of The Doors And Windows And Illuminate The Darkness.

The Few Took Advantage Of The Ignorant Many. They Pretended To Have Received Messages From The Unknown. They Stood Between The Helpless Multitude And The Gods. They Were The Carriers Of Flags Of Truce. At The Court Of Heaven They Presented The Cause Of Man, And Upon The Labor Of The Deceived They Lived.

Intellectual Liberty Is The Air Of The Soul, The Sunshine Of The Mind, And Without It, The World Is A Prison, The Universe Is A Dungeon.

The Way To Be Happy Is To Make Others So.

Take The Word Liberty From Human Speech And All The Other Words Become Poor, Withered, Meaningless Sounds - But With That Word Realized - With That Word Understood, The World Becomes A Paradise.

Religion Is One Of The Phases Of Thought Through Which The World Is Passing.

Where Is The Soul? . . . I Refuse To Believe Anything Of That Kind Without Proof. The Idea That, As Soon As A Man's Breath Leaves His Body, The Soul Flops Out Like A Chicken's Head And Flies Off Into Space To Find A Lodgment Where There [are] Harps And Haloes. Too Much For Me.

Intelligence, Guided By Kindness, Is The Highest Wisdom. . . .

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

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.

To Give Up Your Individuality Is To Annihilate Yourself.

Only The Very Ignorant Are Perfectly Satisfied That They Know. To The Common Man The Great Problems Are Easy. He Has No Trouble In Accounting For The Universe. He Can Tell You The Origin And Destiny Of Man And The Why And Wherefore Of Things.

Intellectual Liberty [is] The Right To Think Right And The Right To Think Wrong. Thought Is The Means By Which We Endeavor To Arrive At Truth.

He Who Treats His Friends And Enemies Alike, Has Neither Love Nor Justice.

One Laugh Of A Child Will Make The Holiest Day More Sacred Still.

Life Is A Narrow Vale Between The Cold And Barren Peaks Of Two Eternities. We Strive In Vain To Look Beyond The Heights. We Cry Aloud

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

If Jehovah Cannot Support His Religion Without Going Into Partnership With A State Legislature, I Think He Ought To Give It Up.

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 New Testament, Death Is Not The End, But The Beginning Of Punishment That Has No End. In The New Testament The Malice Of God Is Infinite And The Hunger Of His Revenge Eternal... This Frightful Dogma, This Infinite Lie, Made Me The Implacable Enemy Of Christianity. The Truth Is That This Belief In Eternal Pain Has Been The Real Persecutor.

Let Us Account For All We See By The Facts We Know. If There Are Things For Which We Cannot Account, Let Us Wait For Light. To Account For Anything By Supernatural Agencies Is, In Fact To Say That We Do Not Know. Theology Is Not What We Know About God, But What We Do Not Know About Nature.

Language Is Not Subtle Enough, Tender Enough, To Express All That We Feel; And When Language Fails, The Highest And Deepest Longings Are Translated Into Music. Music Is The Sunshine - The Climate - Of The Soul, And It Floods The Heart With A Perfect June.

I Am Simply In Favor Of Intellectual Hospitality-that Is All. You Come To Me With A New Idea. I Invite You Into The House. Let Us See What You Have. Let Us Talk It Over. If I Do Not Like Your Thought, I Will Bid It A Polite "good Day." If I Do Like It, I Will Say: "sit Down; Stay With Me, And Become A Part Of The Intellectual Wealth Of My World."

I Am Anxious To Give Away Information, For It Is Only By Giving It Away That You Can Keep It. When You Have Told It, You Remember It. It Is With Information As It Is With Liberty, The Only Way To Be Dead Sure Of It Is To Give It To Other People.

In Nature There Are Neither Rewards Nor Punishments; There Are Consequences.

Blasphemy Is An Epithet Bestowed By Superstition Upon Common Sense.

Do The Best That Can Be Done And Then . . . Be Resigned.

Death Is Only Perfect Rest.

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.

I Don't Want To Hurt People's Feelings If I Can Help It. I Don't Want Anyone Unnecessarily Humiliated, But I Say Whatever Stands Between You And Justice Must Give Way; And If You Have To Walk Over Reputations — And If They Become Pavement You Cannot Help It.

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

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.

He Who Dishonors Himself [by Lying About His Opinions] For The Sake Of Being Honored By Others Will Find That Two Mistakes Have Been Made - One By Himself, And The Other, By The People.

The Only Evidence, So Far As I Know, About Another Life Is, First, That We Have No Evidence; And Secondly, That We Are Rather Sorry That We Have Not, And Wish We Had.

As A Matter Of Fact, No One Knows That God Exists And No One Knows That God Does Not Exist. To My Mind There Is No Evidence That God Exists - That This World Is Governed By A Being Of Infinite Goodness, Wisdom And Power, But I Do Not Pretend To Know.

Nothing Discloses Real Character Like The Use Of Power.

If The Bible And My Brain Are Both The Work Of The Same Infinite God, Whose Fault Is It That The Book And My Brain Do Not Agree?

Happiness Is Not A Reward - It Is A Consequence. Suffering Is Not A Punishment - It Is A Result.

Take From The Church The Miraculous, The Supernatural, The Incomprehensible, The Unreasonable, The Impossible, The Unknowable, The Absurd, And Nothing But A Vacuum Remains.

If There Is A God

For The First Time I Understood The Dogma Of Eternal Pain... For The First Time My Imagination Grasped The Height And Depth Of The Christian Horror. Then I Said: "it Is A Lie, And I Hate Your Religion. If It Is True, I Hate Your God." From That Day I Have Had No Fear, No Doubt. For Me, On That Day, The Flames Of Hell Were Quenched. From That Day I Have Passionately Hated Every Orthodox Creed. That Sermon Did Some Good.

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.

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

My Heart Was Filled With Gratitude, With Thankfulness, And Went Out In Love To All The Heroes, The Thinkers Who Gave Their Lives For The Liberty Of Hand And Brain... To All The Wise, The Good, The Brave Of Every Land, Whose Thoughts And Deeds Have Given Freedom To The Sons Of Men. And Then I Vowed To Grasp The Torch That They Had Held, And Hold It High, That Light Might Conquer Darkness Still.

Honest Investigation Is Utterly Impossible Within The Pale Of Any Church, For The Reason, That If You Think The Church Is Right You Will Not Investigate, And If You Think It Wrong, The Church Will Investigate You.

Today The Intelligence Of The World Denies The Miraculous. Ignorance Is The Soil Of The Supernatural. The Foundation Of Christianity Has Crumbled, Has Disappeared, And The Entire Fabric Must Fall. The Natural Is True. The Miraculous Is False.

This, In My Judgment, Is The Highest Philosophy: First, Do Not Regret Having Lost Yesterday; Second, Do Not Fear That You Will Lose Tomorrow; Third, Enjoy Today.

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

This Crime Called Blasphemy Was Invented By Priests For The Purpose Of Defending Doctrines Not Able To Take Care Of Themselves.

At The Bottom Of Religious Persecution Is The Doctrine Of Self-defence; That Is To Say, The Defence Of The Soul. If The Founder Of Christianity Had Plainly Said: 'it Is Not Necessary To Believe In Order To Be Saved; It Is Only Necessary To Do, And He Who Really Loves His Fellow-men, Who Is Kind, Honest, Just And Charitable, Is To Be Forever Blest' - If He Had Only Said That, There Would Probably Have Been But Little Persecution.

It Is Hard For Many People To Give Up The Religion In Which They Were Born; To Admit That Their Fathers Were Utterly Mistaken, And That The Sacred Records Of Their Country Are But Collections Of Myths And Fables.

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.

They Knew No Better, But I Do Not Propose To Follow The Example Of A Barbarian Because He Was Honestly A Barbarian.

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.

Either God Should Have Written A Book To Fit My Brain, Or He Should Have Made My Brain To Fit His Book.

If Cathedrals Had Been Universities If Dungeons Of The Inquisition Had Been Laboratories If Christians Had Believed In Character Instead Of Creed If They Had Taken From The Bible Only That Which Is Good And Thrown Away The Wicked And Absurd If Temple Domes Had Been Observatories If Priests Had Been Philosophers If Missionaries Had Taught Useful Arts Instead Of Bible Lore If Astrology Had Been Astronomy If The Black Arts Had Been Chemistry If Superstition Had Been Science If Religion Had Been Humanity The World Then Would Be A Heaven Filled With Love, And Liberty And Joy

Whoever Saw An Angel Barefooted?

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.

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

The Most Important Thing In This World Is Liberty. More Important Than Food Or Clothes - More Important Than Gold Or Houses Or Lands - More Important Than Art Or Science - More Important Than All Religions, Is The Liberty Of Man.

I Have One Sentiment For Soldiers Living And Dead: Cheers For The Living; Tears For The Dead.

Small People Delight In What They Call Consistency-that Is, It Gives Them Immense Pleasure To Say That They Believe Now Exactly As They Did Ten Years Ago. This Simply Amounts To A Certificate That They Have Not Grown-that They Have Not Developed-and That They Know Just As Little Now As They Ever Did. The Highest Possible Conception Of Consistency Is To Be True To The Knowledge Of Today, Without The Slightest Reference To What Your Opinion Was Years Ago.

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.

The Triumph Of Justice Is The Only Peace.

Years Should Not Be Devoted To The Acquisition Of Dead Languages Or To The Study Of History Which, For The Most Part, Is A Detailed Account Of Things That Never Occurred. It Is Useless To Fill The Individual With Dates Of Great Battles, With The Births And Deaths Of Kings. They Should Be Taught The Philosophy Of History, The Growth Of Nations, Of Philosophies, Theories, And, Above All, Of The Sciences.

Labor Is The Only Prayer That Nature Answers: It Is The Only Prayer That Deserves An Answer—good, Honest, Noble Work.

There Is In All Artists A Little Of The Vagabond.

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.

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

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

It Cannot Be Too Often Repeated, That Truth Scorns The Assistance Of Miracle.

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.

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

Every Pulpit Is A Pillory, In Which Stands A Hired Culprit, Defending The Justice Of His Own Imprisonment.

Nothing Could Be More Idiotic And Absurd Than The Doctrine Of The Trinity.

If God Created The Universe, There Was A Time When He Commenced To Create. Back Of That Commencement There Must Have Been An Eternity. In That Eternity What Was This God Doing? He Certainly Did Not Think. There Was Nothing To Think About. He Did Not Remember. Nothing Had Ever Happened. What Did He Do? Can You Imagine Anything More Absurd Than An Infinite Intelligence In Infinite Nothing Wasting An Eternity?

Infinite Intelligence

Love Is Natural. Back Of Allceremony Burns And Will Forever Burn The Sacred Flame. There Has Been No Time In The World's History When That Torch Was Extinguished. In All Ages, In All Climes, Among All People, There Has Been True, Pure, And Unselfish Love.

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.

Do You Not Know That Every Religion In The World Has Declared Every Other Religion A Fraud? Yes, We All Know It. That Is The Time All Religions Tell The Truth - Each Of The Other.

It Cannot Be Said Too Often That Actions Are Good Or Bad In The Light Of Consequences, And That A Clear Perception Of Consequences Would Control Actions. That Which Increases The Sum Of Human Happiness Is Moral; And That Which Diminishes The Sum Of Human Happiness Is Immoral. . . . Blind, Unreasoning Obedience Is The Enemy Of Morality.

Now The Struggle For Life Is So Sharp, Competition Is So Severe, That Few Men Can Succeed Who Carry A Useless Burden. The Businessmen Of Our Country Are Compelled To Lead Temperate Lives, Otherwise Their Credit Is Gone.

Too Much Doubt Is Better Than Too Much Credulity.

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.

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

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?

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

I Would Not For My Life Destroy One Star Of Human Hope, But I Want It So That When A Poor Woman Rocks The Cradle And Sings A Lullaby To The Dimpled Darling, She Will Not Be Compelled To Believe That Ninety-nine Chances In A Hundred She Is Raising Kindling Wood For Hell.

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

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.

If All The Historic Books Of The Bible Were Blotted From The Memory Of Mankind, Nothing Of Value Would Be Lost.

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.

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.

Arguments Cannot Be Answered With Insults. . . . Kindness Is Strength. . . . Anger Blows Out The Lamp Of The Mind. In The Examination Of A Great And Important Question, Every One Should Be Serene, Slow-pulsed, And Calm.

It May Be That Ministers Really Think That Their Prayers Do Good, And It May Be That Frogs Imagine That Their Croaking Brings Spring.

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