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While I Am Opposed To All Orthodox Creeds, I Have A Creed Myself; And My Creed Is This. 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. This Creed Is Somewhat Short, But It Is Long Enough For This Life, Strong Enough For This World. If There Is Another World, When We Get There We Can Make Another Creed.

-Robert Green Ingersoll

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While I Am Opposed

Robert Green Ingersoll

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While I Am Opposed To All Orthodox Creeds, I Have A Creed Myself; And My Creed Is This. 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. This Creed Is Somewhat Short, But It Is Long Enough For This Life, Strong Enough For This World. If There Is Another World, When We Get There We Can Make Another Creed.

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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.

I Want It So That Every Minister Will Be Not A Parrot, Not An Owl Sitting Upon A Dead Limb Of The Tree Of Knowledge And Hooting The Hoots That Have Been Hooted For Eighteen Hundred Years. But I Want It So That Each One Can Be An Investigator, A Thinker; And I Want To Make His Congregation Grand Enough So That They Will Not Only Allow Him To Think, But Will Demand That He Shall Think, And Give To Them The Honest Truth Of His Thought.

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

If There Is A God

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

Love Your Friends And Be Just To Your Enemies.

Every Library Is An Arsenal.

The Object Of All Education Should Be To Increase The Usefulness Of Man - Usefulness To Himself And Others.

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

Heresy Is What The Minority Believe; It Is The Name Given By The Powerful To The Doctrines Of The Weak.

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

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

The Way To Be Happy Is To Make Others So.

According To The Celestial Multiplication Table, Once One Is Three, And Three Times One Is One, And According To Heavenly Subtraction If We Take Two From Three, Three Are Left. The Addition Is Equally Peculiar, If We Add Two To One We Have But One. Each One Is Equal To Himself And The Other Two.

He [the Improved Man] Will Enjoy Not Only The Sunshine Of Life, But Will Bear With Fortitude The Darkest Days. He Will Have No Fear Of Death. About The Grave, There Will Be No Terrors, And His Life Will End As Serenely As The Sun Rises.

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.

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.

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."

The Inspiration Of The Bible Depends Upon The Ignorance Of The Gentleman Who Reads It.

The Moment You Introduce A Despotism In The World Of Thought, You Succeed In Making Hypocrites - And You Get In Such A Position That You Never Know What Your Neighbor Thinks.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Strange But True: Those Who Have Loved God Most Have Loved Men Least.

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

He Loves His Country Best Who Strives To Make It Best.

With Their Backs To The Sunrise They Worship The Night.

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

I Cannot See Why We Should Expect An Infinite God To Do Better In Another World Than He Does In This.

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.

Every Man Who Expresses An Honest Thought Is A Soldier In The Army Of Intellectual Liberty.

What Has Religion To Do With Facts? Nothing.

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.

We All Know That Men In Moderate Circumstances Can Have Just As Comfortable Houses As The Richest, Just As Comfortable Clothing, Just As Good Food. They Can See Just As Fine Paintings, Just As Marvelous Statues, And They Can Hear Just As Good Music. They Can Attend The Same Theaters And The Same Operas. They Can Enjoy The Same Sunshine, And Above All, Can Love And Be Loved Just As Well As Kings And Millionaires.

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

Religion Can Never Reform Mankind Because Religion Is Slavery.

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.

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

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

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.

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

There Will Never Be A Generation Of Great Men Until There Has Been A Generation Of Free Women - Of Free Mothers.

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.

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.

The Catholic Church Is A Thousand Times Better Than Your Protestant Church Upon That Question [of Damnation]. The Catholic Church Believes In Purgatory - That Is, A Place Where A Fellow Can Get A Chance To Make A Motion For A New Trial.

There Is The Same Difference Between Talent And Genius That There Is Between A Stone Mason And A Sculptor

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

Fear Is A Dagger With Which Hypocrisy Assassinates The Soul.

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.

Let Us Put Theology Out Of Religion. Theology Has Always Sent The Worst To Heaven, The Best To Hell.

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.

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.

To Give Up Your Individuality Is To Annihilate Yourself.

Orthodoxy Cannot Afford To Put Out The Fires Of Hell.

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 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.

Heresy Is A Cradle; Orthodoxy A Coffin.

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

There Is No Necessity For Going To The Church And Hearing The Same Story Forever. Let The Minister Write What He Wishes To Say. Let Him Publish It. If It Is Worth Buying, People Will Read It. It Is Hardly Fair To Get Them In A Church In The Name Of Duty And There Inflict Upon Them A Sermon That Under No Circumstances They Would Read...the Idea Of Going Fifty-two Days In A Year To Hear Anybody On The Same Subject Is Absurd.

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

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.

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

If God Objected To [people With Various Handicaps], He Ought Not Have Created Such People.

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?

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

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.

Sacred Are The Lips From Which Has Issued Only Truth.

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

Suppose, However, That God Did Give This Law To The Jews, And Did Tell Them That Whenever A Man Preached A Heresy, Or Proposed To Worship Any Other God That They Should Kill Him; And Suppose That Afterward This Same God Took Upon Himself Flesh, And Came To This Very Chosen People And Taught A Different Religion, And That Thereupon The Jews Crucified Him; I Ask You, Did He Not Reap Exactly What He Had Sown? What Right Would This God Have To Complain Of A Crucifixion Suffered In Accordance With His Own Command?

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.

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

Freedom Of Religion

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

The Old Lady Who Said There Must Be A Devil, Else How Could They Make Pictures That Looked Exactly Like Him, Reasoned Like A Trained Theologian - Like A Doctor Of Divinity.

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.

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

Everyone Should Be Taught The Nobility Of Labor, The Heroism And Splendor Of Honest Effort. As Long As It Is Considered Disgraceful To Labor, Or Aristocratic Not To Labor, The World Will Be Filled With Idleness And Crime, And With Every Possible Moral Deformity.

I Believe In The Religion Of Reason -- The Gospel Of This World; In The Development Of The Mind, In The Accumulation Of Intellectual Wealth, To The End That Man May Free Himself From Superstitious Fear, To The End That He May Take Advantage Of The Forces Of Nature To Feed And Clothe The World.

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.

I Am A Believer In Liberty . That Is My Religion To Give To Every Other Human Being Every Right That I Claim For Myself, And I Grant To Every Other Human Being, Not The Right Because It Is His Right But Instead Of Granting I Declare That It Is His Right, To Attack Every Doctrine That I Maintain, To Answer Every Argument That I May Urge In Other Words, He Must Have Absolute Freedom Of Speech.

Freedom Of Speech

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

Making A Difference

Many People Think They Have Religion When They Are Troubled With Dyspepsia.

Positive Atheism

I Will Follow My Logic, No Matter Where It Goes, After It Has Consulted With My Heart. If You Ever Come To A Conclusion Without Calling The Heart In, You Will Come To A Bad Conclusion.

He (thomas Paine) Saw Oppression On Every Hand; Injustice Everywhere; Hypocrisy At The Altar; Venality On The Bench, Tyranny On The Throne; And With A Splendid Courage He Espoused The Cause Of The Weak Against The Strong

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.

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.

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.

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

The Man Who Finds A Truth Lights A Torch.

Insolence Is Not Logic; Epithets Are The Arguments Of Malice.

It Is Perfectly Delightful To Take Advantage Of The Conscientious Labors Of Those Who Go Through And Through Volume After Volume, Divide With Infinite Patience The Gold From The Dross, And Present Us With The Pure And Shining Coin. Such Men May Be Likened To Bees Who Save Us Numberless Journeys By Giving Us The Fruit Of Their Own.

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.

Talent Has The Four Seasons: Spring, That Is To Say, The Sowing Of The Seeds; Summer, Growth; Autumn, The Harvest; Winter, Intellectual Death. But There Is Now And Then A Genius Who Has No Winter, And, No Matter How Many Years He May Live, On The Blossom Of His Thought No Snow Falls. Genius Has The Climate Of Perpetual Growth.

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

Positive Atheism

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.

As Long As A Man Lives He Should Study. Death Alone Has The Right To Dismiss The School.

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.

Ignorance Is The Worst Form Of Slavery. (paraphrased)

Belief Is Not A Matter Of Choice, But Of Conviction.

Labor Is The Only Prayer That Nature Answers.

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.

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."

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

I Would Rather That We All Should Go To Eternal Chaos, To Black And Starless Night, Than That Just One Soul Should Suffer Eternal Agony.

An Honest God Is The Noblest Work Of Man.

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.

Most Men Are Followers, And Implicitly Rely Upon The Judgment Of Others. They Mistake Solemnity For Wisdom, And Regard A Grave Countenance As The Title Page And Preface To A Most Learned Volume. So They Are Easily Imposed Upon By Forms, Strange Garments, And Solemn Ceremonies. And When The Teaching Of Parents, The Customs Of Neighbors, And The General Tongue Approve And Justify A Belief Or Creed, No Matter How Absurd, It Is Hard Even For The Strongest To Hold The Citadel Of His Soul. In Each Country, In Defence Of Each Religion, The Same Arguments Would Be Urged.

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

[t]he Blossom Of Benevolence, Of Charity, Is The Fairest Flower, No Matter Whether It Blooms By The Side Of A Hovel, Or Bursts From A Vine Climbing The Marble Pillar Of A Palace. I Respect No Man Because He Is Rich; I Hold In Contempt No Man Because He Is Poor.

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 Avoid Pain We Must Know The Conditions Of Health. For The Accomplishment Of This End We Must Rely Upon Investigation Instead Of Faith, Upon Labor In Place Of Prayer. Most Misery Is Produced By Ignorance. Passions Sow The Seeds Of Pain.

I Admit That Reason Is A Small And Feeble Flame, A Flickering Torch By Stumblers Carried In The Star-less Night, - Blown And Flared By Passion's Storm, - And Yet, It Is The Only Light. Extinguish That, And Nought Remains.

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.

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.

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.

I Would Rather Smoke One Cigar Than Hear Two Sermons.

The Real Searcher After Truth Will Not Receive The Old Because It Is Old, Or Reject The New Because It Is New. He Will Not Believe Men Because They Are Dead, Or Contradict Them Because They Are Alive. With Him An Utterance Is Worth The Truth, The Reason It Contains, Without The Slightest Regard To The Author. He May Have Been A King Or Serf - A Philosopher Or Servant, - But The Utterance Neither Gains Nor Loses In Truth Or Reason. Its Value Is Absolutely Independent Of The Fame Or Station Of The Man Who Gave It To The World.

Christianity Has Such A Contemptible Opinion Of Human Nature That It Does Not Believe A Man Can Tell The Truth Unless Frightened By A Belief In God. No Lower Opinion Of The Human Race Has Ever Been Expressed.

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

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

Intelligence Is The Only Moral Guide.

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.

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.

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

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

Love Is The Magician, The Enchanter, That Changes Worthless Things To Joy, And Makes Right Royal Kings And Queens Of Common Clay. It Is The Perfume Of That Wondrous Flower, The Heart, And Without That Sacred Passion, That Divine Swoon, We Are Less Than Beasts; But With It, Earth Is Heaven, And We Are Gods.

The Record Of A Generous Life Runs Like A Vine Around The Memory Of Our Dead, And Every Sweet Unselfish Act Is Now A Perfumed Flower.

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

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."

To Destroy Guide-boards That Point In The Wrong Direction . . . To Drive The Fiend Of Fear From The Mind . . . Is The Task Of The Freethinker.

As Long As Woman Regards The Bible As The Charter Of Her Rights, She Will Be The Slave Of Man. The Bible Was Not Written By A Woman. Within Its Leaves There Is Nothing But Humiliation And Shame For Her.

As Long As Every Question Is Answered By The Word "god," Scientific Inquiry Is Simply Impossible.

If I Owe Smith Ten Dollars And God Forgives Me, That Doesn't Pay Smith.

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.

The Greatest Test Of Courage On Earth Is To Bear Defeat Without Losing Heart.

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

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.

There Is No Slavery But Ignorance.

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.

Whoever Saw An Angel Barefooted?

Blasphemy Is An Epithet Bestowed By Superstition Upon Common Sense.

Kindness Is The Sunshine In Which Virtue Grows.

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

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

Music Was Born Of Love. Had There Never Been Any Human Affection, There Never Could Have Been Uttered A Strain Of Music.

I Admit That Books Were Voted In And Out, And That The Bible Was Finally Formed In Accordance With A Vote.

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.

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.

The Minister Asks, 'what Right Have You To Hope? It Is Sacrilegious To You.' But, Whether The Clergy Like It Or Not, I Shall Always Express My Real Opinion, And Shall Always Be Glad To Say To Those Who Mourn: 'there Is In Death, As I Believe, Nothing Worse Than Sleep. Hope For As Much Better As You Can.'

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

The Priests Of One Religion Never Credit The Miracles Of Another Religion. Is This Because Priests Instinctively Know Priests?

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.

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.

If The People Were A Little More Ignorant, Astrology Would Flourish - If A Little More Enlightened, Religion Would Perish.

Only Those Who Live On The Labor Of The Ignorant Are The Enemies Of Science. Real Love And Real Religion Are In No Danger From Science. The More We Know The Safer All Good Things Are.

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.

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

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.

Every Child Should Be Taught That Useful Work Is Worship And That Intelligent Labor Is The Highest Form Of Prayer.

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

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.

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.

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.

It Is Incredible That Only Idiots Are Absolutely Sure Of Salvation. It Is Incredible That The More Brain You Have The Less Your Chance Is. There Can Be No Danger In Honest Thought, And If The World Ever Advances Beyond What It Is To-day, It Must Be Led By Men Who Express Their Real Opinions.

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.

He Raised His Hands, Not To Strike, But In Benediction. Lincoln Was The Grandest Figure Of The Fiercest Civil War. He Is The Gentlest Memory Of Our World.

Give Any Orthodox Church The Power, And To-day They Would Punish Heresy With Whip, And Chain, And Fire. As Long As A Church Deems A Certain Belief Essential To Salvation, Just So Long It Will Kill And Burn If It Has The Power.

He Who Commends The Brutalities Of The Past, Sows The Seeds Of Future Crimes.

Nothing Could Add To The Horror Of Hell, Except The Presence Of Its Creator, God.

Sometime, It Will Be Found That People Can Be Changed Only By Changing Their Surroundings. It Is Alleged That, At Least Ninety-five Percent Of The Criminals Transported From England To Australia And Other Penal Colonies, Became Good And Useful Citizens In A New World.

Liberty Is The Breath Of Progress.

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

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.

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

Our Civilization Is Not Christian. It Does Not Come From The Skies. It Is Not A Result Of Inspiration. It Is The Child Of Invention, Of Discovery, Of Applied Knowledge - That Is To Say, Of Science. When Man Becomes Great And Grand Enough To Admit That All Have Equal Rights; When Thought Is Untrammeled; When Worship Shall Consist In Doing Useful Things; When Religion Means The Discharge Of Obligations To Our Fellow-men, Then, And Not Until Then, Will The World Be Civilized.

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.

I Am Going To Put The Bible Out Of Business.

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

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

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

Had He Been Willing To Live A Hypocrite, He Would Have Been Respectable, He At Least Could Have Died Surrounded By Other Hypocrites, And At His Death There Would Have Been An Imposing Funeral, With Miles Of Carriages, Filled With Hypocrites, And Above His Hypocritical Dust There Would Have Been A Hypocritical Monument Covered With Lies.

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

If A Man Really Believes That God Once Upheld Slavery; That He Commanded Soldiers To Kill Women And Babes; That He Believed In Polygamy; That He Persecuted For Opinion's Sake; That He Will Punish Forever, And That He Hates An Unbeliever, The Effect In My Judgment Will Be Bad. It Always Has Been Bad. This Belief Built The Dungeons Of The Inquisition. This Belief Made The Puritan Murder The Quaker.

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.

It Is A Thousand Times Better To Have Common Sense Without Education Than To Have Education Without Common Sense.

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

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

Environment Is A Sculptor - A Painter. If We Had Been Born In Constantinople, Then Most Of Us Would Have Said: 'there Is No God But Allah, And Mohammed Is His Prophet.' If Our Parents Had Lived On The Banks Of The Ganges, We Would Have Been Worshipers Of Siva, Longing For The Heaven Of Nirvana. As A Rule, Children Love Their Parents, Believe What They Teach, And Take Great Pride In Saying That The Religion Of Mother Is Good Enough For Them.

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.

The Only Reason Why We Wish To Exchange Thoughts Is That We Are Different. If We Were All The Same, We Would Die Dumb. No Thought Would Be Expressed After We Found That Our Thoughts Were Precisely Alike. We Differ-our Thoughts Are Different. Therefore The Commerse That We Call Conversation.

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.

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 With A Creed, Like A Club, In His Hand. He Knows That He Is Not Expected To Search After The Truth, But That He Is Employed To Defend The Creed. Every Pulpit Is A Pillory, In Which Stands A Hired Culprit, Defending The Justice Of His Own Imprisonment.

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.

The Hands That Help Are Better Far / Than Lips That Pray. / Love Is The Ever Gleaming Star / That Leads The Way, / That Shines, Not On Vague Worlds Of Bliss, / But On A Paradise In This.

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?

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.

All Laws For The Purpose Of Making Man Worship God, Are Born Of The Same Spirit That Kindled The Fires Of The Auto Da Fe, And Lovingly Built The Dungeons Of The Inquisition. All Laws Defining And Punishing Blasphemy - Making It A Crime To Give Your Honest Ideas About The Bible, Or To Laugh At The Ignorance Of The Ancient Jews, Or To Enjoy Yourself On The Sabbath, Or To Give Your Opinion Of Jehovah, Were Passed By Impudent Bigots, And Should Be At Once Repealed By Honest Men. An Infinite God Ought To Be Able To Protect Himself, Without Going In Partnership With State Legislatures.

The Good Part Of Christmas Is Not Always Christian -- It Is Generally Pagan; That Is To Say, Human, Natural.

The Glory Of Science Is, That It Is Freeing The Soul, Breaking The Mental Manacles, Getting The Brain Out Of Bondage, Giving Courage To Thought, Filling The World With Mercy, Justice, And Joy.

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