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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.

-Robert Green Ingersoll

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You Cannot Show Real

Robert Green Ingersoll

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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.

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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.

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.

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!"

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.

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

The First Step Is For Man To Cease To Be The Slave Of Man. The Second, Is To Cease To Be The Slave Of The Monsters Of His Own Creation, The Ghosts And Phantoms Of The Air.

Character Survives; Goodness Lives; Love Is Immortal.

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.

To Be Like Other People Is To Be Unlike Ourselves.

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.

In The Night Of Death, Hope Sees A Star, And Listening Love Can Hear The Rustle Of A Wing.

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.

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.

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.

Laughing Has Always Been Considered By Theologians As A Crime.

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.

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.

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

I Have Not The Slightest Confidence In 'spiritual Manifestations.'

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

In The Republic Of Mediocrity, Genius Is Dangerous.

Liberty Is The Breath Of Progress.

Every Sect Is A Certificate That God Has Not Plainly Revealed His Will To Man. To Each Reader The Bible Conveys A Different Meaning.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Cruelty Hardens And Degrades, Kindness Reforms And Ennobles.

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.

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.

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

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

Courage Without Conscience Is A Wild Beast.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Blasphemy Is An Epithet Bestowed By Superstition Upon Common Sense.

The Laboring People Should Unite And Should Protect Themselves Against All Idlers. You Can Divide Mankind Into Two Classes: The Laborers And The Idlers, The Supporters And The Supported, The Honest And The Dishonest. Every Man Is Dishonest Who Lives Upon The Unpaid Labor Of Others, No Matter If He Occupies A Throne. All Laborers Should Be Brothers.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Nothing Could Be More Dangerous To The Existence Of This Republic Than To Introduce Religion Into Politics

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?

The Hands That Help Are Better Far Than Lips That Pray.

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.

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.

Good Nature Is The Cheapest Commodity In The World.

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.

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

If I Go To Heaven I Want To Take My Reason With Me.

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.

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

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.

Martyrdom, As A Rule, Establishes The Sincerity Of The Martyr, Never The Correctness Of His Thought. Things Are True Or False In Themselves.

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

Justice For All

...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.

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.

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

Positive Atheism

I Do Not Believe In Loving Enemies; I Have Pretty Hard Work To Love My Friends. Neither Do I Believe In Revenge. No Man Can Afford To Keep The Viper Of Revenge In His Heart. But I Believe In Justice, In Self-defense.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

[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.

Labor Is The Only Prayer That Nature Answers.

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

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 Careful Reader Of The New Testament Will Find Three Christs Described: - One Who Wished To Preserve Judaism - One Who Wished To Reform It, And One Who Built A System Of His Own

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.

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.

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.

A Good Deed Is The Best Prayer.

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.'

Any Doctrine That Will Not Bear Investigation Is Not A Fit Tenant For The Mind Of An Honest Man.

With Their Backs To The Sunrise They Worship The Night.

If Nobody Has Too Much, Everybody Will Have Enough.

The Unitarian Church Has Done More Than Any Other Church To Substitute Character For Creed, And To Say That A Man Should Be Judged By His Spirit; By The Climate Of His Heart; By The Autumn Of His Generosity; By The Spring Of His Hope; That He Should Be Judged By What He Does; By The Influence That He Exerts, Rather Than By The Mythology He May Believe.

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."

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.

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.

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.

The Declaration Of Independence Was A Denial, And The First Denial Of A Nation, Of The Infamous Dogma That God Confers The Right Upon One Man To Govern Others.

I Belong To The Great Church Which Holds The World Within Its Starlit Aisles; That Claims The Great And Good Of Every Race And Clime; That Finds With Joy The Grain Of Gold In Every Creed, And Floods With Light And Love The Germs Of Good In Every Soul.

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

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

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.

The Ministers Are In Duty Bound To Denounce All Intellectual Pride, And Show That We Are Never Quite So Dear To God As When We Admit That We Are Poor, Corrupt And Idiotic Worms; That We Never Should Have Been Born; That We Ought To Be Damned Without The Least Delay.... The Old Creed Is Still Taught. They Still Insist That God Is Infinitely Wise, Powerful And Good, And That All Men Are Totally Depraved. They Insist That The Best Man God Ever Made, Deserved To Be Damned The Moment He Was Finished.

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

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

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.

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.

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

I Want No Heaven For Which I Must Give My Reason; No Happiness In Exchange For My Liberty, And No Immortality That Demands The Surrender Of My Individuality. Better Rot In The Windowless Tomb, To Which There Is No Door But The Red Mouth Of The Pallid Worm, Than To Wear The Jeweled Collar Of A God.

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

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

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 Reason I Give Is A Good One, You Will Act Upon It. If It Is A Bad One I Cannot Make It Better By Piling Epithet Upon Epithet. There Is No Logic In Abuse; There Is No Argument In An Epithet.

Nothing Is Greater Than To Break The Chains From The Bodies Of Men, Nothing Nobler Than To Destroy The Phantom Of The Soul.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

We Must Remember That There Is A Great Difference Between A Myth And A Miracle. A Myth Is The Idealization Of A Fact. A Miracle Is The Counterfeit Of A Fact. There Is The Same Difference Between A Myth And A Miracle That There Is Between Fiction And Falsehood -- Between Poetry And Perjury. Miracles Belong To The Far Past And The Far Future. The Little Line Of Sand, Called The Present, Between The Seas, Belongs To Common Sense To The Natural.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Liberty Is The Condition Of Progress. Without Liberty, There Remains Only Barbarism. Without Liberty, There Can Be No Civilization.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

The Triumph Of Justice Is The Only Peace.

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.

It Has Always Seemed To Me That A Being Coming From Another World, With A Message Of Infinite Importance To Mankind, Should At Least Have Verified That Message By His Own Signature. Is It Not Wonderful That Not One Word Was Written By Christ?

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.

The Rights Of Men And Women Should Be Equal And Sacred-marriage Should Be A Perfect Partnership.

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

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

The Credulity Of The Church Is Decreasing, And The Most Marvelous Miracles Are Not Either 'explained,' Or Allowed To Take Refuge Behind The Mistakes Of The Translators, Or Hide In The Drapery Of Allegory.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Joy Is Wealth And Love Is The Legal Tender Of The Soul.

Death Is Only Perfect Rest.

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

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.

I Read The Other Day An Account Of A Meeting Between John Knox And John Calvin. Imagine A Dialogue Between A Pestilence And A Famine!

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

Every Library Is An Arsenal.

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.

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

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

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.

Most People Can Bear Adversity. But If You Wish To Know What A Man Really Is, Give Him Power.

Fear Paints Pictures Of Ghosts And Hangs Them In The Gallery Of Ignorance.

An Infinite Personality Is An Infinite Impossibility.

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.

We Have At Last Ascertained That Miracles Can Be Perfectly Understood; That There Is Nothing Mysterious About Them; That They Are Simply Transparent Falsehoods.

I Would Rather Live With The Woman I Love In A World Full Of Trouble, Than To Live In Heaven With Nobody But Men.

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.

Burns Had His Faults, His Frailties. He Was Intensely Human. Still, I Would Rather Appear At The "judgment Seat" Drunk, And Be Able To Say That I Was The Author Of "a Man's A Man For 'a That," Than To Be Perfectly Sober And Admit That I Had Lived And Died A Scotch Presbyterian.

A Crime Against God Is A Demonstrated Impossibility.

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.

We Rise By Lifting Others.

Superstition Is, Always Has Been, And Forever Will Be, The Foe Of Progress, The Enemy Of Education And The Assassin Of Freedom.

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

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

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

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.

Creationists Use Facts The Same Way A Drunk Uses A Lightpost: For Support Instead Of Illumination

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

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.

The First Duty Of Man Is To Support Himself - To See To It That He Does Not Become A Burden. His Next Duty Is To Help Others If He Has A Surplus, And If He Really Believes They Deserve To Be Helped.

Injustice Upon Earth Renders The Justice Of Of Heaven Impossible.

I Found That The Clergy Did Not Understand Their Own Book.

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

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.

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.

What Has Religion To Do With Facts? Nothing.

The Idea That There Is A God Who Rewards And Punishes, And Who Can Reward, If He So Wishes, The Meanest And Vilest Of The Human Race, So That He Will Be Eternally Happy, And Can Punish The Best Of The Human Race, So That He Will Be Eternally Miserable, Is Subversive Of All Morality.

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.

Think Of The Egotism Of A Man Who Believes That An Infinite Being Wants His Praise!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

The History Of The World Shows That When A Mean Thing Was Done, Man Did It; When A Good Thing Was Done, Man Did It.

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.

The Church Says The Earth Is Flat. But I Know That It Is Round. For I Have Seen The Shadow On The Moon. And I Have More Faith In A Shadow Than In The Church.

And Why Does This Same God Tell Me How To Raise My Children When He Had To Drown His?

Every Man Is Dishonest Who Lives Upon The Labor Of Others, No Matter If He Occupies A Throne.

Economic Inequality

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

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

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