Robert G. Ingersoll

"Give me the storm and tempest of thought and action, rather than the dead calm of ignorance and faith! Banish me from Eden when you will; but first let me eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge!"

"There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences."

"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."

"Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? Was he kinder, more forgiving, more self-sacrificing than Buddha? Was he wiser, did he meet death with more perfect calmness, than Socrates? Was he more patient, more charitable, than Epictetus? Was he a greater philosopher, a deeper thinker, than Epicurus? In what respect was he the superior of Zoroaster? Was he gentler than Lao-tsze, more universal than Confucius? Were his ideas of human rights and duties superior to those of Zeno? Did he express grander truths than Cicero? Was his mind subtler than Spinoza’s? Was his brain equal to Kepler’s or Newton’s? Was he grander in death – a sublimer martyr than Bruno? Was he in intelligence, in the force and beauty of expression, in breadth and scope of thought, in wealth of illustration, in aptness of comparison, in knowledge of the human brain and heart, of all passions, hopes and fears, the equal of Shakespeare, the greatest of the human race?"

"The present is the necessary product of all the past the necessary cause of all the future."

"Reason observation and experience - the Holy Trinity of Science."

"With soap baptism is a good thing."

"In nature there are neither rewards or punishments-there are consequences."

"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments - there are consequences."

"The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here."

"By physical liberty I mean the right to do anything which does not interfere with the happiness of another. By intellectual liberty I mean the right to think wrong."

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

"Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers."

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

"Few rich men own their own property. Their property owns them."

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

"An honest God is the noblest work of man."

"In the republic of mediocrity genius is dangerous."

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

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