Robert Green Ingersoll, (1833-1899), American Orator, Lawyer Quotes

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

The hands that help are holier than the lips that pray.

Love is the only bow on life's dark cloud.

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

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.

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...

Happiness is not a reward--it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment--it is a result.

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

If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow the teachings of the new, he would be insane.

If I owe Smith ten dollars and God forgives me, that doesn't pay Smith.