Ingersollia: Gems of Thought from the Lectures, Speeches, and Conversations of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, Representative of His Opinions and BeliefsIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
Ingersollia: Gems of Thought from the Lectures, Speeches, and Conversations of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, Representative of His Opinions and Beliefs
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Ingersoll, Robert Green, 1833-1899 -- Quotations
To work for others is, in reality, the only way in which a man can work
for himself. Selfishness is ignorance. Speculators cannot make unless
somebody loses. In the realm of speculation, every success has at least
one victim. The harvest reaped by the farmer benefits all and injures
none. For him to succeed, it is not necessary that some one should fail.
The same is true of all producers--of all laborers.
85. State Sovereignty
I despise the doctrine of State sovereignty. I believe in the rights
of the States, but not in the sovereignty of the States. States are
political conveniences. Rising above States as the Alps above valleys
are the rights of man. Rising above the rights of the government even in
this Nation are the sublime rights of the people. Governments are good
only so long as they protect human rights. But the rights of a man never
should be sacrificed upon the altar of the State or upon the altar of
the Nation.
86. The King of America
I am not only in favor of free speech, but I am also in favor of an
absolutely honest ballot. There is one king in this country; there
is one emperor; there is one supreme czar; and that is the legally
expressed will of the majority of the people. The man who casts an
illegal vote, the man who refuses to count a legal vote, poisons the
fountain of power, poisons the spring of justice, and is a traitor to
the only king in this land. I have always said, and I say again, that
the more liberty there is given away the more you have. There is room in
this world for us all; there is room enough for all of our thoughts;
out upon the intellectual sea there is room for every sail, and in the
intellectual air there is space for every wing. A man that exercises a
right that he will not give to others is a barbarian. A State that does
not allow free speech is uncivilized, and is a disgrace to the American
Union.
87. Years Without Seeing a Dollar!
I have been told that during the war we had plenty of money. I never saw
it. I lived years without seeing a dollar. I saw promises for dollars,
but not dollars. And the greenback, unless you have the gold behind it,
is no more a dollar than a bill of fare is a dinner. You cannot make
a paper dollar without taking a dollar's worth of paper. We must have
paper that represents money. I want it issued by the government, and I
want behind every one of these dollars either a gold or silver dollar,
so that every greenback under the flag can lift up its hand and swear,
"I know that my redeemer liveth."
88. The Wail of Dead Nations
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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