The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 08 (of 12): Dresden Edition—InterviewsIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 08 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Interviews
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
divorced the better, not only for themselves, but for the community
at large. These arguments are generally answered by some donkey
braying about free love, and by "free love" he means a condition
of society in which there is no love. The persons who make this
cry are, in all probability, incapable of the sentiment, of the
feeling, known as love. They judge others by themselves, and they
imagine that without law there would be no restraint.
What do they say of natural modesty? Do they forget that people
have a choice? Do they not understand something of the human heart,
and that true love has always been as pure as the morning star?
Do they believe that by forcing people to remain together who
despise each other they are adding to the purity of the marriage
relation? Do they not know that all marriage is an outward act,
testifying to that which has happened in the heart? Still, I always
believe that words are wasted on such people. It is useless to
talk to anybody about music who is unable to distinguish one tune
from another. It is useless to argue with a man who regards his
wife as his property, and it is hardly worth while to suggest
anything to a gentleman who imagines that society is so constructed
that it really requires, for the protection of itself, that the
lives of good and noble women should be wrecked, I am a believer
in the virtue of women, in the honesty of man. The average woman
is virtuous; the average man is honest, and the history of the
world shows it. If it were not so, society would be impossible.
I don't mean by this that most men are perfect, but what I mean is
this: That there is far more good than evil in the average human
being, and that the natural tendency of most people is toward the
good and toward the right. And I most passionately deny that the
good of society demands that any good person should suffer. I do
not regard government as a Juggernaut, the wheels of which must,
of necessity, roll over and crush the virtuous, the self-denying
and the good. My doctrine is the exact opposite of what is known
as free love. I believe in the marriage of true minds and of true
hearts. But I believe that thousands of people are married who do
not love each other. That is the misfortune of our century. Other
things are taken into consideration--position, wealth, title and
the thousand things that have nothing to do with real affection.
Where men and women truly love each other, that love, in my judgment,
lasts as long as life. The greatest line that I know of in the
poetry of the world is in the 116th sonnet of Shakespeare: "Love
is not love which alters when it alteration finds."
_Question_. Why do you make such a distinction between the rights
of man and the rights of women?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account