Reason, Observation and Experience the Holy Trinity of Science have taught us that happiness is the only good; that the time to be happy is now, and the way to be happy is to make others so. This is enough for us. In this belief we are content to live and die. If by any possibility the existence of a power superior to, and independent of, nature shall be demonstrated, there will then be time enough to kneel. Until then, let us stand erect.
belief content experience happiness holy-trinity hope inspiration nature observation reason science supernatural trinity

About This Quote

About Robert G. Ingersoll

Robert G. Ingersoll was a 19th-century agnostic, lawyer, politician and orator. Robert Green Ingersoll, nicknamed "the Great Agnostic", was an American lawyer, writer, and orator during the Golden Age of Free Thought, who campaigned in defense of agnosticism. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Experience — Learning through living, doing, and facing the world
  • Happiness — Thoughts on finding joy, contentment, and fulfilment
  • Hope — Words of encouragement about optimism and brighter futures
  • Nature — Appreciation for the natural world and our place within it
  • Science — Discovery, inquiry, and the wonders of the natural world

More quotes by Robert G. Ingersoll

“There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments there are consequences.”
— Robert G. Ingersoll
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“Justice is the only worship.Love is the only priest.Ignorance is the only slavery.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...”
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“Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery. It is far better to be free, to leave the forts and barricades of fear, to stand erect and face the future with a smile. It is far bet...”
— Robert G. Ingersoll
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“It is a splendid thing to think that the woman you really love will never grow old to you. Through the wrinkles of time, through the mask of years, if you really love her, you will always see the f...”
— Robert G. Ingersoll
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“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 a...”
— Robert G. Ingersoll
atheism death eternity fear

“Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words. ”
— Robert G. Ingersoll
music
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