Robert G. Ingersoll Quotes

There will always be some people who think for themselves, even among the self-appointed guardians of the great mass who, after having thrown off the yoke of immaturity themselves, will spread about them the spirit of a reasonable estimate of their own value and of the need for every man to think for himself.

More power than all the success slogans ever penned by human hand is the realization for every man that he has but one boss. That boss is the man - he - himself.

He who dares not reason, is a slave.

Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own understanding.

I will not surrender responsibility for my life and my actions.

Advice to intellectuals: let no-one represent you.

Obedience is detachment from the self. This is the most radical detachment of all. But what is the self? The self is the principle of reason and responsibility in us. It is the root of freedom, it is what makes us men.

The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us.

If some things don't make you lose your sense of reason, then you have none to lose.

If we don't empower ourselves with knowledge, then we're gonna be led down a garden path.

The great advantage of being human is that we can employ rational thought and resolve to change our circumstances.

The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.

By philosophy the mind of man comes to itself, and from henceforth rests on itself without foreign aid, and is completely master of itself, as the dancer of his feet, or the boxer of his hands.

Those who cannot think or take responsibility for themselves need, and clamor for, a leader.

Human passions, like the forces of nature, are eternal; it is not a matter of denying their existence, but of assessing them and understanding them. Like the forces of nature, they can be subjected to man's deliberate act of will and be made to work in harmony with reason.

The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.

We must know our limitations and expend our lives only in the cause of our independence.

Only reason can convince us of those three fundamental truths without a recognition of which there can be no effective liberty: that what we believe is not necessarily good; and that all questions are open.

I think it's important to be in control of my own destiny; to a lot of people I'm just a product, so I feel it's up to me to take a keen interest in what's going on around me. After all, it's my life.

In matters of intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard for any other consideration.

Find the autonomy in your work. Autonomy is key to feeling good about the work you do, no matter what kind of work it is.

That person has to be accountable for himself. I think that's what we have to do in society today is to be accountable for yourself. I think we have the tendency to always want to live someone else's life.

Who to himself is law, no law doth need, offends no law, and is a king indeed.

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.

I do what I do. Always.