Robert G. Ingersoll Quotes

Though virtue give a ragged livery, she gives a golden cognizance; if her service make thee poor, blush not. Thy poverty may disadvantage thee, but not dishonor thee.

You can't be all bad all the time.

Virtue may be cheerful without forgetting its dignity.

Not every great man is a grand human being.

Virtuous people are simply those who have not been tempted sufficiently, because they live in a vegetative state, or because their purposes are so concentrated in one direction that they have not had the leisure to glance around them.

Honesty is nothin' compared to decency.

He who, in questions of right, virtue, or duty, sets himself above all ridicule, is truly great, and shall laugh in the end with truer mirth than ever he was laughed at.

No one ever lost his honor, except he who had it not.

Honesty is not only "the first step toward greatness," - it is greatness itself.

Magnanimity is above circumstance; and any virtue which depends on that is more of constitution than of principle.

Nothing of character is really permanent but virtue and personal worth.

He who possesses greatness is cruel towards his secondary virtues and considerations.

The man who in view of gain thinks of righteousness; who in the view of danger is prepared to give up his life; and who does not forget an old agreement however far back it extends - such a man may be reckoned a complete man.

Be thou good thyself, and let people speak evil of thee; it is better than to be wicked, and that they should consider thee as good.

[M]en will be free no longer then while they remain virtuous.

Virtue may not always make a Face handsome, but Vice will certainly make it ugly.

Man is not equally moral at all hours, this is well known. If his morality is judged to be the capability for great self-sacrificing resolutions and self-denial (which, when continuous and grown habitual, are called holiness)

Integrity is what you do when no one is watching; its doing the right thing all the time, even when it may work to your disadvantage.

I believe in integrity. Dogs have it. Humans are sometimes lacking it.

Only a bad person needs to repent: only a good person can repent perfectly.

The one who is good, is free even being a slave; the one who is bad remains a slave even being a king.

The most tragic thing in the world is a man of genius who is not a man of honor.

Whatever any one does or says, I must be good; just as if the emerald were always saying this: "Whatever any one does or says, I must still be emerald, and keep my color.

It is not enough to be nice; you have to be good. We are attracted by nice people; but only on the assumption that their niceness is a sign of goodness.

Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it, piece by piece - by thought, choice, courage, and determination.