Robert G. Ingersoll Quotes

One of the greatest joys known to man is to take a flight into ignorance in search of knowledge.

A good education should leave much to be desired.

Uncertainty is a very good thing: it's the beginning of an investigation, and the investigation should never end.

Doubt comes in at the window when inquiry is denied at the door.

Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance.

Constant and frequent questioning is the first key to wisdom … For through doubting we are led to inquire, and by inquiry we perceive the truth.

Always ask questions.

Curiosity is vital to the growth of our society.

All I care about is getting smarter and better.

We are destined to be a barrier against the return of ignorance and barbarism. Old Europe will have to lean on our shoulders, and to hobble along by our side, under the monkish trammels of priests and kings, as she can. What a colossus shall we be when the southern continent comes up to our mark! What a stand will it seem as a ralliance for the reason and freedom of the globe!

We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty.

Ignorance is the mother of research.

We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified — how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.

A scientist is never certain. ... We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning.

Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled.

Can’t you even tell me if I’m on the right track?" Buckminster purred, and Dad shrugged his shoulders again. "But if you don’t tell me anything, how can I ever be right?" He circled something in an article and said, "Another way of looking at it would be, how could you ever be wrong?

Schools teach ignorance.

Questions outlive the answers.

This is one of the great social functions of science - to free people from superstition

An unsatisfied appetite for knowledge means progress and is the state of a normal mind.

Persistent questioning and healthy inquisitiveness are the first requisite for acquiring learning of any kind.

Doubt is the necessary tool of knowledge.

Education is our passport to the future.

Doubt is the first step towards knowledge, not faith.

Great is the faith of the flush of knowledge and of the investigation of the depths of qualities and things.