Robert G. Ingersoll Quotes

By intellectual liberty I mean the right to think and the right to think wrong.

Every man must have the right fearlessly to think independently and express his opinion about what he knows, what he has personally thought about and experienced, and not merely to express with slightly different variations the opinion which has been inculcated in him.

Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority - literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political.

I've always been very liberal when it comes to people thinking for themselves.

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

The free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought.

Free thought is a virtue that cannot be crushed

Never prevent men from forming judgments according to their intellect

Dissent is the mark of freedom, as originality is the mark of independence of mind. … No one can be a scientist … if he does not have independence of observation and of thought.

Freedom of the mind requires not only, or not even especially the absence of legal constraints but the presence of alternative thoughts.

True freedom is tolerant. It gives people the right to live and think in new ways.

The proper method for hastening the decay of error, is not, by brute force, or by regulation which is one of the classes of force, to endeavour to reduce men to intellectual uniformity; but on the contrary by teaching every man to think for himself.

As long as a man had the courage to reject what society told him to do, he could live life on his own terms. To what end? To be free. But free to what end? To read books, to write books, to think.

I'm just trying to illustrate that it's okay to be different - not that it's good, not that it's bad, but that it's all right. I'm trying to tell kids to have a good time and to encourage them to be creative and to question things.

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.

My parents were quite liberal with us, always encouraging us to be our own person and be creative.

To become self-aware, people must be allowed to hear a plurality of opinions and then make up their own minds. They must be allowed to say, write and publish whatever they want. Freedom of expression is the most basic, but fundamental, right. Without it, human beings are reduced to automatons.

I can connect with whoever I want to connect with in the world. And I can also write my own script. I don't have to follow rules. I can sort of just be unconventional.

The freedom of thought is a sacred right of every individual man, and diversity will continue to increase with the progress, refinement, and differentiation of the human intellect.

Until every soul is freely permitted to investigate every book and creed and dogma for itself, the world cannot be free.

I will not attack your doctrines nor your creeds if they accord liberty to me. If they hold thought to be dangerous - if they aver that doubt is a crime, then I attack them one and all, because they enslave the minds of men.

Rock n' roll to me is all about freedom of thought and to be whatever you want to be.

I just think people should be able to express themselves.

I always strive for freedom: freedom of thought and expression.

I'm a free spirit; more people should become free spirits.