Robert G. Ingersoll Quotes

In true democracy every man and woman is taught to think for himself or herself.

No one tells me what to think. I think for me.

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.

For a man to act himself, he must be perfectly free; otherwise he is in danger of losing all sense of responsibility or of self- respect.

There is nothing in all the world greater than freedom. It is worth paying for; it is worth going to jail for. I would rather be a free pauper than a rich slave. I would rather die in abject poverty with my convictions than live in inordinate riches with the lack of self respect.

I think, there are people for whom freedom is a bigger, more important thing than stability.

Nearly all men are slaves for the same reason that the Spartans assigned for the servitude of the Persians -- lack of power to pronounce the syllable, "No." To be able to utter that word and live alone, are the only means to preserve one's freedom and one's character.

I think the way I want to think. I live the way I want to live.

Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves.

As soon as you can say what you think and not what some other person has thought for you, you are on the way to being a remarkable man.

Man usually thinks liberty is the power of doing what he likes to do. That is license.

I'd rather die my way than live yours.

One of the first things I think young people, especially nowadays, should learn is how to see for yourself and listen for yourself and think for yourself.

If we value independence, if we are disturbed by the growing conformity of knowledge, of values, of attitudes, which our present system induces, then we may wish to set up conditions of learning which make for uniqueness, for self-direction, and for self-initiated learning.

Figuring things out for yourself is the only freedom anyone really has. Use that freedom.

Liberty is the result of free individual action,energy and independence.

I am sure it is one's duty as a teacher to try to show boys that no opinions, no tastes, no emotions are worth much unless they are one's own. I suffered acutely as a boy from the lack of being shown this.

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

He who dares not reason, is a slave.

In Ministry, we've only had one message: Think for yourself.

Only the educated are free.

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.

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

A couple years ago, the novelist Russell Banks told me he was reading the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. I asked why. He said, 'Because I've always wanted to and am tired of having my reading assigned.' I thought it was a marvelous declaration of independence.

Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.