Frases de Robert Green Ingersoll página 14

“Quienquiera que aumente la cantidad de alegría humana, es un devoto. El que agregue a la cantidad de miseria humana, es un blasfemo.”

Los Grandes Infieles (1881)

“En tanto que la iglesia tenga el poder de cerrar los labios de los hombres, la superstición gobernará el mundo.”

En La Tumba De Un Niño (1882)

“Cualquier cosa que no se puede tomar enserio en este mundo no debería permanecer en el.”

En La Tumba De Un Niño (1882)

“La vedad es que, a favor de prácticamente toda secta, los nombres de algunos grandes hombres pueden ser pronunciados.”

En La Tumba De Un Niño (1882)

“Los derechos de todos son iguales: la justicia, preparada y equilibrada en eterna calma, se estremecerá desde la balanza de oro en la que se pesan los actos de los hombres, el mismísimo polvo del prejuicio y la casta: Ninguna raza, ni color, ni condición previa, puede cambiar los derechos de los hombres.”

Los Grandes Infieles (1881)

“Hace cien años, nuestros padres retiraron a los dioses de la política. La Declaración de la Independencia es el más grandioso, el más valiente, y el más profundo documento político jamás firmado por los representantes de un pueblo. Es la encarnación del coraje físico, moral y de la sabiduría política.”

Oración del Centenario (1876)

“Quienquiera que tenga una opinión propia, y la expresa honestamente, será culpable de herejía. La herejía es lo que la minoría cree; es el nombre dado por los poderosos a la doctrina de los débiles.”

Oración del Centenario (1876)

“El celibato es la esencia de la vulgaridad.”

Herejes y Herejías (1874)

“El hombre superior es la providencia del inferior. Él es la vista para el ciego, la fuerza para el débil, y un escudo para el indefenso. Él está de pie inclinándose por encima de los caídos. Se alza, elevando a los demás.”

¿Roma, o la Razón?, pág. 61 http://www.archive.org/stream/thegreatcontrove00ingeuoft/thegreatcontrove00ingeuoft_djvu.txt

“Todo ser humano anhela con ser feliz, con satisfacer las necesidades del cuerpo con comida, un techo y refugio, y saciar el hambre de la mente, de acuerdo con su capacidad, con amor, sabiduría, filosofía, arte y música.”

Libertad.

“El presente es el hijo necesario de todo el pasado y el padre de todo el futuro.”

Como Reformar A La Humanidad (1896). http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/how_to_reform_mankind.html Reeditado por Publicaciones Kessinger, SRL, 2005. http://books.google.de/books/about/How_to_Reform_Mankind.html?id=u-IpAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

“El presente es el producto necesario de todo el pasado, la causa necesaria de todo el futuro.”

“En la mayor parte heredamos nuestras opiniones. Somos los herederos de hábitos y costumbres mentales. Nuestras creencias, como la apariencia de nuestras prendas, dependen del lugar en el que hemos nacido. Estamos moldeados y formados por nuestro entorno.”

¿Qué Es La Religión? (1899) es el último discurso público de Ingersoll, realizado ante la Asociación Estadounidense Por La Libertad Religiosa, Boston, Junio 2, 1899. Fuente: Las Obras de G. Ingersoll, Edición Conmemorativa Dresden Volumen IV, páginas 477-508, editado por Cliff Walker. http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/ingwhatrel.htm

“Da a cada ser humano cada derecho que reclames para ti mismo.”

"Porqué soy un Agnóstico." (1896) http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/ingag.htm.

“Supongo que se puede decir verazmente que la Esperanza es el único mentiroso universal que nunca pierde su reputación de veracidad.”

"Las Limitaciones de la Toleración" (8 de mayo de 1888), en Las Obras de Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. VII

“Cuanta más falsedad destruyamos más espacio habrá para la verdad.”

Discurso (1892).

“Yo preferiría haber sido un campesino Francés y usar zapatos de madera; Preferiría haber vivido en una choza, con una vid creciendo sobre la puerta y las uvas prosperando y madurando en el sol de otoño; Preferiría haber sido ese campesino, con mi esposa a mi lado y mis hijos sobre mis rodillas, entrelazando sus brazos en afecto alrededor mío; Preferiría haber sido ese campesino Francés y marcharme finalmente a la promiscuidad eterna del polvo, junto a mis seres queridos; Preferiría mil veces ser ese campesino Francés que esa personificación imperial de fuerza y asesinato; y así lo haría, diez mil veces mil.”

"Ortodoxia" (1884). Las Obras Completas de Robert G. Ingersoll (1902) Vol. 2. pág. 343

“Tal como un guerrero armado, como un caballero emplumado, James G. Blaine marcho por los pasillos del Congreso de los Estado Unidos y arrojo su brillante lanza plena y justamente contra las descaradas frentes de los traidores a su país y a cada deshonra a su buena reputación.”

Soliloquio en la tumba de Napoleón Bonaparte (1882); se ha de señalar que han sido mal declaradas como por ejemplo " Prefiero ser el más humilde campesino que jamás ha existido... en paz con el mundo, que ser el mejor cristiano que jamás haya existido" por Billy Sunday (Mayo 26, 1912), como se informó en Nunca Lo Dijeron: Un Libro De Citas Falsas, Erróneas, Y Atribuciones Engañosas (1989), pág. 52-53, por Paul F. Boller, Jr., y John George.

“Razón, observación y experiencia, la santísima trinidad de la ciencia, nos ha enseñado que la felicidad es el único bien; que el tiempo de ser feliz es ahora, y la forma de ser feliz es hacer felices a otros. Eso es suficiente para nosotros. En esta creencia nos contentamos con vivir y morir. Si por cualquier posibilidad la existencia de un poder superior, e independiente, de la naturaleza debe ser demostrada, entonces habrá suficiente tiempo para arrodillarse. Hasta entonces, permanezcamos de pie.”

Discurso al nombramiento de James G. Blaine para candidato presidencial, Convención Nacional Republicana (15 de junio de 1876).

“Día tras día, las concepciones religiosas se expanden menos y en menor intensidad. Día tras día, el viejo espíritu muere sin libro ni credo. El entusiasmo ardiente, el celo inextinguible de la primitiva iglesia se ha ido, para nunca, jamás regresar. Las ceremonias permanecen, pero la antigua fe se desvanece del corazón humano. Los gastados argumentos no logran convencer, y las denuncias que una vez palidecieron los rostros de una raza, solo estimula en nosotros la burla y el disgusto. A medida que el tiempo pasa, los milagros crecen poco y nada, y las convicciones de nuestros padres fracasan completa y definitivamente en satisfacernos.”

"Los Dioses" (1876) tal como se publicó en Los Dioses y Otras Charlas (1879); esta fue una de sus primeras versiones de lo que llego a ser conocido como su "Credo".
Algunas variantes:
La justicia es el único culto. El amor es el único sacerdote.La ignorancia es la única esclavitud. La felicidad es el único bien. El tiempo para ser feliz es ahora, El lugar para ser feliz es aquí, La forma de ser feliz es hacer felices a otros La sabiduría es la ciencia de la felicidad.
Como es citado en Familiar Quotations (1937) editado por Christopher Morley, pág. 603
La felicidad es el único bien. El lugar para ser feliz es aquí. El tiempo para ser feliz es ahora. La forma de ser feliz es hacer felices a otros.
Variante, tal como aparece en una copia manuscrita que escribió para un admirador (26 de marzo de 1897).

“La Declaración de la Independencia anuncia la sublime verdad, de que todo el poder proviene del pueblo. Ésta fue una negación, y la primera negación de una nación, al infame dogma de que Dios otorga el derecho a un solo hombre para gobernar a los demás. Fue la primera gran aseveración de la dignidad humana. Declaró que los gobernados sean la fuente de poder, y de hecho niega la autoridad de uno y todos los dioses. A través de eras de esclavitud, a través de cansados siglos de látigo y cadena, Dios era el reconocido soberano del mundo. Para entronizar al hombre, había que destronar a Dios.”

Fuente: "Los Dioses" (1876) tal como se publicó en Los Dioses y Otras Charlas (1879).

“Las universidades son lugares donde los guijarros son pulimentados, y los diamantes empañados.”

Fuente: Individualidad http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/individuality.html (1873).

“Our fathers founded the first secular government that was ever founded in this world. Recollect that. The first secular government; the first government that said every church has exactly the same rights, and no more; every religion has the same rights, and no more. In other words, our fathers were the first men who had the sense, who had the genius, to know that no church should be allowed to have a sword; that it should be allowed only to exert its moral influence.”

Fuente: Gil, Vanessa. Las perlas de Sofía: citas para estudiosos de la vida. Editor Corona Borealis, 2016. ISBN 978-84-1546-528-7. p. 135.

Robert Green Ingersoll: Frases en inglés

“I can say, if I wish, extremely mean and hateful things. I have read a great many religious papers and discussions and think that I now know all the infamous words in our language.”

Centennial Oration (4 July 1876) http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/centennial_oration.html

“Such things had occasionally been said by some political enthusiast in the olden time, but, for the first time in the history of the world, the representatives of a nation, the representatives of a real, living, breathing, hoping people, declared that all men are created equal. With one blow, with one stroke of the pen, they struck down all the cruel, heartless barriers that aristocracy, that priestcraft, that king-craft had raised between man and man. They struck down with one immortal blow that infamous spirit of caste that makes a God almost a beast, and a beast almost a god. With one word, with one blow, they wiped away and utterly destroyed, all that had been done by centuries of war — centuries of hypocrisy — centuries of injustice.”

My Reviewers Reviewed (lecture from June 27, 1877, San Francisco, CA)

“They insist that for the glory of God, husbands and wives who loathe each other should be compelled to live together. They abhor all works of fiction, and love the Bible.”

Centennial Oration (4 July 1876) http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/centennial_oration.html

“The story of Job shocks the heart of every good man. In this book there is some poetry, some pathos, and some philosophy, but the story of this drama called Job, is heartless to the last degree. The children of Job are murdered to settle a little wager between God and the Devil. Afterward, Job having remained firm, other children are given in the place of the murdered ones. Nothing, however, is done for the children who were murdered.”

The Truth (1896)

“At first it was believed that Christ was a direct descendant from David. At that time the disciples of Christ, of course, were Jews. The Messiah was expected through the blood of David.—For that reason, the genealogy of Joseph, a descendant of David, was given. It was not until long after, that the idea came into the minds of Christians that Christ was the son of the Holy Ghost. If they, at the time the genealogy was given, believed that Christ was in fact the son of the Holy Ghost, why did they give the genealogy of Joseph to show that Christ was related to David? In other words, why should the son of God attempt to get glory out of the fact that he had in his veins the blood of a barbarian king? There is only one answer to this. The Jews expected the Messiah through David, and in order to prove that Christ was the Messiah, they gave the genealogy of Joseph. Afterward, the idea became popularized that Christ was the son of God, and then were interpolated the words “as was supposed” in the genealogy of Christ.”

What Would You Substitute for the Bible as a Moral Guide? (1900)

“Volumes might be written upon the follies and imbecilities of great men. A full rounded man — a man of sterling sense and natural logic — is just as rare as a great painter, poet, or sculptor. If you tell your friend that he is not a painter, that he has no genius for poetry, he will probably admit the truth of what you say, without feeling that he has been insulted in the least. But if you tell him that he is not a logician, that he has but little idea of the value of a fact, that he has no real conception of what evidence is, and that he never had an original thought in his life, he will cut your acquaintance.”

"To the Indianapolis Clergy." The Iconoclast (Indianapolis, IN) (1883)

“This is the kind of slavery established by the most merciful God. The reason given for all this, is, that the persons whom they enslaved were heathen. You may enslave them because they are not orthodox. If you can find anybody who does not believe in me, the God of the Jews, you may steal his wife from his arms, and her babe from the cradle. If you can find a woman that does not believe in the Hebrew Jehovah, you may steal her prattling child from her breast. Can any one conceive of anything more infamous? Can any one find in the literature of this world more frightful words ascribed even to a demon?”

The Great Infidels (1881)

“Is there an intelligent man or woman now in the world who believes in the Garden of Eden story? If you find any man who believes it, strike his forehead and you will hear an echo. Something is for rent.”

My Reviewers Reviewed (lecture from June 27, 1877, San Francisco, CA)

“It is a waste of money to pay priests to frighten our children, and paralyze the intellect of women.”

Orthodoxy (1884)

“I cheerfully admit that we are indebted to Christianity for some learning, and that the human mind has been developed by the discussion of the absurdities of superstition. Certainly millions and millions have had what might be called mental exercise, and their minds may have been somewhat broadened by the examination, even, of these absurdities, contradictions, and impossibilities.”

My Reviewers Reviewed (lecture from June 27, 1877, San Francisco, CA)

“To me, there is no doctrine so infinitely absurd as the idea that this life is a probationary state—that the few moments spent here decide the fate of a human soul forever. Nothing can be conceived more merciless, more unjust. I am doing all I can to destroy that doctrine. I want, if possible, to get the shadow of hell from the human heart. Why has any life been a failure here? If God is a being of infinite wisdom and kindness, why does he make failures? What excuse has infinite wisdom for peopling the world with savages? Why should one feel grateful to God for having made him with a poor, weak and diseased brain; for having allowed him to be the heir of consumption, of scrofula, or of insanity? Why should one thank God, who lived and died a slave”

A Christmas Sermon (1890)

“The great argument made by Cosmas to show that the earth must be flat, was the fact that the Bible stated that when Christ should come the second time, in glory, the whole world should see him. “Now,” said Cosmas, “if the world is round, how could the people on the other side see the Lord when he comes?” This settled the question.”

"To the Indianapolis Clergy." The Iconoclast (Indianapolis, IN) (1883)

“They will not change the words of the creed; they will simply give “new meanings and the highest criticism to-day is that which confesses and avoids. In other words, the churches will change as the people change. They will keep for sale that which can be sold. Already the old goods are being “marked down.””

My Reviewers Reviewed (lecture from June 27, 1877, San Francisco, CA)

“Delaware has not had the best of opportunities. You must remember that it is next to New Jersey, which is quite an obstacle in the path of progress.”

"The Brooklyn Divines." Brooklyn Union (Brooklyn, NY), 1883.

“If an infinite God created us all, he knew exactly what we would do. If he gave us free will it does not change the result, because he knew how we would use the free will. Now, if he knew that billions upon billions would refuse to take the remedy, and consequently would suffer eternal pain, why create them? There would have been much less misery in the world had he left them dust. What right has a God to make a failure? Why should he change dust into a sentient being, knowing that that being was to be the heir of endless agony?”

Interview with the Chicago Times, Feb. 14, 1881.

“Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen forehead of every traitor to his country and every maligner of his fair reputation.”

A Christmas Sermon (1890)

“Every human being longs to be happy, to satisfy the wants of the body with food, with roof and raiment, and to feed the hunger of the mind, according to his capacity, with love, wisdom, philosophy, art and song.”

Nominating speech for Blaine for President, at the Republican National Convention (15 June 1876).

“Is the success of the Catholic Church a marvel? If this church is of divine origin, if it has been under the especial care, protection and guidance of an Infinite Being, is not its failure far more wonderful than its success? For eighteen centuries it has persecuted and preached, and the salvation of the world is still remote. This is the result, and it may be asked whether it is worth while to try to convert the world to Catholicism.”

How To Reform Mankind (1896). http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/how_to_reform_mankind.html Republished by Kessinger Publishing, Llc, 2005. http://books.google.de/books/about/How_to_Reform_Mankind.html?id=u-IpAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

“Blasphemy is a padlock which hypocrisy tries to put on the lips of all honest men.”

Rome, or Reason? A Reply to Cardinal Manning. Part I. The North American Review (1888)

“The Rev. Mr. Hamilton, enjoying my dying agony in imagination, says: “Let the world wait but for a few years at the most, when Death’s icy fingers feel for the heartstrings of the boaster, and, as most of his like who have gone before him have done, he will sing another strain.” How shall I characterize the spirit that could prompt the writing of such a sentence? The reverend gentleman “loves his enemies,” and yet he is filled with glee when he thinks of the agonies I shall endure when Death’s icy fingers feel for the strings of my heart! Yet I have done him no harm.”

Blasphemy lecture delivered at Brooklyn, N.Y., prior to Ingersoll's departure for Europe, February 22d, 1885 (reproduced at pg. 105 https://books.google.com/books?id=4O1cDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=Blasphemy+is+a+padlock+which+hypocrisy+tries+to+put+on+the+lips+of+all+honest+men.&source=bl&ots=I7KMCNvJ0B&sig=xOulmfPwJpuZQWqe8dBvtiJ_lms&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiiuuaE6ZreAhWyOn0KHdsaAd8Q6AEwAHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=Blasphemy%20is%20a%20padlock%20which%20hypocrisy%20tries%20to%20put%20on%20the%20lips%20of%20all%20honest%20men.&f=false).

“The most minute directions were given as to the killing of these animals. Every priest became a butcher, every synagogue a slaughter-house. Nothing could be more utterly shocking to a refined soul, nothing better calculated to harden the heart, than the continual shedding of innocent blood. This terrible system culminated in the sacrifice of Christ. His blood took the place of all other. It is not necessary to shed any more. The law at last is satisfied, satiated, surfeited.”

A Christmas Sermon (1890)

“I find that people who believe in immortality—or at least those who say they do—are just as afraid of death as anybody else. I find that the most devout Christian weeps as bitterly above his dead, as the man who says that death ends all. You see the promises are so far away, and the dead are so near. Still, I do not say that man is not immortal; but I do say that there is nothing in the Bible to show that he is. The Old Testament has not a word upon the subject—except to show us how we lost immortality.”

Some Reasons Why (1881)

“So, too, when it is recorded that he drove the money changers from the temple. This, had it happened, would have been the act simply of one who had respect for this temple and not for the religion taught in it. It would seem that, at first, Christ believed substantially in the religion of his time; that afterward, seeing its faults, he wished to reform it; and finally, comprehending it in all its enormity, he devoted his life to its destruction.”

"To the Indianapolis Clergy." The Iconoclast (Indianapolis, IN) (1883)

“In the pulpit, hypocrites have been worshiped; upon the stage they have been held up to derision and execration.”

"To the Indianapolis Clergy." The Iconoclast (Indianapolis, IN) (1883)

“The objection I have to the whipping-post is that it is a punishment which cannot be inflicted by a gentleman. The person who administers the punishment must, of necessity, be fully as degraded as the person who receives it.”

"The Brooklyn Divines." Brooklyn Union (Brooklyn, NY), 1883.

“Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery. It is far better to be free, to leave the forts and barricades of fear, to stand erect and face the future with a smile. It is far better to give yourself sometimes to negligence, to drift with wave and tide, with the blind force of the world, to think and dream, to forget the chains and limitations of the breathing life, to forget purpose and object, to lounge in the picture gallery of the brain, to feel once more the clasps and kisses of the past, to bring life's morning back, to see again the forms and faces of the dead, to paint fair pictures for the coming years, to forget all Gods, their promises and threats, to feel within your veins life's joyous stream and hear the martial music, the rhythmic beating of your fearless heart. And then to rouse yourself to do all useful things, to reach with thought and deed the ideal in your brain, to give your fancies wing, that they, like chemist bees, may find art's nectar in the weeds of common things, to look with trained and steady eyes for facts, to find the subtle threads that join the distant with the now, to increase knowledge, to take burdens from the weak, to develop the brain, to defend the right, to make a palace for the soul. This is real religion. This is real worship.”

Interview with the Chicago Times, Feb. 14, 1881.

“According to the theologians, God, the Father of us all, wrote a letter to his children. The children have always differed somewhat as to the meaning of this letter. In consequence of these honest differences, these brothers began to cut out each other's hearts. In every land, where this letter from God has been read, the children to whom and for whom it was written have been filled with hatred and malice. They have imprisoned and murdered each other, and the wives and children of each other. In the name of God every possible crime has been committed, every conceivable outrage has been perpetrated. Brave men, tender and loving women, beautiful girls, and prattling babes have been exterminated in the name of Jesus Christ.”

What Is Religion? (1899) is Ingersoll's last public address, delivered before the American Free Religious association, Boston, June 2, 1899. Source: The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Dresden Memorial Edition Volume IV, pages 477-508, edited by Cliff Walker. http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/ingwhatrel.htm

“The truth is, that in favor of almost every sect, the names of some great men can be pronounced.”

Heretics and Heresies (1874)

“Any law Made for the preserve of a human right, made to guard a human being, cannot sleep long enough to die; but any law that deprives a human being of a natural right -- if that law goes to sleep, it never wakes, it sleeps the sleep of death.”

The Great Infidels (1881)