Quote #162

Love is natural. Back of all ceremony burns and will forever burn the sacred flame. There has been no time in the world's history when that torch was extinguished. In all ages, in all climes, among all people, there has been true, pure, and unselfish love. Long before a ceremony was thought of, long before a priest existed, there were true and perfect marriages. Back of public opinion is natural modesty, the affections of the heart; and in spite of all law, there is and forever will be the realm of choice. Wherever love is, it is pure; and everywhere, and at all times, the ceremony of marriage testifies to that which has happened within the temple of the human heart.

More from Robert G. Ingersoll

  1. Love is a revelation, a creation. From love the world borrows its beauty and the heavens their glory. Justice, self-denial, charity and pit…
  2. Love is not a crime ... men and women should be proudly natural; they need not grovel on the earth and cover their faces for shame.
  3. Liberty of thought, this liberty of expression, is of more value than any other thing beneath the stars. Of more value than any religion, o…
  4. Man has found that he must give liberty to others in order to have it himself.
  5. Kindness is the sunshine in which the virtues grow.
  6. Marriages are made by men and women; not by society; not by the state; not by the church; not by supernatural beings.
  7. It is not necessary to be great to be happy; it is not necessary to be rich to be just and generous and to have a heart filled with divine …
  8. Mental slavery is mental death, and every man who has given up his intellectual freedom is the living coffin of his dead soul.

All Robert G. Ingersoll quotes