All the altars and all the thrones united to arrest the forward march of the human race. The king said that mankind must not work for themselves. The priest said that mankind must not think for themselves. One forged chains for the hands, the other for the soul.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Ingersoll asserts that kings and priests have historically united to suppress human labor and thought through chains.
- In plain terms
- Powerful leaders have stopped people from thinking and working freely.
- What can you take from it?
- Resist authority that limits your work and thought.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who holds power over your mind?
- How can you work freely?
Another view
Some argue that leadership provides necessary order.
More from Robert G. Ingersoll
Age after age, the strong have trampled upon the weak; the crafty and heartless have ensnared and enslaved the simple and innocent, and nowhere, in all the ann…
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Permalink to quote #87 Above the natural, man cannot rise. There can be deformed ideas; as there are deformed persons. There may be religions monstrous and misshapen, but they were n…
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