250 quotes
We are told “God so loved the world” that he is going to damn almost everybody.
Orthodoxy (1884)
The fact is, very few men are right in everything.
The Great Infidels (1881)
Around this sacred word cluster the joys and sorrows, the agonies and ecstasies, of the human race. The mother walks in the shadow of death that she may give another life.
Is Divorce Wrong? (1889)
Great virtues may draw attention from defects, they cannot sanctify them. A pebble surrounded by diamonds remains a common stone, and a diamond surrounded by pebbles is still a gem.
The Great Infidels (1881)
If that statute had been enforced, that science would not now be the property of the human mind. That science is contrary to the Bible, and for asserting the truth you become a criminal.
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
I know how vain it is to gild a grief with words, and yet I wish to take from every grave its fear.
At A Child's Grave (1882)
One can hardly imagine how perfect a constitution it took a few years ago to stand the assault of a doctor.
Orthodoxy (1884)
Whoever increases the sum of human joy, is a worshiper. He who adds to the sum of human misery, is a blasphemer.
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
Can any farmer, mechanic, or scientist find in the New Testament one useful fact?
A Thanksgiving Sermon (1897)
How is it possible for men of ordinary intellect, not only to endorse such ignorant falsehoods, but to malign those who do not?
My Reviewers Reviewed (1877)
As a matter of fact the rich man now cares but little for servants.
Nobody appeals to a passage to settle a dispute of fact.
I do not borrow ideas. I have a factory of my own.
They are all equally powerful and equally useless.
Rome, or Reason? A Reply to Cardinal Manning. Part I. The North American Review (1888)
Without heresy there could have been no progress.
Heretics and Heresies (1874)
Blasphemy is the bulwark of religious prejudice.
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
The Declaration of Independence is the grandest, the bravest, and the profoundest political document that was ever signed by the representatives of a people.
Centennial Oration (1876)
It costs too much to worship God in public.
My religious belief is my own. It belongs to me, not to the State of Illinois. I would not smother one sentiment of my heart to be the Emperor of the round world.
Is there beyond the silent night
An endless day?
Is death a door that leads to light?
We cannot say.
The Devil (1899)