by Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899)
When I became convinced that the universe is natural — that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom.
The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all the world — not even infinite space.
I was free:
- Free to think, to express my thoughts
- Free to live my own ideal
- Fee to live for myself and those I loved
- Free to use all my faculties, all my senses
- Free to spread imagination’s wings
- Free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope
- Free to judge and determine for myself
- Free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the “inspired” books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past
- Free from popes and priests
- Free from all the “called” and “set apart”
- Free from sanctified mistakes and “holy” lies
- Free from the winged monsters of the night
- Free from devils, ghosts and gods
For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought — no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings; no claims for my limbs; no lashes for my back; no fires for my flesh; no following another’s steps; no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.
And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love:
- To all the heroes, the thinkers, who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain
- For the freedom of labor and thought
- To those who fell on the fierce fields of war
- To those who died in dungeons bound with chains
- To those who proudly mounted scaffold’s stairs
- To those by fire consumed
- To all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons and daughters of men and women
And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they have held, and hold it high, that light may conquer darkness still.
Roger: Evan, it’s best to let John C’s inchoate ramblings be. He’s like that crazy uncle who... 
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55 Comments
There IS intelligent live on this planet! :)
Well, there was, but he’s gone now.
Seriously though, it is a wonderful sentiment, and though we do not celebrate thanksgiving in my country, reading this litany of the freedoms afforded by reason and the sacrifices of those who came before makes me feel very grateful indeed.
There IS intelligence on this planet! :)
That is an awesome quote. Inspiring!
Bravo!
Very nice.
Well spoken.
Wow. Thanks for that. That’s the kind of person id like to see as president.
120 years ago, when the Republican party was more secular, Ingersol was regularly invited to the White House. Many in the Republican Party wanted him to run for president. His resume and life experience, including being a war hero made him an ideal candidate. Being an outspoken agnostic probably cost him the job.
America needs more people like Ingersol. We also need for them to run for public office in both parties
Awesome, the best thing I have read in years.
In that case, you need to read more Ingersoll. :) The man was quite prolific.
*goosebumps*
Nice! This will be my Thanksgiving message to my FB friends. ;)
It seems today is a day where we all ought to be able to find some common ground — in our gratitude for gift of life.
Happy Thanksgiving, UF!
P.S. Thanks for adding the FB sharing widget!! I was having to digg it and then share my digg on FB. ;)
Beautiful.
Happy Turkey Day, all!!!!! I am thankful for the UF community! Y’all have added something extra and special to my life– a place to always say exactly what I think and be exactly who I am. Thank you all for that, especially Daniel.
*hugs*
Word. I am also thankful for my grandmother’s cooking…[burp], ah, excuse me.
Seconded! Love all you guys and gals.
“Happy Turkey Day, …”
What a great marketing excercise … how to get people to eat a bird that is fairly tasteless and has a tendency to be dry. For bonus points make them buy a bird so large that they’re be using it for sandwiches for the rest of the week!
Bah. When you have a holiday that revolves around cooking one particular thing, you get pretty good at it. Anyway, British people should be the last on Earth to complain about the tastelessness of a cuisine.
Besides, if you eat the dark meat, it is neither dry nor tasteless, but rather…fantastic. [Burp.]
To be fair to Turkey two of its biggest problems are that there is an expectation that it should be cheap, meaning the quality is generally poor, and people don’t understand how to cook a turkey so that that dark meat is cooked without the breast being dry and tough. Still out of all the birds it’s the least of my favourites, a proper game bird now that’s good erm … pheasant.
British food bland? … since when has curry been bland!
Agreed!
Every Christmas (typically British turkey day) I or my parents do goose. Delicious!
On a side note, what do people normally eat in the US at Christmas? More turkey? Or something different?
Yay to you for bringing that up Jabster! The balti was invented in Birmingham.
I was just having this conversation tonight. At Christmas in the US, we used to have turkey again because my father got one as a bonus from his job (part of his bonus, I hope). But we’re not limited to turkey, we can have ham or roast beef (maybe something else?). A couple companies are really pushing ham on the tv ads for Christmas, but I’ve never had ham on Christmas. I had mentioned goose to my friend, and he said, yeah, that’s only if you’re in England. I think in the US, some specialty stores will sell you a goose if you want one, but not at a regular supermarket. Then again, there’s always Chinese food, or what I got last year was had breakfast for dinner with bacon and eggs.
Honestly, to me goose has always just tasted like a really fatty turkey.
Sorry. I thought curry was *Indian* food.
:P
‘Fraid not! Curry was originally invented by the British Colonial Army as a method of diguising the taste of bad meat. Strange but true. Balti and Tikka Massala, two of the most popular curries, were actually invented in Birmingham (UK not Alabama) in the 1970s.
Wikipedia would like to have a word with your assertions.
Aw! I liked that explanation, too! Spoilsport ;)
Well, it does turn out that Balti does come from Birmingham. It’s just, it’s far from the first curry. Personally, I adored the Thai curry soup I had at a restaurant in DC (can’t seem to find it locally), but never really developed a taste for the stuff generally.
It may have been wrong butt I didn’t realise just how long curry had been in England … oh and of course English curry is not the same as “real” curry. All in all I think it can be classed as English cuisine or the description of US cuisine will have to change to non-existent …
LRA beat me to it. Only England would take culinary credit for something they stole from their colonial subjects.
@Elem
That’s because we have a history long enough to be able to do that!
Have you never tried IPA?
Or Nigerian Stout, for that matter.
Nigerian Stout … very different to a British/Irish Stout and of English origin.
Yes, that was my point.
Sorry Elemenope, that’s a cliche from the 1960s and 1970s – British people are actually real foodies in general. You’ll find at least one person in most families these days who *loves* to cook.
Yeah, but mushy peas are gross…
Have you not tried a mushy pea fritter?
OMNOM!
Fried mushy peas? Blech!!!! Sounds disgusting!
I must admit to not ever having had one but I did see someone eating one (I was up-North at the time) and as he crunched from the outer sheel of batter there was what seemed to be a radioactive glow given off by the peas. I still don’t know how they get peas quite that green.
Aren’t you all famous for such culinary “delights” as kidney pie and haggus?
Ack! Gack! Blech!!!!
Steak and Kidney pie (if made with suet pastry) is just lovely. Haggis is nice but I wouldn’t eat it all the time … erm, I bet you don’t like liver and bacon with onion gravy either …
It’s the liver that really does the damage. Bacon is awesome, and gravy is awesome.
Liver’s biggest problem is people don’t know how to cook it … thinly sliced calves liver done for 45 secs each side so it’s still nice and pink inside, heaven sent I tell you. Do it for to long and it tastes like eating the sole of you shoe after just stepping into a dog turd.
Offal is very much mis-understood …
Beg to differ, Jabster. Lamb’s liver is best, coated in plain flour and fried fast on both sides – very high heat, very short time – so it stays tender and doesn’t get that horrible bitterness which overcooked liver has. Served on a bed of minted green peas and crispy bacon with buttery mashed potato and onion gravy. Phukin’ OM to the NOMNOMNOM.
Now I like lamb’s liver and the way you cooked it is the right way but when it’s just liver on it’s own it’s calves liver every time for me. Mashed potato OMNOMNOMNOM … but I’m getting back into the winter veg mashes as it’s the right time of year.
Autumn wind:
gods, Buddha–
lies, lies, lies
~ Masaoka Shiki
My grandmother, born in 1870 and a Catholic convert, hated Ingersoll with a passion. As an agnostic, I can see why. Bless her heart, anyhow.
I’m Irish but my wife is American and we had some great friends over. I’m thankful for the ability to express my opinions openly and how far “most” of us have come as a race on this planet, and here is hoping for a brighter change and a better future for us all!
Thank you guys for the strength and confidence that I am not alone in what I know and we all understand. It’s tough at time but I just wanted to take the time to say thanks to you all and I wish you all the best in all things!
Thanks for the quote. Ingersoll is my all time favorite historical figure. He is in fact my real world hero.
Why have turkey when you can have chester?
(Chester = genetically modified Brazilian-bred lineage of the wild chicken – bigger and tastier than both chicken and turkey… And traditional xmas fare.)
LOVED this!!!!!!!! I forwarded it to my non-christian and even some of my kinda-christian friends. How could anyone be offended by this??? Where are all the politicians today who are fearless in speaking out for REASON????
Sorry, hit button too soon – not finished – terribly wordy – it’s my worst vice – I say 50 words when 10 will do – but I plan to stop doing this right away – apologize for the length of this apology – but I don’t want to take up space needlessly…anyway, it’s Friday afternoon and I’m a wee bit giddy about the weekend.
ANYWAY, what I was going to add was that much as I love Obama, even he doesn’t have the b*lls to say what he really thinks. He is a rational man, but has to pretend to be superstitious (going to church, claiming to be christian, hanging out with evangelists, etc.) just to survive in Washington. It’s so very, very sad. I was hoping Obama would be the dawn of a new era of enlightenment in North America but sadly that ship seems to have sailed. With Ingersoll.
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