He bantered us, challenged us, electrified us . . . At times his eloquence held us silent as images and some witty turn, some humorous phrase brought roars of applause. At times we cheered almost...

Ingersoll could not understand the mind of those who, once having been told the truth, preferred to remain under the spell of superstition and in ignorance. He could not understand why people would not accept...

The death of Robert G. Ingersoll, on July 21, 1899, was one of the most widely — noted events of that year in the civilized world. It was also one of the most widely and...

He had all the attributes of a perfect man, and, in my opinion, no finer personality ever existed.{Edison’s opinion of the great }

As long as there is one person suffering an injustice; as long as one person is forced to bear an unnecessary sorrow; as long as one person is subject to an undeserved pain, the worship...

Robert G. Ingersoll was a great man. a wonderful intellect, a great soul of matchless courage, one of the great men of the earth — and yet we have no right to bow down to...

{Debbs’ letter to ‘s granddaughter}I was the friend of your immortal grandfather and I loved him truly… the name of Ingersoll is revered in our home, worshipped by us all, and the date of birth...

We not only do not believe that man is punished for his ‘sins,’ but emphatically state that there is no such thing as sin. There are wrongs and injustices, but no sin. Sin, like purgatory...

The name of Robert G. Ingersoll is in the pantheon of the world. More than any other man who ever lived he destroyed religious superstition. He was the Shakespeare of oratory — the greatest that...

{Letter from Debbs to Eva Ingersoll, husband of , just after the news of death}We were inexpressibly shocked to hear of the sudden death of your dear husband and our best loved friend. Most tenderly...

No institution of learning of Ingersoll’s day had courage enough to confer upon him an honorary degree; not only for his own intellectual accomplishments, but also for his influence upon the minds of the learned...

I leave pansies, the symbolic flower of freethought, in memory of the Great Agnostic, Robert Ingersoll, who stood for equality, education, progress, free ideas and free lives, against the superstition and bigotry of religious dogma....

When I visited George Bernard Shaw, in 1948, at his home in Aylot, a suburb of London, he was extremely anxious for me to tell him all that I knew about Ingersoll. During the course...

I heard Mr. Ingersoll many years ago in Chicago. The hall seated 5,000 people; every inch of standing-room was also occupied; aisles and platform crowded to overflowing. He held that vast audience for three hours...

{The final resolutions at Robert Ingersoll’s funeral, quoted here}Whereas, in the order of nature — that nature which moves with unerring certainty in obedience to fixed laws — Robert G. Ingersoll has gone to that...

{Colonel Carr’s testimony of Colonel Robert Ingersoll at his funeral}He was the boldest, most aggressive, courageous, virile, and the kindest and gentlest and most considerate and loving man I ever knew. His was a nature...

America doesn’t know today how proud she ought to be of her Ingersoll.

{Miller, who was president of American Federation of Musicians, had this to say about Robert Ingersoll at his funeral}On behalf of 15,000 professional musicians, comprising the American Federation of Musicians, permit me to extend to...

{Bjørnson on the great Colonel Robert Ingersoll, whom he translated into Norwegian}I am very sorry that, when I was in America, I did not have the opportunity to grasp the hand of a man who,...

Ingersoll is with Homer and Tully and Shakespeare and Burns.

Shocked? I consider Bob one of the constellations of our time — of our country — America — a bright, magnificent constellation. Besides, all the constellations—not alone of this but of any time—shock the average...

{Stockton, a playwright who performed plays about Robert Ingersoll, gives the four moments in Ingersoll’s life that shaped him, first being the death of his father, who was a reverend}Despite their opposing religious views, the...

The future historian will rank him as one of the heroes of the nineteenth century.{Stanton’s opinion of the great }

Paine was a grand fellow — high—with the most splendid sense of justice. But he was a reasoner — not warm — not letting out the natural palpitating passion… which perhaps he didn’t have. But...

One of the bravest, grandest champions of human liberty the world has ever seen.{Darrow on the great }

Robert Ingersoll’s character was as nearly perfect as it is possible for the character of mortal man to be… none sweeter or nobler had ever blessed the world. The example of his life was of...

I do not think there is a person in this world who has been a more ardent admirer of him than I have been. His life and work have been an inspiration to the whole...

I remember on one of my many visits with Thomas A. Edison, I brought up the question of Ingersoll. I asked this great genius what he thought of him, and he replied, ‘He was grand.’...

I’ve just come to my room, Livy darling, I guess this was the memorable night of my life. By George, I never was so stirred since I was born. I heard four speeches which I...

Robert Ingersoll came to [a small Midwest town] to speak . . . , and after he had gone the question of the divinity of Christ for months occupied the minds of the citizens.

Except for my daughters, I have not grieved for any death as I have grieved for his. His was a great and beautiful spirit, he was a man – all man, from his crown to...

In the campaign of 1876, Robert G. Ingersoll came to Madison to speak. I had heard of him for years; when I was a boy on the farm a relative of ours had testified in...

He is a type of our best — our rarest. Electrical, I was going to say, beyond anyone, perhaps, ever was: charged, surcharged. Not a founder of new philosophies — not of that build. But...

{Letter from Fawcett to the great Robert Ingersoll, 1894}I do so wish, that, in all these big questions, literary men would take you more for a guide than they do, or seem to do. You...

As a matter of fact, with all his wit, humor, raillery, persiflage, he was the profoundest logician that ever appealed to the intellect of an American audience. There was logic even in his laughter. He...

Could I but acquaint the world with Robert G. Ingersoll’s humanity, with his ideas and his sentiments of love, patience and understanding, a renascence would automatically take place that would give life and living on...