I will follow my logic, no matter where it goes, after it has consulted with my heart. If you ever come to a conclusion without calling the heart in, you will come to a bad conclusion.
Robert Green IngersollRead
It is hard to conceive of the utter demoralization, of the political blindness and immorality, of the patriotic dishonesty, of the cruelty and degradation of a people who supplemented the incomparable Declaration of Independence with the Fugitive Slave Law.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the hypocrisy in American values, highlighting the contradiction between the ideals of freedom and the injustices upheld by laws like the Fugitive Slave Law.
In this quote, Ingersoll expresses profound disillusionment with a society that claims to uphold liberty and justice while simultaneously enforcing cruel and immoral laws, such as the Fugitive Slave Law that betrayed the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence. He points out the glaring inconsistency in a nation's values, revealing the moral failures inherent in a culture that allows such contradictions to exist, showcasing a deep ethical blindness among its people.
Themes
HypocrisyFreedomJusticeMoralitySlaveryIndependence
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about civil rights, one might quote Ingersoll to emphasize the importance of aligning laws with ethical values.
More from Robert Green Ingersoll
All quotes βIf the guardians of society, the protectors of 'young persons,' could have had their way, we should have known nothing of Byron or Shelley. The voices that thrill the world would now be silent.
Robert Green IngersollRead
The religion that has to be supported by law is without value, not only, but a fraud and a curse. The religious argument that has to be supported by a musket is hardly worth making.
Robert Green IngersollRead
There is no slavery but ignorance.
Robert Green IngersollRead
In all ages the people have honored those who dishonored them. They have worshiped their destroyers; they have canonized the most gigantic liars, and buried the great thieves in marble and gold. Under the loftiest monuments sleeps the dust of murder.
Robert Green IngersollRead
I believe that there is something far nobler than loyalty to any particular man. Loyalty to the truth as we perceive it - loyalty to our duty as we know it - loyalty to the ideals of our brain and heart - is, to my mind, far greater and far nobler than loyalty to the life of any particular man or God. . . .
Robert Green IngersollRead
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