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I say, let us think. Let each one express his thought. Let us become investigators, not followers, not cringers and crawlers. If there is in Heaven an infinite being, he never will be satisfied with the worship of cowards and hypocrites.
Robert Green Ingersoll
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of independent thought over blind obedience.

In this quote, Robert Green Ingersoll encourages individuals to engage in independent thinking and to express their own ideas rather than passively following others. He asserts that true value and authenticity come from questioning, investigating, and approaching beliefs with courage rather than fear or hypocrisy, suggesting that a higher power would not value conformity devoid of honesty.

Themes

Independent ThoughtCourageHypocrisyInvestigationBeliefs

In practice

Example use cases

During a debate on the importance of free speech, this quote could be used to highlight the need for independent thinking.

More from Robert Green Ingersoll

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.
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If 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.
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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.
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There is no slavery but ignorance.
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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.
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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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