This one's for JOHN B. KEANE
Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry aloud- and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. From the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead there comes no word. But, in the night of Death, Hope sees a star, and listening Love can hear the rustling of a wing.
– Robert Green Ingersoll,
at the grave of his brother,
Ebon Clark Ingersoll,
June 1879
Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity.
– Robert Green Ingersoll,
speaking at the
ManhattanLiberal Club,
February 1892