I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample underfoot. Men are not superior by reason of the accidents of race or color. Men are superior who have the best heart.
(The nationally famous black educator Frederick Douglass stated there were only two great men of his acquaintance in whose presence he could be without feeling that he was inferior to them – Abraham Lincoln and Robert Ingersoll.)
(Douglass dreaded a return trip to Peoria for one of the several lectures he did there over time, because he had nearly frozen to death once at being denied hotel lodging. However, his host in Elmwood told him, "I know a man in Peoria who will gladly open his doors to you – a man who will receive you at any hour of the night and in any weather, and that man is Robert Ingersoll." The two became great friends.)
(A quote from Ingersoll’s housekeeper, in a newspaper interview years after his death) –
(A quote from Ingersoll’s housekeeper, in a newspaper interview years after his death) –
“Mr. Ingersoll didn’t go to church, but he was the best man on earth.”
