"A fact never went into partnership with a miracle. Truth scorns the assistance of wonders. A fact will fit every other fact in the universe, and that is how you can tell whether it is or is not a fact. A lie will not fit anything except another lie"
About this Quote
Ingersoll writes like a man cross-examining the cosmos. The opening line is courtroom theater with a skeptic's bite: facts do not "partner" with miracles because miracles are, by design, exceptions that can never be subpoenaed. He is not politely arguing for reason; he is discrediting an entire rhetorical strategy - the one that smuggles religious wonder into public life as if awe were evidence.
The subtext is intensely political. In the late 19th century, America was metabolizing Darwin, industrial modernity, and a booming market for revivalism and spiritualism. Ingersoll, the era's most famous agnostic orator, aimed his fire at institutions that asked citizens to suspend judgment as a moral duty. By framing truth as self-sufficient - "Truth scorns the assistance of wonders" - he flips the usual hierarchy: faith is not noble; it's a crutch used when your case is weak.
His most effective move is the "fit" metaphor. A fact is not just a standalone claim but a piece that locks into a larger system: other facts, other observations, other people's experience. It's an early, populist version of what we now call coherence and replicability. The line about lies is colder and sharper: falsehoods require infrastructure. They must be buttressed by more falsehoods, maintained like an elaborate fraud, because reality refuses to cooperate.
Intent-wise, this is less about winning an abstract debate than building a civic ethic: demand claims that connect, that scale, that survive contact with the rest of the world. Ingersoll is selling intellectual hygiene as a democratic virtue.
The subtext is intensely political. In the late 19th century, America was metabolizing Darwin, industrial modernity, and a booming market for revivalism and spiritualism. Ingersoll, the era's most famous agnostic orator, aimed his fire at institutions that asked citizens to suspend judgment as a moral duty. By framing truth as self-sufficient - "Truth scorns the assistance of wonders" - he flips the usual hierarchy: faith is not noble; it's a crutch used when your case is weak.
His most effective move is the "fit" metaphor. A fact is not just a standalone claim but a piece that locks into a larger system: other facts, other observations, other people's experience. It's an early, populist version of what we now call coherence and replicability. The line about lies is colder and sharper: falsehoods require infrastructure. They must be buttressed by more falsehoods, maintained like an elaborate fraud, because reality refuses to cooperate.
Intent-wise, this is less about winning an abstract debate than building a civic ethic: demand claims that connect, that scale, that survive contact with the rest of the world. Ingersoll is selling intellectual hygiene as a democratic virtue.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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