"Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity"
About this Quote
Hope gets away with what every other con artist is punished for: repeated failure. Ingersoll’s line is engineered as a paradox - “universal liar” welded to “reputation for veracity” - and the friction is the point. Hope promises outcomes it cannot guarantee, yet we keep treating it as trustworthy because it’s emotionally useful. The joke is acidic, but it’s not just a joke. It’s a diagnosis of how people protect themselves from uncertainty by upgrading desire into belief.
The word “only” sharpens the indictment. Other lies eventually get caught; hope is exempt because its claims are always deferred into the future, always one more season, one more election, one more miracle away from being testable. That elasticity lets hope survive contact with reality. It’s a lie with an infinite appeals process.
Ingersoll, a 19th-century lawyer and famous freethinker, is also making a courtroom move: he’s cross-examining a sacred witness. In an era thick with religious revivalism and moral certainties, he targets the comforting habit of calling optimism a virtue and treating skepticism as coldness. The subtext is anti-sentimental and anti-clerical: hope isn’t evidence, and faith in “things turning out” can become a civic sedative, keeping people compliant, patient, and easy to govern.
Even so, there’s an implied respect for hope’s power. Ingersoll isn’t denying that hope sustains; he’s warning that its good PR is precisely what makes it dangerous. A lie that feels like medicine is the hardest one to refuse.
The word “only” sharpens the indictment. Other lies eventually get caught; hope is exempt because its claims are always deferred into the future, always one more season, one more election, one more miracle away from being testable. That elasticity lets hope survive contact with reality. It’s a lie with an infinite appeals process.
Ingersoll, a 19th-century lawyer and famous freethinker, is also making a courtroom move: he’s cross-examining a sacred witness. In an era thick with religious revivalism and moral certainties, he targets the comforting habit of calling optimism a virtue and treating skepticism as coldness. The subtext is anti-sentimental and anti-clerical: hope isn’t evidence, and faith in “things turning out” can become a civic sedative, keeping people compliant, patient, and easy to govern.
Even so, there’s an implied respect for hope’s power. Ingersoll isn’t denying that hope sustains; he’s warning that its good PR is precisely what makes it dangerous. A lie that feels like medicine is the hardest one to refuse.
Quote Details
| Topic | Hope |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: The Dark Side of Hope (Karen Krett, 2011) modern compilationISBN: 9781465392336 · ID: PeVRAAAAQBAJ
Evidence: ... Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity. Robert G. Ingersoll (Speech, Manhattan Liberal Club, February 28, 1892). Most. psychotherapists would agree that hope is most often a benevolent ally in the work ... Other candidates (1) Robert G. Ingersoll (Robert G. Ingersoll) compilation39.8% eople on the other side see the lord when he comes this settled the question the bible was re |
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