"While I am opposed to all orthodox creeds, I have a creed myself; and my creed is this. Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so. The creed is somewhat short, but it is long enough for this life, strong enough for this world. If there is another world, when we get there we can make another creed."
Those words, which came to be known as "the happiness creed," were recorded in 1894 in Thomas Edison's original laboratory in New Jersey. They came from Robert Ingersoll, the subject of the Susan Jacoby biography The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought. Ingersoll was the Richard Dawkins (or Sam Harris) of his day, an avowed atheist, a relentless foe of "all orthodox creeds."
Ingersoll's lack of faith, Jacoby suggests, is a big reason for his lack of fame. (Did you ever hear of him before? I hadn't, until reading a review of Jacoby's book.)
In the late 19th century, Ingersoll was far ahead of his time on singular issues that divide us to this day. He lectured across the country in favor of women's rights, including reproductive rights, career choices and pay. He believed in full civil rights for blacks and all other minorities. He was a champion of immigrants. He opposed capital punishment.
Ingersoll was also a gifted, plain-speaking orator, filling lecture halls across America, drawing applause even from those who opposed his positions.
"The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so." Who can oppose that position?
At the Ingersoll Birthplace-Museum in Dresden, New York, you can hear Ingersoll himself say those words, on the recording made by his friend Thomas Edison.