William Ralph Inge KCVO (1860–1954) was an English author, Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, which provided the appellation by which he was widely known, “Dean Inge.”
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No Christian can be a pessimist, for Christianity is a system of radical optimism.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Christianity
We tolerate shapes in human beings that would horrify us if we saw them in a horse.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Man
The wisdom of the wise is an uncommon degree of common sense.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Wisdom
Faith begins as an experiment and ends as an experience.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Faith, Belief, Experiment
The happy people are those who are producing something; the bored people are those who are consuming much and producing nothing.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Happiness
It is astonishing with how little wisdom mankind can be governed, when that little wisdom is its own.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Wisdom, Government
A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he can’t sit on it.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Revolution
The proper time to influence the character of a child is about a hundred years before he is born.
—William Ralph Inge
Faith is an act of self-consecration, in which the will, the intellect, and the affections all have their place.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Belief, Faith
To become a popular religion, it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Religion
In dealing with Englishmen you can be sure of one thing only, that the logical solution will not be adopted.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Nationality
The average man is rich enough when he has a little more than he has got.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Blessings, Gratitude, Appreciation
On the whole, the happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Happiness
Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Boredom
There is no law of progress. Our future is in our own hands, to make or to mar. It will be an uphill fight to the end, and would we have it otherwise? Let no one suppose that evolution will ever exempt us from struggles. ‘You forget,’ said the Devil, with a chuckle, ‘that I have been evolving too.’
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Evolution
I have never understood why it should be considered derogatory to the Creator to suppose that he has a sense of humour.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: God, Faith
Whoever marries the spirit of this age will find himself a widower in the next.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Society
Man will never be entirely willing to give up this world for the next nor the next world for this.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: World
Nature takes away any faculty that is not used.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Action
Consciousness is a phase of mental life which arises in connection with the formation of new habits. When habit is formed, consciousness only interferes to spoil our performance.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Thought
There are two kinds of fools. One says, “This is old, therefore it is good”. The other says, “This is new, therefore it is better”.
—William Ralph Inge
Topics: Change, Fools
The statistics of suicide show that, for non-combatants at least, life is more interesting in war than in peace.
—William Ralph Inge
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