William Ralph Inge quotes

William Ralph Inge was an English author, Anglican priest, and professor of divinity, often known as "The Gloomy Dean." His writings explored religion, philosophy, and society, gaining attention for their intellectual depth and sometimes pessimistic outlook. He significantly influenced discussions on spirituality and social issues in early 20th-century Britain. Here are 70 of his quotes:

We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form.

William Ralph Inge

Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.

William Ralph Inge

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

It is becoming impossible for those who mix with their fellowmen to believe that the grace of God is distributed denominationally.

William Ralph Inge

When our first parents were driven out of Paradise, Adam is believed to have remarked to Eve My dear, we live in an age of transition.

William Ralph Inge

The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so.

William Ralph Inge

It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.

William Ralph Inge

The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values.

William Ralph Inge

The enemies of freedom do not argue; they shout and they shoot.

William Ralph Inge

Civilization is a disease which is almost invariably fatal.

William Ralph Inge

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

Patriotism varies, from a noble devotion to a moral lunacy.

William Ralph Inge

The wisdom of the wise is an uncommon degree of common sense.

William Ralph Inge

Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful or to discover something that is true.

William Ralph Inge

To become a popular religion, it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy.

William Ralph Inge

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 struggle. You forget, said the Devil, with a chuckle, that I have been evolving too.

William Ralph Inge

It is astonishing with how little wisdom mankind can be governed, when that little wisdom is its own.

William Ralph Inge

The proper time to influence the character of a child is about a hundred years before he is born.

William Ralph Inge

I have no fear that the candle lighted in Palestine years ago will ever be put out.

William Ralph Inge

We tolerate shapes in human beings that would horrify us if we saw them in a horse.

William Ralph Inge

Democracy is only an experiment in government, and it has the obvious disadvantage of merely counting votes instead of weighing them.

William Ralph Inge

Bereavement is the deepest initiation into the mysteries of human life, an initiation more searching and profound than even happy love.

William Ralph Inge