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William Ralph Inge
22 quotes
“No word in our language — not even "Socialism"— has been employed more loosely than "Mysticism." … The history of the word begins in close connexion with the Greek mysteries. A mystic is one who has been, or is being, initiated into some esoteric knowledge of Divine things, about which he must keep his mouth shut…”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1899 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Christian Mysticism (1899), Preface
“The old civilisation, with all the brilliant qualities which make many moderns regret its destruction, rested on too narrow a base. The woman and the slave were left out, the woman especially by the Greeks, and the slave by the Romans.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: January 1914, p. 61
“Patriotism varies, from a noble devotion to a moral lunacy.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Our Present Discontents" (August 1919) in Outspoken Essays (1919), p. 2
“It is becoming impossible for those who mix at all with their fellow-men to believe that the grace of God is distributed denominationally.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Our Present Discontents" (August 1919) in Outspoken Essays (1919), p. 32
“It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Patriotism" (August 1919) in Outspoken Essays (1919), pp. 42-43
“The fruit of the tree of knowledge, always drives man from some paradise or other.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Idea of Progress", Romanes Lecture (27 May 1920), reprinted in Outspoken Essays: Second Series (1922)
“Civilization is a disease which is almost invariably fatal.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Idea of Progress", Romanes Lecture (27 May 1920), reprinted in Outspoken Essays: Second Series (1922)
“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 (1860–1954) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Idea of Progress", Romanes Lecture (27 May 1920), reprinted in Outspoken Essays: Second Series (1922)
“I believe that the accumulated experience of mankind, and his wonderful discoveries, are of great value. I only point out that they do not constitute real-progress in human nature itself,...”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Idea of Progress", Romanes Lecture (27 May 1920), reprinted in Outspoken Essays: Second Series (1922)
“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 (1860–1954) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Confessio Fidei", Outspoken Essays (Second Series) (1922)
“So the pendulum swings, now violently, now slowly; and every institution not only carries within it the seeds of its own dissolution, but prepares the way for its most hated rival.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Democracy and the Future" The Atlantic Monthly (March 1922)
“There are of course no beginnings or ends in history. We may walk for a few miles by the side of a river, noting its shadows and its rapids, the gorges which confine it and the plains through which it meanders; but we know that we have seen neither the beginning nor the end of its course, that the whole river has an unbroken continuity, and that sections, whether of space or time, are purely arbitrary. We are always sowing our future; we are always reaping our past.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Victorian Age: the Rede Lecture for 1922
“Looking back, I think I can separate the years when I was happy and those when I was unhappy. But perhaps at the time I should have judged differently.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1926 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1926), p210.
“On the whole, the happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except the fact that they are so.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1926 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1926), p211.
“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 (1860–1954) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Assessments and Anticipations (1929), p. 261
“Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter. This is what makes the trade of historian so attractive.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Assessments and Anticipations, "Prognostications" (1929)
“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 (1860–1954) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: More Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1931), p. 200
“Racialism is a superstitious variety of nationalism. A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by a common hatred of its neighbours.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The enemies of Freedom do not argue; they shout and they shoot.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The effect of boredom on a large scale in history is underestimated. It is a main cause of revolutions, and would soon bring to an end all the static Utopias and the farmyard civilization of the Fabians.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The phase of thought or feeling which we call Mysticism has its origin in that which is the raw material of all religion, and perhaps of all philosophy and art as well, namely, that dim consciousness of the beyond, which is part of our nature as human beings. Men have given different names to these "obstinate questionings of sense and outward things." We may call them, if we will, a sort of higher instinct, perhaps an anticipation of the evolutionary process; or an extension of the frontier of consciousness; or, in religious language, the voice of God speaking to us. Mysticism arises when we try to bring this higher consciousness into relation with the other contents of our minds.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1899 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Christian Mysticism (1899), Preface
“True contemplation considers Reality (or Being) in its manifestations as well as in its origin. If this is remembered, there need be no conflict between social morality and the inner life. Eckhart recognises that it is a harder and a nobler task to preserve detachment in a crowd than in a cell; the little daily sacrifices of family life are often a greater trial than selfimposed mortifications. "We need not destroy any little good in ourselves for the sake of a better, but we should strive to grasp every truth in its highest meaning, for no one good contradicts another." "Love God, and do as you like, say the Free Spirits. Yes; but as long as you like anything contrary to God's will, you do not love Him." There is much more of the same kind in Eckhart's sermons — as good and sensible doctrine as one could find anywhere.”
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) first seen 1904 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Light, Life, and Love: Selections from the German Mystics of the Middle Ages (1904), p. xxx - PDF and epub at Google Books