William Ralph Inge Quotes

William Ralph Inge 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. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times.

✵ 6. June 1860 – 26. February 1954  •  Other names William Inge
William Ralph Inge photo

Works

The Idea of Progress
The Idea of Progress
William Ralph Inge
The Idea of Progress
The Idea of Progress
William Ralph Inge
William Ralph Inge: 18 quotes1 like

Famous William Ralph Inge Quotes

“The fruit of the tree of knowledge, always drives man from some paradise or other.”

William Ralph Inge The Idea of Progress

"The Idea of Progress" http://books.google.com/books?id=TbgYAAAAYAAJ&q=%22The+fruit+of+the+tree+of+knowledge+always+drives+man+from+some+paradise+or+other%22&pg=PA5#v=onepage, Romanes Lecture (27 May 1920), reprinted in 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

" Democracy and the Future http://books.google.com/books?id=KAhOjxIHy4QC&q="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"&pg=PA289#v=onepage" The Atlantic Monthly (March 1922)

“Civilization is a disease which is almost invariably fatal.”

William Ralph Inge The Idea of Progress

"The Idea of Progress" http://books.google.com/books?id=TbgYAAAAYAAJ&q=Devil+in+human+form, 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 The Idea of Progress

"The Idea of Progress" http://books.google.com/books?id=TbgYAAAAYAAJ&q=Devil+in+human+form, Romanes Lecture (27 May 1920), reprinted in Outspoken Essays: Second Series (1922)

William Ralph Inge Quotes

“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.”

William Ralph Inge

Christian Mysticism (1899), Preface
Context: 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.

“No word in our language — not even "Socialism"— has been employed more loosely than "Mysticism."”

William Ralph Inge

Christian Mysticism (1899) http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14596, Preface <br class="br">Context: No word in our language — not even &quot;Socialism&quot;— has been employed more loosely than &quot;Mysticism.&quot; … 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…

“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.”

William Ralph Inge

Light, Life, and Love: Selections from the German Mystics of the Middle Ages (1904) http://www.ccel.org/ccel/inge/light.toc.html, p. xxx - PDF and epub at Google Books http://books.google.com/books?id=Wt4PAAAAYAAJ <br class="br">Context: 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. &quot;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.&quot; &quot;Love God, and do as you like, say the Free Spirits. Yes; but as long as you like anything contrary to God&#x27;s will, you do not love Him.&quot;<br>There is much more of the same kind in Eckhart&#x27;s sermons — as good and sensible doctrine as one could find anywhere.

“A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by a common hatred of its neighbours.”

William Ralph Inge

The End of an Age: and other essays (1948), p. 127

“Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due.”

William Ralph Inge

Attributed to Inge in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993), which cites the London Observer, 14 February 1932. However, this aphorism was in circulation decades earlier, e.g., it features in an advertisement in The Grape Belt, 2 October 1906, p. 5 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LY9CAAAAIBAJ&amp;sjid=tLkMAAAAIBAJ&amp;pg=5967,3394664&amp;dq=worry-is-interest-paid-on-trouble-before-it-falls-due&amp;hl=en <br class="br">Misattributed

“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

&quot; Our Present Discontents http://books.google.com/books?id=dFYPAQAAIAAJ&amp;q=&amp;quot;It+is+becoming+impossible+for+those+who+mix+at+all+with+their+fellow-men+to+believe+that+the+grace+of+God+is+distributed+denominationally&amp;quot;&amp;pg=PA32#v=onepage&quot; (August 1919) in Outspoken Essays (1919), p. 32

“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

Assessments and Anticipations http://books.google.com/books?id=87AxAAAAMAAJ&amp;q=&amp;quot;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&amp;quot;&amp;pg=PA261#v=onepage (1929), p. 261

“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

[St Paul, The Quarterly Review, 220, 45–68, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015056059549;view=1up;seq=71] January 1914, p. 61

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

William Ralph Inge

"Our Present Discontents" (August 1919) in Outspoken Essays (1919), p. 2

“It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion.”

William Ralph Inge

&quot; Patriotism http://books.google.com/books?id=dFYPAQAAIAAJ&amp;q=%22It%20is%20useless%20for%20the%20sheep%20to%20pass%20resolutions%20in%20favour%20of%20vegetarianism%20while%20the%20wolf%20remains%20of%20a%20different%20opinion%22&amp;pg=PA42-43#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false&quot; (August 1919) in Outspoken Essays (1919), pp. 42-43

“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

&quot;Confessio Fidei&quot; http://archive.org/stream/outspokenessays00ingeiala#page/24/mode/2up/search/I+have+never+understood+why+it+should+be+considered+derogatory+to+the+Creator+to+suppose+that+he+has+a+sense+of+humour, Outspoken Essays (Second Series) (1922)

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