WIST

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.

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
“The Idea of Progress,” Romanes Lecture (27 May 1920)
Full text.

True faith is belief in the reality of absolute values.

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
“Confessio Fidei,” Outspoken Essays: Second Series (1922)

Man, as we know him, is a poor creature; but he is halfway between an ape and a god, and he is traveling in the right direction.

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
“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.

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
“Democracy and the Future,” The Atlantic Monthly (1922)
Full text.

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

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
“Our Present Discontents” (Aug 1919)

Democracy is a form of government which may be rationally defended, not as being as good, but as being less bad than any other.

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
“Our Present Discontents,” Outspoken Essays: First Series (1919)

See also Churchill.

It is becoming impossible for those who mix at all with their fellow-men to believe that the grace of God is distributed denominationally.

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
“Our Present Discontents,” Outspoken Essays (1919)

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

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
“The Training of Reason” (1918)
In A. C. Benson (ed.), Cambridge Essays on Education (1918)

Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it falls due.

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
(Attributed)

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.

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
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.”

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
More Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1931)

It takes in reality only one to make a quarrel. It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion.

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
Outspoken Essays

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

Dean William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate
The End of an Age: And Other Essays (1948)