William Ralph IngeThe right use of leisure is no doubt a harder problem than the right use of our working hours. The soul is dyed the color of its leisure thoughts.373Thought
William Ralph IngeEvents in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter. ✨ William Ralph Inge (1929). Assessments and Anticipations,… ▶374Time
William Ralph IngeDeliberate cruelty to our defenceless and beautiful little cousins is surely one of the meanest and most detestable vices of which a human being can be guilty.353Humanity
William Ralph IngeMan, as we know him, is a poor creature; he is halfway between an ape and a god and he is travelling in the right direction. ✨ Outspoken Essays: Second Series 'Confessio Fid… ▶342Life
William Ralph IngeThe wealth of a soul is measured by how much it can feel; its poverty by how little.353Hope
William Ralph IngeA good government remains the greatest of human blessings and no nation has ever enjoyed it.344HumanityPolitics
William Ralph IngePrayer gives a man the opportunity of getting to know a gentleman he hardly ever meets. I do not mean his maker, but himself.355Reading
William Ralph IngeWe tolerate shapes in human beings that would horrify us if we saw them in a horse.322Humanity
William Ralph IngeTo become a popular religion, it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy. ✨ Idea of Progress (Romanes Lecture delivered at Oxford, 27 May 1920) p. 9356PhilosophyThought
William Ralph IngeThe jealous man is so preoccupied with what he hasn't got that he fails to appreciate the value of what he has got. He loses the ability to feel glad because the sun is shining. H… ▶378Humanity
William Ralph IngeIt is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion. ✨ Outspoken Essays: First Series Patriotism (1919)<… ▶379Death
William Ralph IngePatriotism varies, from a noble devotion to a moral lunacy. ✨ William Ralph Inge (1920). Outspoken Essays335Politics
William Ralph IngeThe wise man is he who knows the relative value of things. ✨ William Ralph Inge (1927). The church in the world: collected essays, Ayer Co Pub313Philosophy
William Ralph IngeIt is quite natural and inevitable that, if we spend sixteen hours daily of our waking lives in thinking about the affairs of the world and five minutes in thinking about God and … ▶302ThoughtTime
William Ralph IngeThe fruit of the tree of knowledge always drives man from some paradise or other; and even the paradise of fools is not an unpleasant abode while it is habitable.292Life
William Ralph IngeI 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) by William Ralph I… ▶304Reflection
William Ralph IngeA man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it. ✨ Philosophy of Plotinus Lecture 22 (1923)315Philosophy
William Ralph IngeThey who will live for others shall have great troubles, but they shall seem to them small. Those who will live for themselves shall have small troubles, but they shall seem to th… ▶337Reflection
William Ralph IngeLiterature flourishes best when it is half a trade and half an art. ✨ Victorian Age (Rede Lecture delivered at Cambridge, 1922) p. 49349Reading
William Ralph IngeFaith is an act of rational choice, which determines us to act as if certain things were true, and in the confident expectation that they will prove to be true. ✨ William Ra… ▶261HopeTruth
William Ralph IngeWe should think of the church as an orchestra in which the different churches play on different instruments while a Divine Conductor calls the tune.327Thought
William Ralph IngeConsciousness 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. … ▶339LifeThought
William Ralph IngeIt is astonishing with how little wisdom mankind can be governed, when that little wisdom is its own.295HumanityPhilosophy
William Ralph IngeTheater is, of course, a reflection of life. Maybe we have to improve life before we can hope to improve theater.328HopeLifeReflection
William Ralph IngeThe modern world belongs to the half-educated, a rather difficult class, because they do not realize how little they know. ✨ William Ralph Inge (1932). More Lay Thoughts of … ▶263Thought
William Ralph IngeThe aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values. ✨ Education (1917) ch. 2252Truth
William Ralph IngeI have no fear that the candle lighted in Palestine years ago will ever be put out.319Hope
William Ralph IngeThe vulgar mind always mistakes the exceptional for the important. ✨ William Ralph Inge (1932). More Lay Thoughts of a Dean275Thought
William Ralph IngePublic opinion, a vulgar, impertinent, anonymous tyrant who deliberately makes life unpleasant for anyone who is not content to the average person. ✨ Outspoken Essays Our Pr… ▶298LifeTime
William Ralph IngeThe greatest obstacle to progress is not man's inherited pugnacity, but his incorrigible tendency to parasitism. ✨ William Ralph Inge (1920). Outspoken Essays221Death
