William Ralph Inge Quotes

William Ralph Inge offers witty critique of tradition versus novelty and a moral look at how we treat other creatures.

16 quotes

1. 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.

2. 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.'

3. Civilization is a disease which is almost invariably fatal.

4. Worry is interest paid on a trouble before it is due.

5. The command, 'Be fruitful and multiply', was promulgated, according to our authorities, when the population of the world consisted of two persons.

6. They 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 them great.

7. The vulgar mind always mistakes the exceptional for the important.

8. The game of life is worth playing, but the struggle is the prize.

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

10. Beneath the dingy uniformity of international fashions in dress, man remains what he has always been; a splendid fighting animal, a self-sacrificing hero, and a blood thirsty savage.

11. The Devil deserves zero tolerance.

12. We should think of the church as an orchestra in which the different churches play on different instruments while a Divine Conductor calls the tune.

13. Originality is undetected plagiarism.

14. Each generation takes a special pleasure in removing the household gods of its parents from their pedestals, and consigning them to the cupboard.

15. Literature flourishes best when it is half a trade and half an art.

16. No healthy civilization can ever be reared on a foundation of devitalized work.