A nation is a society united by delusions about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbors.

—William Ralph Inge

politics history nations

About William Ralph Inge

Portrait of William Ralph Inge

William Ralph Inge (; 6 June 1860 – 26 February 1954) was an English author, Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and dean of St Paul's Cathedral. Although as an author he used W. R. Inge, and he was personally known as Ralph, he was widely known by his...

More quotations from William Ralph Inge

There is no law of progress. Our future is in our own hands, to make or to mar. It will be an uphill fight to the end, and would we have it otherwise? Let no one suppose that evolution will ever exempt us from struggles. 'You forget,' said the Devil, with a chuckle, 'that I have been evolving too.

—William Ralph Inge

The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so.

—William Ralph Inge

Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter.

—William Ralph Inge

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

—William Ralph Inge

True faith is belief in the reality of absolute values.

—William Ralph Inge

reality belief faith values

More quotations tagged with “nations”

Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.

—Arthur Schopenhauer

nations patriotism ridicule

Probably no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both.

—Abraham Flexner

war choice nations wealth civilization

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence and back into bondage.

—Fraser Tyler

history apathy progress nations world faith liberty courage wealth slavery abundance

We estimate the wisdom of nations by seeing what they did with their surplus capital.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

politics wisdom nations money capital

The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.

—Stanley Kubrick

politics nations international relations

History

12 Oct 2013 Added