Quote

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

William Ralph Inge

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

William Ralph Inge
United
Delusion
Neighbor
Hatred
Nation
Neighbours
Politics
Ancestry
Nations
Neighbour
Society
Nationalism
Common
Patriotism

More quotes by William Ralph Inge

Image
The object of studying philosophy is to know one's own mind, not other peoples.
William Ralph Inge
Image
The wise man is he who knows the relative value of things.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Nature takes away any faculty that is not used.
William Ralph Inge
Image
In imperialism nothing fails like success. If the conqueror oppresses his subjects, they will become fanatical patriots, and sooner or later have their revenge if he treats them well, and governs them for their good, they will multiply faster than their rulers, till they claim their independence.
William Ralph Inge
Image
The proper time to influence the character of a child is about a hundred years before he is born.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Hatred toward any human being cannot exist in the same heart as love to God.
William Ralph Inge
Image
For better or worse, man is the tool-using animal, and as such he has become the lord of creation. When he is lord also of himself, he will deserve his self-chosen title homo sapiens.
William Ralph Inge
Image
The church is only a secular institution in which the half-educated speak to the half-converted.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter.
William Ralph Inge
Image
A good government remains the greatest of human blessings and no nation has ever enjoyed it.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Boredom is a certain sign that we are allowing our faculties to rust in idleness.
William Ralph Inge
Image
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
Image
There are no rewards or punishments - only consequences.
William Ralph Inge
Image
A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Our test is infallible. Whatever view of reality deepens our sense of the tremendous issues of life in the world wherein we move, is for us nearer the truth than any view which diminishes that sense.
William Ralph Inge
Image
The happy people are those who are producing something the bored people are those who are consuming much and producing nothing.
William Ralph Inge
Image
The game of life is worth playing, but the struggle is the prize.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Man will never be entirely willing to give up this world for the next nor the next world for this.
William Ralph Inge
Image
The average man is rich enough when he has a little more than he has got.
William Ralph Inge
Image
What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.
William Ralph Inge