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
Literature flourishes best when it is half a trade and half an art.
William Ralph Inge
Image
The whole of nature, as has been said, is a conjugation of the verb to eat, in the active and in the passive.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Hatred toward any human being cannot exist in the same heart as love to God.
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
No Christian can be a pessimist, for Christianity is a system of radical optimism.
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
Religion is caught, not taught.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Theater is, of course, a reflection of life. Maybe we have to improve life before we can hope to improve theater.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Prayer gives a man the opportunity of getting to know a gentleman he hardly ever meets. I do not mean his maker, but himself.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful or to discover something that is true.
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
Joy is the triumph of life it is the sign that we are living our true life as spiritual beings.
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
Nature takes away any faculty that is not used.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Many people believe that they are attracted by God, or by Nature, when they are only repelled by man.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Gambling is a disease of barbarians superficially civilized.
William Ralph Inge
Image
The average man is rich enough when he has a little more than he has got.
William Ralph Inge
Image
To become a popular religion, it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy.
William Ralph Inge
Image
Over-population is a phenomenon connected with the survival of the unfit, and it is a mechanism which has created conditions favourable to the survival of the unfit and the elimination of the fit.
William Ralph Inge
Image
There are no rewards or punishments - only consequences.
William Ralph Inge