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

William Ralph Inge

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William Ralph Inge
Nation
Neighbours
Politics
Ancestry
Nations
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Nationalism
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Patriotism
United
Delusion
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Hatred

More quotes by William Ralph Inge

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Consciousness 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.
William Ralph Inge
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In praising science, it does not follow that we must adopt the very poor philosophies which scientific men have constructed. In philosophy they have much more to learn than to teach.
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The wise man is he who knows the relative value of things.
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Faith 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.
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The command, 'Be fruitful and multiply', was promulgated, according to our authorities, when the population of the world consisted of two persons.
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I think middle-age is the best time, if we can escape the fatty degeneration of the conscience which often sets in at about fifty.
William Ralph Inge
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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
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Literature flourishes best when it is half a trade and half an art.
William Ralph Inge
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The modern world belongs to the half-educated, a rather difficult class, because they do not realize how little they know.
William Ralph Inge
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The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so.
William Ralph Inge
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Many people believe that they are attracted by God, or by Nature, when they are only repelled by man.
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A cat can be trusted to purr when she is pleased, which is more than can be said for human beings.
William Ralph Inge
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Hatred toward any human being cannot exist in the same heart as love to God.
William Ralph Inge
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Even the paradise of fools is not an unpleasant abode while it is inhabitable.
William Ralph Inge
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The wealth of a soul is measured by how much it can feel its poverty by how little.
William Ralph Inge
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The average man is rich enough when he has a little more than he has got.
William Ralph Inge
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Civilization is being poisoned by its own waste products.
William Ralph Inge
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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
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To become a popular religion, it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy.
William Ralph Inge
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In dealing with Englishmen you can be sure of one thing only, that the logical solution will not be adopted.
William Ralph Inge