{"id":1623,"date":"2015-11-16T17:40:11","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T17:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/repeatright.com\/engine\/?p=1623"},"modified":"2018-10-06T23:34:38","modified_gmt":"2018-10-06T23:34:38","slug":"inge-william-ralph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/engine\/inge-william-ralph\/","title":{"rendered":"INGE, William Ralph"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453315804311{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531588223-e020d87d-f7dd094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cA good government remains the greatest of human blessings, and no nation has ever enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William R. Inge<\/strong>, English author & church leader<\/p>\n

Hibbert Lecture, \u201cThe State, Visible and Invisible: Theocracies\u201d (1920) Part I of V lectures delivered at Oxford University, Oxford, England;\u00a0 in Outspoken Essays (Second Series)<\/em>, London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1922, p. 60; online via Cornell University & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n

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Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [From the first part of a five-lecture series Inge delivered at Oxford University]\n

\u201cA good government remains the greatest of human blessings, and no nation has ever enjoyed it.<\/span> There is no ruler, says Plato, who would be unjustly condemned by his subjects. The world sways backwards and forwards between the ideals of Order and Liberty; not because anyone thinks it possible or desirable to enjoy either of those boons without the other, but because, after a brief experience of governments based on one of them, men think that no price is too high to pay for being delivered from it.\u201d (p. 60)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531589797-29580b31-8c50094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Outspoken Essays (Second Series)<\/em> (1922) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/cu31924029632563#page\/n71\/mode\/2up\/search\/good+government+remains<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315829087-ce67c619-0fbc5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cC<\/strong>ivilization is a disease which is almost invariably fatal.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William R. Inge<\/strong>, English author & church leader<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Idea of Progress\u201d (27 May 1920) Romanes Lecture, Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford University, in Romanes Lectures Decennial Issue (1911-1920)<\/em>, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1920, Inge lecture p. 13 [no volume page number]; online via University of Minnesota & Google Books, books.google.com<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e625381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [From Inge\u2019s Romanes Lecture, delivered at Oxford University]\n

\u201cIf we turn to history for a confirmation of the Spencerian doctrine, we find on the contrary, that civilization is a disease which is almost invariably fatal<\/span>, unless its course is checked in time.\u201d (p. 13)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/strong><\/em><\/span>: Romanes Lectures Decennial Issue<\/em> (1920) online via Google Books: https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=ww47AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA5-PA13&lpg=RA5-PA13&dq=If+we+turn+to+history+for+a+confirmation+of+the+Spencerian+doctrine<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cDemocracy is a form of government which may be rationally defended, not as being good, but as being less bad than any other.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William R. Inge<\/strong>, English author & church leader<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Present Discontents\u201d (August 1919) in Outspoken Essays<\/em>, Longmans, Green & Co., 1919 [third impression], p. 4; online via University of Toronto & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-ban” add_icon=”true” title=”Re-Quotes” tab_id=”1453315828190-b4d7b461-d58d5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Misattribution note<\/em><\/strong>: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill<\/span> <\/strong>often gets credit for coining the democracy-is-worse-except-for-all-other-governments idea, but by the time he repeated the phrase in the 1940s it was already a popular saying.\u00a0 <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Re-quote notes<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: A number of politicians and pundits have repeated different versions of the Inge quote. A few popularly cited examples include:<\/p>\n

1935<\/u> – J.R. Clynes<\/strong><\/span>, English politician: \u201cDemocracy at its worst is better than dictatorship at its best<\/span>.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

[Re-quote source<\/em>: J.R. Clynes, English politician, in a campaign speech (17 September 1935) Manchester, England; cited in \u201cLabour and Crisis. Willing to Defer an Election Pending Peace,\u201d Lancashire Evening Post<\/em>, 18 September 1935, No. 15,174, p. 4, column 5; online via The British Newspaper Archive [subscription service] www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

1937<\/u> \u2013 R. Brook<\/strong><\/span>, English deacon: \u201cAn educated democracy may or may not be the best form of government, but quite certainly an uneducated democracy is the worse<\/span>.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

[Re-quote source<\/em>: R. Brook, Archdeacon of Coventry, King Henry VIII School Founder\u2019s Day sermon (24 July 1937) Coventry Cathedral; in \u201cBe Good Sweet Child-\u201d Archdeacon and a Foolish Maxim,\u201d 24 July 1937, Midland Daily Telegraph<\/em>, Coventry, p. 1, column 1; online via The British Newspaper Archive [subscription service] www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

1947<\/u> – A version of Inge\u2019s quote was also famously repeated by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill<\/strong><\/span>, although Churchill himself noted that he was not the first to coin the idea: \u201cMany forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time<\/strong>.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

[Re-quote source<\/em>: Winston Churchill, House of Commons debate (11 November 1947) transcript via \u201cParliament Bill,\u201d HC Deb 11 November 1947, Vol. 444, cc203-321, Hansard, sec. 207; online via Hansard, api.parliament.uk\/historic-hansard<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Essay]:<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy is a form of government which may be rationally defended, not as being good, but as being less bad than any other<\/span>. Its strongest merits seem to be: first that the citizens of a democracy have a sense of proprietorship and responsibility in public affairs, which in times of crisis may add to their tenacity and endurance.\u201d (pp. 5-6)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link <\/em><\/strong>[Featured source]<\/span>: Outspoken Essays<\/em> (1919, 3rd impression) online Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/outspokenessaysf00ingeuoft#page\/4\/mode\/2up\/search\/democracy+is+a+form+of+government<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[1935 \u2013 Clynes re-quote]<\/span>: \u201cLabour and Crisis. Willing to Defer an Election Pending Peace,\u201d (18 September 1935) Lancashire Evening Post<\/em>; online via British Newspaper Archive [subscription service]: https:\/\/www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk\/viewer\/bl\/0000711\/19350918\/126\/0004<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[1937 \u2013 Brook re-quote]<\/span>: \u201cBe Good Sweet Child-\u201d Archdeacon and a Foolish Maxim,\u201d 24 July 1937, Midland Daily Telegraph<\/em>; online via British Newspaper Archive [subscription service]: https:\/\/www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk\/viewer\/bl\/0000337\/19370724\/229\/0012<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[1947 \u2013 Churchill re-quote]<\/span>: \u201cParliament Bill,\u201d House of Commons (11 November 1947) online via Hansard: https:\/\/api.parliament.uk\/historic-hansard\/commons\/1947\/nov\/11\/parliament-bill<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cEvents in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter. This is what makes the trade of historian so attractive.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William R. Inge<\/strong>, English author & church leader<\/p>\n

\u201cPrognostications\u201d (January 1929) Assessments and Anticipations<\/em>, London: Cassell & Co., February 1929 [2nd impression], p. 149, Part I; online via Digital Library of India & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Essay discussing perceptions & knowledge about the past and future. Chapter 15, Part I of the \u201cPrognostications\u201d section, chapter subtitle: \u2018Introductory.\u2019]:<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other hand, what we know of the past is mostly not worth knowing. What is worth knowing is mostly uncertain. Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter. This is what makes the trade of historian so attractive.<\/span> The Deity, theologians tell us, cannot alter the past, but the historian can and does. When Sir Robert Walpole was ill and his attendant offered to read to him, he said: \u201cAnything except history; I know that can\u2019t<\/em> be true.\u201d (pp. 148-149)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: Inge\u2019s Assessments and Anticipations<\/em> preface notes: \u201cFor permission to reprint those parts of this little book which have already appeared, I have to thank the Editors of the Evening Standard<\/em>, the Strand Magazine<\/em>, the Spectator<\/em>, and Nash\u2019s Magazine<\/em>.\u201d To date, Repeat Right editors have not conclusively determined if this quote was included in any of the earlier magazine printings.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Assessments and Anticipations<\/em> (1929) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/in.ernet.dli.2015.184529\/2015.184529.Assessments-And-Anticipations#page\/n145\/mode\/2up\/search\/roughly<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cGod does not always punish a nation by sending it adversity. More often He gives the oppressors their hearts\u2019 desire, and sends leanness withal into their soul.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William R. Inge<\/strong>, English author & church leader<\/p>\n

Personal Religion and the Life of Devotion<\/em> (January 1924) London: Longmans, Green & Co., February 1924 [2nd impression], p. 58; online via Universal Digital Library & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Commentary]:<\/p>\n

\u201cGod does not always punish a nation by sending it adversity; more often He gives the oppressors their hearts\u2019 desire, and sends leanness withal into their soul.<\/span> At the same time, we must not suppose that the laws of nature favour the violent and unjust. In the long run nothing fails like ill-gotten success; the wolf-nations have died because they become intolerably wolfish.\u201d (p. 58)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Personal Religion and the Life of Devotion<\/em> (1924) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/personalreligion012406mbp#page\/n63\/mode\/2up\/search\/sends+leanness<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cP<\/strong>ublic opinion, a vulgar, impertinent, anonymous tyrant who deliberately makes life unpleasant for anyone who is not content to be the average man.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William R. Inge<\/strong>, English author & church leader<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Present Discontents\u201d (August 1919) in Outspoken <\/em>Essays<\/em>, Longmans, Green & Co., 1919 [third impression], p.9; online via University of Toronto & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Essay]:<\/p>\n

\u201cA more serious danger is that of vexatious and inquisitive tyranny. This is exercised partly through public opinion, a vulgar, impertinent, anonymous tyrant who deliberately makes life unpleasant for anyone who is not content to be the average man.<\/span> But partly it is seen in constant interference with the legislature and the executive. No one can govern who cannot afford to be unpopular, and no democratic official can afford to be unpopular.\u201d (p. 9)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Outspoken Essays<\/em> (1919, 3rd impression) online Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/outspokenessaysf00ingeuoft#page\/8\/mode\/2up\/search\/anonymous+tyrant+who+deliberately<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe fruit of the tree of knowledge always drives man from some paradise or another; and even the paradise of fools is not an unpleasant abode while it is habitable.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William R. Inge<\/strong>, English author & church leader<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Idea of Progress\u201d (27 May 1920) Romanes Lecture, Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford University, in Romanes Lectures Decennial Issue (1911-1920)<\/em>, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1920, Inge lecture p. 5 [no volume page number]; online via University of Minnesota & Google Books, books.google.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [From Inge\u2019s Romanes Lecture, delivered at Oxford University]:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Freeman says, \u2018In history every step in advance has also been a step backwards.\u2019 (The picture is a little difficult to visualise, but the meaning is plain.) The fruit of the tree of knowledge always drives man from some paradise or other; and even the paradise of fools is not an unpleasant abode while it is habitable.<\/span>\u201d (p. 159)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Romanes Lectures Decennial Issue<\/em> (1920) online via Google Books: https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=ww47AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA5-PA5&lpg=RA5-PA13&dq=+fruit+of+the+tree<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe object of studying philosophy is to know one\u2019s own mind, not other people\u2019s.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William R. Inge<\/strong>, English author & church leader<\/p>\n

\u201cConfessio Fidei\u201d (1922) Outspoken Essays: Second Series<\/em>, London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1922, p. 1 [p. 15 of e-text file]; online via University of Toronto & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [First sentences of essay]:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe object of studying philosophy is to know one\u2019s own mind, not other people\u2019s.<\/span> Philosophy means thinking things out for oneself.\u201d (p. 1)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Outspoken Essays: Second Series <\/em>(1922) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/outspokenessayss00ingeuoft#page\/n14\/mode\/1up\/search\/object+of+studying<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThere are two kinds of fools. One says, \u201cThis is old, therefore it is good\u201d; the other says, \u201cThis is new, therefore it is better.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William R. Inge<\/strong>, English author & church leader<\/p>\n

Rephrasing a general idea shared earlier by fellow church leader William Boyd Carpenter, in More Lay Thoughts of a Dean<\/em> (1931*) London: Putnam, October 1933 ed., p. 201; online via Digital Library of India & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-ban” add_icon=”true” title=”Re-Quotes” tab_id=”1453315828190-b4d7b461-d58d5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Re-quote note<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: While Inge generally receives credit for popularizing a pity and more succinct version of an old quote, he was repeating an idea shared more than thirty years earlier by William Boyd Carpenter<\/span><\/strong>,\u00a0The Bishop of Ripon. <\/span>Inge and Carpenter were contemporaries, and had notably worked together on several occasions, including a stretch as co-chairs of England\u2019s National Birth-Rate Commission (1913-1914).<\/p>\n

Carpenter\u2019s earlier version of the quote was published in an 1897 newspaper transcript of his Yorkshire College lecture:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey ought not to be led astray by the false notion that because a thing was old, therefore it must be good<\/span>,<\/strong> nor yet by the other folly that because a thing was old therefore it must be bad; nor by the folly of the modern, that because it was new<\/strong><\/span> it must be good nor yet by the folly of the obsolete gentleman who said that because it was new it must be bad. If they admired a thing they should have a reason why they admired it, and then their admiration should be the willing homage of a convinced mind, and not the blind falsehood of a tyrannised intellect.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Source<\/em>: William Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon, Lecture, \u201cThe Yorkshire College. The Bishop of Ripon on the Art of Reading.\u201d (16 October 1897) Yorkshire College, England; cited in The Yorkshire Post<\/em>, p. 10, column 4; online via The British Newspaper Archive [subscription service] www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

Misattribution note<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Author John Brunner <\/strong><\/span>is sometimes credited as the original quote author. Although Brunner did use the quote in his 1975 novel The Shockwave Rider<\/em>, he did attribute the words directly to Inge: \u201cDEAN INGE HE SAY \u201cThere are two kinds of fool. One says, \u2018This is old, and therefore good.\u2019 And one says, \u2018This is new, and therefore better.<\/strong><\/span>\u2019”<\/p>\n

[Source<\/em>: John Brunner, citing William R. Inge, The Shockwave Rider (1975) New York: Harper & Row, p. 71]<\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt <\/em><\/strong>[Chapter IX, \u2018Some Wise Old Saws\u2019]: \u201cThere are two kinds of fools. One says, \u201cThis is old, therefore it is good\u201d; the other says, \u201cThis is new, therefore it is better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source note \u2013 Publication date<\/em><\/strong>: *Most of the material in More Lay Thoughts of a Dean<\/em> was reprinted from Inge\u2019s contributions to the Evening Standard<\/em> newspaper between 1928-1930. As of May 2018, Repeat Right has been unable to determine if Inge\u2019s \u201cold saw\u201d quoted here appeared in any of his earlier columns.<\/p>\n

Source note \u2013 Rehash<\/em><\/strong>: Please see “Re-Quote” tab for an earlier source of Inge’s “old saw.”<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link <\/em><\/strong>[Featured quote]<\/span>: More Lay Thoughts of a Dean <\/em>(1931|1933 Putnam ed.) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/in.ernet.dli.2015.216045\/2015.216045.More-Lay#page\/n201\/mode\/1up\/search\/kinds+of+fools<\/p>\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[1897 \u2013 Carpenter speech]<\/span>: \u201cThe Yorkshire College. The Bishop of Ripon on the Art of Reading.\u201d (16 October 1897) The Yorkshire Post<\/em>; online via The British Newspaper Archive [subscription service]: https:\/\/www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk\/viewer\/bl\/0000687\/18971016\/162\/0010<\/p>\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[1975 \u2013 Brunner re-quote]<\/span>: Library \u2013 The Shockwave Rider<\/em> (1975) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0060105593<\/p>\n

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\u201cW<\/strong>hen traditional orthodoxy provokes the moral indignation of the enlightened conscience, and when it enrages our sense of truth and honesty by demanding our assent to scientific errors which were exploded centuries ago, then indeed the Church is in danger.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William R. Inge<\/strong>, English author & church leader<\/p>\n

\u201cLogothete\u201d (24 November 1924) TIME<\/em> magazine cover story, Vol. IV, No. 21, New York: Time, Inc., pp. 20 \u2013 21; online via \u2018The Vault,\u2019 TIME archives [subscription service] time.com\/vault<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e565bf-0e1c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Remarks to TIME magazine reporter]:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world, the flesh and the devil are the natural enemies of the Church, which thrives on the struggle against them. But when traditional orthodoxy provokes the moral indignation of the enlightened conscience, and when it enrages our sense of truth and honesty by demanding our assent to scientific errors which were exploded centuries ago, then indeed the Church is in danger<\/span>, and it\u2019s well-disciplined battalions will not save it from disaster.\u201d (p. 22, column 1)<\/p>\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: \u201cLogothete\u201d (24 November 1924) TIME<\/em> magazine; via \u2018TheVault,’ TIME archives [subscription service]: http:\/\/time.com\/vault\/issue\/1924-11-24\/page\/22\/<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n

Resources<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”Wrapper-Author-Resources”]Learn more about William Ralph Inge <\/strong><\/span>| Here are a few good places to start –<\/p>\n