Quote Origin: From Beasts We Scorn as Soulless, In Forest, Field and Den

M. Frida Hartley? William Ralph Inge? Jan Bryant Bartell? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A verse condemning cruelty toward animals begins with the following two lines: From beasts we scorn as soulless, In forest, field and den This verse has been attributed to British social activist M. Frida Hartley and influential Anglican priest William Inge. …

Experience Is the Best of Schoolmasters; Only the School-Fees Are Heavy

Thomas Carlyle? Benjamin Franklin? Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Johann P. F. Richter? Minna Antrim? Heinrich Heine? William Ralph Inge? Dear Quote Investigator: The most memorable and painful lessons are usually learned via direct experience, but the cost can be very high. A family of adages depict this point of view. Here are two instances: Experience is …

Public Opinion: A Vulgar, Impertinent, Anonymous Tyrant

William Ralph Inge? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Every day brings a new social media uproar. I am reminded of the apothegmatic claim that public opinion is an anonymous tyrant. Would you please explore the provenance of this saying? Quote Investigator: The influential British commentator William Ralph Inge was the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in …

If You Marry the Spirit of Your Own Generation You Will Be a Widow in the Next

William Ralph Inge? Fulton J. Sheen? Leonard Cohen? Charles Haddon Spurgeon? E. Luccock? Joseph R. Sizoo? Dear Quote Investigator: Any organization that aspires to multi-generational longevity must not become enmeshed in evanescent enthusiasms and fashions. Long-term steadiness and perspective are required. Here are two pertinent sayings: If you marry the spirit of your age, you …

The Command ‘Be Fruitful and Multiply’ Was Promulgated When the Population of the World Consisted of Two Persons

William Ralph Inge? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The number of people on planet Earth has grown to the remarkably large figure of 7.5 billion. A passage in the Book of Genesis of the King James Bible encourages fertility: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, …

Events in the Past May Be Roughly Divided Into Those Which Probably Never Happened and Those Which Do Not Matter

William Ralph Inge? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I once heard the humorous claim that recorded history may be divided into two parts: Events that probably never happened. Events that do not matter. Would you please explore the provenance of this observation? Quote Investigator: William Ralph Inge was Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London and …

The Aim of Education Is the Knowledge, Not of Facts, But of Values

William Ralph Inge? William S. Burroughs? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following statement has been attributed to two very different people: William Ralph Inge and William S. Burroughs: The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values. Inge was a professor at Cambridge and Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. …

Two Kinds of Fools: This Is Old, Therefore It Is Good. This Is New, Therefore It Is Better

William Ralph Inge? John Brunner? Bishop of Ripon? Anonymous? Quote Investigator: There are two different types of fools. One naively embraces and extolls everything that is old; the other credulously praises everything that is new. This insight has been ascribed to William Ralph Inge who was a professor at Cambridge and Dean of St Paul’s …