A man is never so truly and intensely himself as when he is most possessed by God. It is impossible to say where, in the spiritual life, the human will leaves off and divine grace begins.
William Ralph IngeRead
Every institution not only carries within it the seeds of its own dissolution, but prepares the way for its most hated rival.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Institutions inherently have the potential to decline and also create conditions for their challengers to emerge.
William Ralph Inge's quote suggests that all institutions are destined to face decline, often due to internal weaknesses, while simultaneously fostering the emergence of opposition or rival forces. This idea reflects the cyclical nature of organizations and systems, indicating that what might initially seem like a stable structure may ultimately contribute to its own downfall and pave the path for alternatives or competitors that embody the opposition.
Themes
InstitutionDissolutionRivalPhilosophyChange
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the weaknesses in bureaucratic systems.
More from William Ralph Inge
All quotes βDon't get up from the feast of life without paying for your share of it.
William Ralph IngeRead
Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.
William Ralph IngeRead
Deliberate cruelty to our defenceless and beautiful little cousins is surely one of the meanest and most detestable vices of which a human being can be guilty.
William Ralph IngeRead
The enemies of freedom do not argue; they shout and they shoot.
William Ralph IngeRead
Bereavement is the deepest initiation into the mysteries of human life, an initiation more searching and profound than even happy love.
William Ralph IngeRead
Similar quotes
The inability to correctly perceive reality is often responsible for humans' insane behavior. And every time they substitute an all-purpose, sloppy slang word for the words that would accurately describe an emotion or a situation, it lowers their reality orientations, pushes them farther from shore, out onto the foggy waters of alienation and confusion.
Tom RobbinsRead
Corliss wondered what happens to a book that sits unread on a library shelf for thirty years. Can a book rightfully be called a book if it never gets read? If a tree falls in a forest and gets pulped to make paper for a book that never gets read, but there's nobody there to read it, does it make a sound?
Sherman AlexieRead
A religion made up solely of heightened religious experiences would not be a religion at all. ...The major religious traditions address the mysteries (with or without entheogens), but they have other business to do: widen understanding, give meaning, provide solace, promote loving-kindness, and connect human being to human being.
Huston SmithRead
Man has been here 32,000 years. That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for him is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is, I dunno. If The Eiffel Tower were now to represent the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; and anybody would perceive that the skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would, I dunno.
Mark TwainRead
On the whole, the longing for solitude is a sign that there still is spirit in a person and is a measure of what spirit there is.
Soren KierkegaardRead
A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.
Maya AngelouRead