Richard Whately Quotes - Page 2

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• To be always thinking about your manners is not the way to make them good; the very perfection of manners is not to think about yourself.

  Richard Whately

  Thinking About You, Perfection, Way

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.155

  8 Copy quote

• knowledge of our duties is the most useful part of philosophy.

  Richard Whately

  Philosophy, Duty

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• Men first make up their minds (and the smaller the mind the sooner made up), and then seek for the reasons; and if they chance to stumble upon a good reason, of course they do not reject it. But though they are right, they are only right by chance.

  Richard Whately

  Men, Decision, Mind

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.22

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• Habits are formed, not at one stroke, but gradually and insensibly; so that, unless vigilant care be employed, a great change may come over the character without our being conscious of any.

  Richard Whately

  Character, Care, May

  Francis Bacon, Richard Whately (1861). “Bacon's Essays”, p.403

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• The censure of frequent and long parentheses has led writers into the preposterous expedient of leaving out the marks by which they are indicated. It is no cure to a lame man to take away his crutches.

  Richard Whately

  Men, Long, Leaving

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.213

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• Honesty is the best policy; but he who is governed by that maxim is not an honest man.

  Richard Whately

  Truth, Honesty, Men

  'Apophthegms' p. 219

  7 Copy quote

• Falsehood is difficult to be maintained. When the materials of a building are solid blocks of stone, very rude architecture will suffice; but a structure of rotten materials needs the most careful adjustment to make it stand at all.

  Richard Whately

  Block, Rude, Needs

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.245

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• Though not always called upon to condemn ourselves, it is always safe to suspect ourselves.

  Richard Whately

  Safe, Suspects, Self-examination

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.41

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• Controversy, though always an evil in itself, is sometimes a necessary evil.

  Richard Whately

  Evil, Necessary Evil, Sometimes

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.92

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• Falsehood, like the dry-rot, flourishes the more in proportion as air and light are excluded.

  Richard Whately

  Light, Air, Dry

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.25

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• When a man says he wants to work, what he means is that he wants wages.

  Richard Whately

  Business, Mean, Men

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• Some persons resemble certain trees, such as the nut, which flowers in February and ripens its fruit in September; or the juniper and the arbutus; which take a whole year or more to perfect their fruit; and others, the cherry, which takes between two an three months.

  Richard Whately

  Flower, Years, Nuts

  Francis Bacon, Richard Whately (1858). “Essays: With Annotations by Richard Whately”, p.432

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• It may be worth noticing as a curious circumstance, when persons past forty before they were at all acquainted form together a very close intimacy of friendship. For grafts of old wood to take, there must be a wonderful congeniality between the trees.

  Richard Whately

  Friendship, Past, Tree

  Francis Bacon, Richard Whately (1858). “The Essays ... Revised ... by Thomas Markby ... Second edition”, p.299

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• The more secure we feel against our liability to any error to which, in fact, we are liable, the greater must be our danger of falling into it.

  Richard Whately

  Fall, Errors, Facts

  Richard Whately (1856). “Selections from the Writings of Dr. Whately”, p.137

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• It is a remarkable circumstance in reference to cunning persons that they are often deficient not only in comprehensive, far-sighted wisdom, but even in prudent, cautious circumspection.

  Richard Whately

  Prudent, Circumstances, Remarkable

  Francis Bacon, Richard Whately (1858). “The Essays ... Revised ... by Thomas Markby ... Second edition”, p.238

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• All frauds, like the wall daubed with untempered mortar ... always tend to the decay of what they are devised to support.

  Richard Whately

  Wall, Support, Decay

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• As one may bring himself to believe almost anything he is inclined to believe, it makes all the difference whether we begin or end with the inquiry, 'What is truth?'

  Richard Whately

  Truth, Believe, Differences

  10 Copy quote

• Everyone wishes to have truth on his side, but not everyone wishes to be on the side of truth.

  Richard Whately

  Truth, Wish, Sides

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• He that is not open to conviction is not qualified for discussion.

  Richard Whately

  Argument, Conviction, Discussion

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.41

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• Falsehood, like poison, will generally be rejected when administered alone; but when blended with wholesome ingredients may be swallowed unperceived.

  Richard Whately

  Poison, May, Ingredients

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.60

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• To follow imperfect, uncertain, or corrupted traditions, in order to avoid erring in our own judgment, is but to exchange one danger for another.

  Richard Whately

  Order, Erring, Imperfect

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.76

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• Woman is like the reed which bends to every breeze, but breaks not in the tempest.

  Richard Whately

  Women, Reeds, Tempest

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.309

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• It is worth noticing that those who assume an imposing demeanor and seek to pass themselves off for something beyond what they are, are not unfrequently as much underrated by some as overrated by others.

  Richard Whately

  Assuming, Overrated, Underrated

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• Ethical maxims are bandied about as a sort of current coin of discourse, and, being never melted down for use, those that are of base metal are never detected.

  Richard Whately

  Use, Coins, Ethical

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.158

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• It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them; but on the contrary, men have dived for them because they fetch a high price.

  Richard Whately

  Men, Fetch, Pearls

  Introductory Lectures on Political Economy, 2nd ed., lecture 9 (1832)

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