Richard Whately Quotes - Page 4

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Some persons follow the dictates of their conscience only in the same sense in which a coachman may be said to follow the horses he is driving.

Richard Whately

Horse, May, Driving

Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.30

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When men have become heartily wearied of licentious anarchy, their eagerness has been proportionately great to embrace the opposite extreme of rigorous despotism.

Richard Whately

Men, Opposites, Anarchy

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Eloquence is relative. One can no more pronounce on the eloquence of any composition than the wholesomeness of a medicine, without knowing for whom it is intended.

Richard Whately

Medicine, Knowing, Wholesomeness

Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.200

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Of all hostile feelings, envy is perhaps the hardest to be subdued, because hardly any one owns it even to himself, but looks out for one pretext after another to justify his hostility.

Richard Whately

Envy, Feelings, Looks

Richard Whately (1858). “Elements of Rhetoric: Comprising an Analysis of the Laws of Moral Evidence and of Persuasion : with Rules for Argumentative Composition and Elocution”, p.247

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Nothing but the right can ever be expedient, since that can never be true expediency which would sacrifice a great good to a less.

Richard Whately

Sacrifice, Being True, Expediency

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A certain class of novels may with propriety be called fables.

Richard Whately

Class, May, Fables

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Fancy, when once brought into religion, knows not where to stop. It is like one of those fiends in old stories which any one could raise, but which, when raised, could never be kept within the magic circle.

Richard Whately

Circles, Magic, Stories

Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.53

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Those who relish the study of character may profit by the reading of good works of fiction, the product of well-established authors.

Richard Whately

Reading, Character, Fiction

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All gaming, since it implies a desire to profit at the expense of another, involves a breach of the tenth commandment.

Richard Whately

Gambling, Desire, Profit

Richard Whately, Launcelot John George Downing DOWDALL (1848). “Elements of Logic ... Ninth edition, revised”, p.364

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It is also important to guard against mistaking for good-nature what is properly good-humor,--a cheerful flow of spirits and easy temper not readily annoyed, which is compatible with great selfishness.

Richard Whately

Annoyed, Important, Cheerful

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Geologists complain that when they want specimens of the common rocks of a country, they receive curious spars; just so, historians give us the extraordinary events and omit just what we want,--the every-day life of each particular time and country.

Richard Whately

Country, Rocks, History

Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.194

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The depreciation of Christianity by indifference is a more insidious and less curable evil than infidelity itself.

Richard Whately

Evil, Infidelity, Indifference

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Grace is in a great measure a natural gift; elegance implies cultivation; or something of more artificial character. A rustic, uneducated girl may be graceful, but an elegant woman must be accomplished and well trained. It is the same with things as with persons; we talk of a graceful tree, but of an elegant house or other building. Animals may be graceful, but they cannot be elegant. The movements of a kitten or a young fawn are full of grace; but to call them "elegant" animals would be absurd.

Richard Whately

Girl, Character, Animal

Elizabeth Jane Whately, Richard Whately (1860). “A Selection of English Synonyms”, p.59

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The best security against revolution is in constant correction of abuses and the introduction of needed improvements. It is the neglect of timely repair that makes rebuilding necessary.

Richard Whately

Abuse, Rebuilding, Revolution

Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.71

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The word of knowledge, strictly employed, implies three things: truth, proof, and conviction.

Richard Whately

Understanding, Three, Conviction

Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.15

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Happiness is no laughing matter.

Richard Whately

Happiness, Laughing, Matter

'Apophthegms' p. 218

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It is an awful, an appalling thought, that we may be, this moment and every moment, in the presence of malignant spirits.

Richard Whately

May, Awful, Spirit

Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.347

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Every instance of a man's suffering the penalty of the law is an instance of the failure of that penalty in effecting its purpose, which is to deter.

Richard Whately

Men, Law, Suffering

Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.243

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It may be said, almost without qualification, that true wisdom consists in the ready and accurate perception of analogies. Without the former quality, knowledge of the past is unobstructive: without the latter it is deceptive.

Richard Whately

Inspirational, Past, Perception

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Proverbs accordingly are somewhat analogous to those medical Formulas which, being in frequent use, are kept ready-made-up in the chemists’ shops, and which often save the framing of a distinct Prescription.

Richard Whately

Use, Medical, Made

Richard Whately (1846). “Elements of Rhetoric: Comprising an Analysis of the Laws of Moral Evidence and of Persuasion, with Rules for Argumentative Composition and Elocution”, p.394

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The love of admiration leads to fraud, much more than the love of commendation; but, on the other hand, the latter is much more likely to spoil our: good actions by the substitution of an inferior motive.

Richard Whately

Hands, Action, Admiration

Francis Bacon, Richard Whately (1858). “Essays: With Annotations by Richard Whately”, p.535

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Great affectation and great absence of it are at first sight very similar.

Richard Whately

Sight, Firsts, Absence

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As an exercise of the reasoning faculties, pure mathematics is an admirable exercise, because it consists of reasoning alone and does not encumber the student with any exercise of judgment.

Richard Whately

Exercise, Doe, Students

Francis Bacon, Richard Whately (1858). “The Essays ... Revised ... by Thomas Markby ... Second edition”, p.495

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Of metaphors, those generally conduce most to energy or vivacity of style which illustrate an intellectual by a sensible object.

Richard Whately

Intellectual, Style, Energy

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The attendant on William Rufus, who discharged at a deer an arrow, which glanced against a tree and killed the king, was no murderer, because he had no such design. And, on the other hand, a man who should lie in wait to assassinate another, and pull the trigger of a gun with that intent, would be morally a murderer, not the less though the gun should chance to miss fire.

Richard Whately

Kings, Lying, Gun

Richard Whately (1860). “Introductory Lessons on Morals, and Christian Evidences”, p.38

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Born: February 1, 1787
Died: October 8, 1863
Occupation: Economist
Cite this Page: Citation

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