Ronald Knox quotes

It is so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the devil, when he is the only explanation of it. (Ronald Knox)
A loud noise at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. View quote
Ronald Knox
When suave politeness, temp'ring bigot zeal Corrected I believe to One does feel. View quote
Ronald Knox
Only man has dignity; only man, therefore, can be funny. View quote
Ronald Knox
The prevailing attitude of the speakers was one of heavy disagreement with a number of things which the reader had not said. View quote
Ronald Knox
If you have a sloppy religion you get a sloppy atheism. View quote
Ronald Knox
Only those of us, I think, who were born under Queen Victoria know what it feels like to assume, without questioning, that England is permanently top nation, that foreigners do not matter, and that if the worst comes to the worst, Lord Salisbury will send a gunboat. View quote
Ronald Knox
He who travels in the Barque of Peter had better not look too closely into the engine room. View quote
Ronald Knox
It doesn't do to say that heresy produces the development of doctrine, because that annoys the theologians. But it is true to say that as a matter of history the development of doctrine has been largely a reaction on the Church's part to the attacks of heresy. View quote
Ronald Knox
All these riches, then, of her theology the Church has acquired, one might almost say, like the British Empire, in a fit of absence of mind. She was so busy scrapping with the heretics that she wasn't conscious of saying anything she hadn't always said; and yet, when she had time to sit down and look about her, she found it took ten minutes to sing the Credo instead of three. View quote
Ronald Knox
Comparative religion is an admirable recipe for making people comparatively religious. (Ronald Knox)
There once was a man who said: "God Must think it exceedingly odd If he finds that this tree Continues to be When there's no one about in the Quad." View quote
Ronald Knox
A good sermon should be like a woman's skirt: short enough to arouse interest but long enough to cover the essentials. View quote
Ronald Knox
The hall-mark of American humour is its pose of illiteracy. View quote
Ronald Knox