Quotes from William Temple

Authority is by nothing so much strengthened and confirmed as by custom; for no man easily distrusts the things which he and all men have been always bred up to.

The church exists for the sake of those outside it.

I prefer a God who once and for all impressed his will upon creation, to one who continually busied about modifying what he had already done.

The problem of evil... Why does God permit it? Or, if God is omnipotent, in which case permission and creation are the same, why did God create it?

Our present time is indeed a criticizing and critical time, hovering between the wish, and the inability to believe. Our complaints are like arrows shot up into the air at no target: and with no purpose they only fall back upon our own heads and destroy ourselves.

When all is done, human life is, at the greatest and the best, but like a froward child, that must be played with and humored a little to keep it quiet till it falls asleep, and then the care is over.

People that trust wholly to other's charity, and without industry of their own, will always be poor.

The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth wit.

The greatest pleasure in life is love.

It is sometimes said that conduct is supremely important and worship helps it. The truth is that worship is supremely important and conduct tests it

That great artillery of God Almighty.

A man's wisdom is his best friend; folly, his worst enemy.