J. C. Ryle Quotes

The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.

Clever men are good, but they are not the best.

There is one thing that is only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance.

I care not whether a man is good or evil; all that I care / Is whether he is a wise man or a fool. Go! put off holiness, / And put on intellect.

All the devils respect virtue.

What is strength without a double share of wisdom?

All other knowledge is hurtful to him who has not honesty and good-nature

The difference between God and the devil is in nothing except in unselfishness and selfishness. The devil knows as much as God, is as powerful as God; only he has no holiness that makes him a devil. Apply the same idea to the modern world: excess of knowledge and power, without holiness, makes human beings devils.

The innocence which is simply ignorance is not virtue.

The world is divided into men who have wit and no religion and men who have religion and no wit.

A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad and a bad one will turn the bonniest into something worse than ugly.

Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training, are a much greater misfortune.

I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth.

Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.

Wisdom has its root in goodness, not goodness its root in wisdom.

A good man can be stupid and still be good. But a bad man must have brains.

Tutors who make youth learned do not always make them virtuous.

Educate men without religion and you make of them but clever devils.

There are a lot of smart people in politics and government, but character matters ... it is terribly important that the two be melded.

In public life as in private life, a man of the very highest repute will occasionally go wrong..

To equate IQ with human virtue or wisdom or character or a whole variety of other of the most important measures of a value of a person is ridiculous.

In the truly great, virtue governs with the sceptre of knowledge.

I have seen men incapable of the sciences, but never any incapable of virtue.

One who is wise and disciplined, always kind and intelligent, humble and free from pride. One like this will be praised.

Virtue is persecuted by the wicked more than it is loved by the good.