Skip to content

I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well, that they can give an account of it, and who know enough of history to defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity.

— John Henry Newman Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England (1851)

Another quote →

More quotes by John Henry Newman

In a higher world it is otherwise; but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.

An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845)

Good is never done except at the expense of those who do it: truth is never enforced except at the sacrifice of its propounders.

Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England (1851)

Nothing would be done at all, if a man waited till he could do it so well, that no one could find fault with it.

Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England (1851)

It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say he is one who never inflicts pain.

The Idea of a University (1873)

Where good and ill together blent,
Wage an undying strife.

All John Henry Newman quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Henry Newman (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.