"The whole history of civilization is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards."

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More quotes from: Walter Bagehot

• "A constitutional statesman is in general a man of common opinions and uncommon abilities. "
• "A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. "
• "A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people. "
• "A princely marriage is the brilliant edition of a universal fact, and, as such, it ..."
• "A schoolmaster should have an atmosphere of awe, and walk wonderingly, as if he was ..."
• "A severe though not unfriendly critic of our institutions said that the cure for admiring ..."
• "A slight daily unconscious luxury is hardly ever wanting to the dwellers in civilization; like ..."
• "All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality - the ..."
• "An ambassador is not simply an agent; he is also a spectacle. "
• "An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great ..."
• "An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind. "
• "An influential member of parliament has not only to pay much money to become such, ..."
• "Conquest is the missionary of valor, and the hard impact of military virtues beats meanness ..."
• "Dullness in matters of government is a good sign, and not a bad one - ..."
• "History is strewn with the wrecks of nations which have gained a little progressiveness at ..."
• "Honor sinks where commerce long prevails. "
• "I started out by believing God for a newer car than the one I was ..."
• "In every particular state of the world, those nations which are strongest tend to prevail ..."
• "It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without ..."
• "It is often said that men are ruled by their imaginations; but it would be ..."
• "Men who do not make advances to women are apt to become victims to women ..."

• "No real English gentleman, in his secret soul, was ever sorry for the death of ..."
• "One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea. "
• "Open-mindedness should not be fostered because, as Scripture teaches, Truth is great and will prevail, ..."
• "Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why ..."
• "So long as war is the main business of nations, temporary despotism - despotism during ..."
• "The being without an opinion is so painful to human nature that most people will ..."
• "The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is, that it is an intelligible ..."
• "The cure for admiring the House of Lords is to go and look at it. "
• "The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. "
• "The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. It proceeds ..."
• "The most intellectual of men are moved quite as much by the circumstances which they ..."
• "The reason that there are so few good books written is that so few people ..."
• "We must not let daylight in upon the magic. "
• "What impresses men is not mind, but the result of mind. "
• "Woman absent is woman dead. "
• "Writers like teeth are divided into incisors and grinders. "