The apparent rulers of the English nation are like the most imposing personages of the a splendid procession; it is by them that the mob are influenced; it is they who the inspectors cheer. The real rulers are secreted in… — Walter Bagehot Copy Share Image
There seems to be an unalterable contradiction between the human mind and its employments. How can a soul be a merchant? What relation to an immortal being have the price of linseed, the brokerage on hemp? Can an undying creature… — Walter Bagehot Copy Share Image
But of all nations in the world the English are perhaps the least a nation of pure philosophers. — Walter Bagehot Copy Share
The Sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights - the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right… — Walter Bagehot Copy Share
The most essential mental quality for a free people, whose liberty is to be progressive, permanent and on a large scale, is much stupidity. — Walter Bagehot Copy Share
A severe though not unfriendly critic of our institutions said that the cure for admiring the House of Lords was to go and look… — Walter Bagehot Copy Share
An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind. — Walter Bagehot Copy Share
Most men of business think "Anyhow this system will probably last my time. It has gone on a long time, and is likely to… — Walter Bagehot Copy Share
The peculiar essence of our banking system is an unprecedented trust between man and man. And when that trust is much weakened by hidden… — Walter Bagehot Copy Share
The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. It proceeds from not knowing what is going on in other… — Walter Bagehot Copy Share
Not only does a bureaucracy tend to under-government in point of quality; it tends to over-government in point of quantity. — Walter Bagehot Copy Share
In early times every sort of advantage tends to become a military advantage; such is the best way, then, to keep it alive. But… — Walter Bagehot Copy Share
