The most intellectual of men are moved quite as much by the circumstances which they are used to as by their own will. The active voluntary part of a man is very small, and if it were not economized by… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
Adventure is the life of commerce, but caution is the life of banking. — Walter Bagehot Copy Share Image
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 Image
Nothing is more unpleasant than a virtuous person with a mean mind. — Walter Bagehot Copy Share Image
An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind. — Walter Bagehot Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
