Quote

Great and terrible systems of divinity and philosophy lie round about us, which, if true, might drive a wise man mad.

Walter Bagehot

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Walter Bagehot
Age: 51 †
Born: 1826
Born: February 3
Died: 1877
Died: March 24
Businessperson
Economist
Engineer
Journalist
Political Scientist
Politician
Sociologist
Langport
Somerset
Might
Rounds
Great
Drive
Men
Atheism
Terrible
Philosophy
Divinity
Wise
Systems
Lying
Mad
True
Round

More quotes by Walter Bagehot

Image
A man's mother is his misfortune, but his wife is his fault.
Walter Bagehot
Image
Nations touch at their summits.
Walter Bagehot
Image
Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions.
Walter Bagehot
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
Image
An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft.
Walter Bagehot
Image
Women--one half the human race at least--care fifty times more for a marriage than a ministry.
Walter Bagehot
Image
No man has come so near our definition of a constitutional statesman - the powers of a first-rate man and the creed of a second-rate man.
Walter Bagehot
Image
A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people.
Walter Bagehot
Image
In my youth I hoped to do great things now I shall be satisfied to get through without scandal.
Walter Bagehot
Image
Civilized ages inherit the human nature which was victorious in barbarous ages, and that nature is, in many respects, not at all suited to civilized circumstances.
Walter Bagehot
Image
The business of banking ought to be simple. If it is hard it is wrong. The only securities which a banker, using money that he may be asked at short notice to repay, ought to touch, are those which are easily saleable and easily intelligible.
Walter Bagehot
Image
The best security for people's doing their duty is that they should not know anything else to do.
Walter Bagehot
Image
So long as war is the main business of nations, temporary despotism - despotism during the campaign - is indispensable.
Walter Bagehot
Image
The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is, that it is an intelligible government. The mass of mankind understand it, and they hardly anywhere in the world understand any other.
Walter Bagehot
Image
The mystic reverence, the religious allegiance, which are essential to a true monarchy, are imaginative sentiments that no legislature can manufacture in any people.
Walter Bagehot
Image
A constitutional statesman is in general a man of common opinions and uncommon abilities.
Walter Bagehot
Image
Persecution in intellectual countries produces a superficial conformity, but also underneath an intense, incessant, implacable doubt.
Walter Bagehot
Image
The greatest mistake is trying to be more agreeable than you can be.
Walter Bagehot
Image
A democratic despotism is like a theocracy: it assumes its own correctness.
Walter Bagehot
Image
All people are most credulous when they are most happy.
Walter Bagehot