A collection of quotes and thoughts by Walter Bagehot on inspirational, life, books, writing, pleasure, impossible, soldiers, reality, psychology and politics.
51 Insightful Quotes By Walter Bagehot That You Should Not Miss
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Famous As:
Journalist, Economist, Political scientist, Writer, Sociologist
Walter Bagehot was an English businessman, journalist and essayist noted for his extensive writings on literature, governance and economics. Bagehot studied mathematics at University College London and then studied philosophy at the post graduate level, before joining ‘Stuckey’s Banking Company’. However, it was as a journalist, writer and essayist that he really made his name. In 1860, he went on to become the editor-in-chief of the celebrated newspaper ‘The Economist’. He had also been the founder of ‘National Review’ and authored the book ‘The English Constitution’ that explored the parliamentary system as well as the monarchy in the United Kingdom. Bagehot was a prolific writer and one of the most respected journalists of his time, and wrote books like ‘Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market’ and ‘Physics and Politics’ among others. We bring to you a compilation of quotes and sayings by the distinguished author which have been curated from his writings, books, essays, work, thoughts and life. Let us browse through simple, sensible and inspirational quotes and thoughts by Walter Bagehot that hold a world of wisdom.
An ambassador is not simply an agent; he is also a spectacle.
Walter Bagehot
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
No great work has ever been produced except after a long interval of still and musing meditation.
Walter Bagehot
A family on the throne is an interesting idea. It brings down the pride of sovereignty to the level of petty life.
Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell.
Walter Bagehot
A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people.
Walter Bagehot
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
No real English gentleman, in his secret soul, was ever sorry for the death of a political economist.
Walter Bagehot
An influential member of parliament has not only to pay much money to become such, and to give time and labour, he has also to sacrifice his mind too - at least all the characteristics part of it that which is original and most his own.
All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality - the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape.
Walter Bagehot
An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind.
Walter Bagehot
The cure for admiring the House of Lords is to go and look at it.
Walter Bagehot
The being without an opinion is so painful to human nature that most people will leap to a hasty opinion rather than undergo it.
Dullness in matters of government is a good sign, and not a bad one - in particular, dullness in parliamentary government is a test of its excellence, an indication of its success.
Walter Bagehot
One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.
Walter Bagehot
Conquest is the missionary of valor, and the hard impact of military virtues beats meanness out of the world.
Walter Bagehot
It is often said that men are ruled by their imaginations; but it would be truer to say they are governed by the weakness of their imaginations.
Walter Bagehot
A slight daily unconscious luxury is hardly ever wanting to the dwellers in civilization; like the gentle air of a genial climate, it is a perpetual minute enjoyment.
Public opinion is a permeating influence, and it exacts obedience to itself; it requires us to drink other men's thoughts, to speak other men's words, to follow other men's habits.
Walter Bagehot
The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen.
So long as there are earnest believers in the world, they will always wish to punish opinions, even if their judgment tells them it is unwise and their conscience that it is wrong.
The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything.
Walter Bagehot
We must not let daylight in upon the magic.
Walter Bagehot
In every particular state of the world, those nations which are strongest tend to prevail over the others; and in certain marked peculiarities the strongest tend to be the best.
Walter Bagehot
The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
So long as war is the main business of nations, temporary despotism - despotism during the campaign - is indispensable.
Walter Bagehot
The whole history of civilization is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.
Walter Bagehot
Men who do not make advances to women are apt to become victims to women who make advances to them.
Walter Bagehot
We see but one aspect of our neighbor, as we see but one side of the moon; in either case there is also a dark half, which is unknown to us. We all come down to dinner, but each has a room to himself.
