Walter Bagehot Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Walter Bagehot quotes, Walter Bagehot sayings, and Walter Bagehot proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea. Walter Bagehot
The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. Walter Bagehot
The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. Walter Bagehot
Progress would not have been the rarity it is if the early food had not been the late poison. Walter Bagehot
No great work has ever been produced except after a long interval of still and musing meditation Walter Bagehot
An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind. Walter Bagehot
You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next-door neighbor. Walter Bagehot
A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. Walter Bagehot
Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the Walter Bagehot
The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything. Walter Bagehot
A bureaucracy is sure to think that its duty is to augment official power, official business, or official members, rather than to leave free the energies of mankind; it overdoes the quantity of government, as well as impairs its quality. The truth is, that a skilled bureaucracy is, though it boasts of an appearance of science, quite inconsistent with the true principles of the art of business. Walter Bagehot
The worst families are those in which the members never really speak their minds to one another; they maintain an atmosphere of unreality, and every one always lives in an atmosphere of suppressed ill-feeling. It is the same with nations. Walter Bagehot
A perfectly poetic appreciation of nature contains two elements, a knowledge of facts, and a sensibility to charms. Everybody who may have to speak to some naturalists will be well aware how widely the two may be separated. He will have seen that a man may study butterflies and forget that they are beautiful, or be perfect in the "Lunar theory" without knowing what most people mean by the moon. Walter Bagehot
A family on the throne is an interesting idea. It brings down the pride of sovereignty to the level of petty life. 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 great work has ever been produced except after a long interval of still and musing meditation. Walter Bagehot
An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind. Walter Bagehot
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
It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations. 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
Every railway takes trade from the little town to the big town, because it enables the customer to buy in the big town. Walter Bagehot
The great qualities, the imperious will, the rapid energy, the eager nature fit for a great crisis are not required—are impediments—in common times. Walter Bagehot
The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. Walter Bagehot
Adventure is the life of commerce, but caution, I had almost said timidity, is the life of banking. Walter Bagehot
A family on the throne is an interesting idea. It brings down the pride of sovereignty to the level of petty life. Walter Bagehot
Women—one half the human race at least—care fifty times more for a marriage than a ministry. Walter Bagehot
The worst families are those in which the members never really speak their minds to one another; they maintain an atmosphere of unreality, and everyone always lives in an atmosphere of suppressed ill-feeling. Walter Bagehot
Women — one half the human race at least — care fifty times more for a marriage than a ministry. Walter Bagehot
A man’s mother is his misfortune, but his wife is his fault. Walter Bagehot
The truth is that the propensity of man to imitate what is before him is one of the strongest parts of his nature. Walter Bagehot