"So long as war is the main business of nations, temporary despotism -- despotism during the campaign -- is indispensable."

Bagehot, Walter · Despotism · 0 fans >>
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"An ambassador is not simply an agent; he is also a spectacle."

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"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."

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"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 a sleepy kind of habit, its results would be null."

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"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."

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"One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea."

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"The whole history of civilization is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards."

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"Our law very often reminds one of those outskirts of cities where you cannot for a long time tell how the streets come to wind about in so capricious and serpent-like a manner. At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete."

Bagehot, Walter · Law and Lawyers · 0 fans >>
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"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."

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"We must not let daylight in upon the magic."

Bagehot, Walter · Magic · 3 fans >>
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