Walter Bagehot Quotes About Politics

Quotes about: Politics

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

  Walter Bagehot

  Art, Pain, Philosophy

  'Physics and Politics' (1872) 'The Age of Discussion'

• The cure for admiring the House of Lords is to go and look at it.

  Walter Bagehot

  House, Political, Looks

  "The greatest obstacles to Lords reform sit in the Commons" by Andrew Rawnsley, www.theguardian.com. June 23, 2012.

• Efficiency in an assembly requires a solid mass of steady votes; and these are collected by a deferential attachment to particular men, or by a belief in the principles that those men represent, and they are maintained by fear of those men - by the fear that if you vote against them, you may soon yourself have no vote at all.

  Walter Bagehot

  Men, Political, Principles

  Walter Bagehot (1930). “The English Constitution: And Other Political Essays”, p.103, Lulu.com

• The apparent rulers of the English nation are like the most imposing personages of the a splendid procession; it is by them that the mob are influenced; it is they who the inspectors cheer. The real rulers are secreted in second hand carriages; no one cares for them or asks about them, but they are obeyed implicitly and unconsciously by reason of the splendour of those who eclipsed and preceded them.

  Walter Bagehot

  Cheer, Real, Hands

• Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.

  Walter Bagehot

  Strong, Heart, Government

  'The English Constitution' (1867) 'The Monarchy'

• The being without an opinion is so painful to human nature that most people will leap to a hasty opinion rather than undergo it.

  Walter Bagehot

  Pain, People, Political

  Walter Bagehot, Ruth Dudley Edwards (1993). “The best of 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

  Strong, Government, Political

  The English Constitution "The Monarchy" (1867)

• A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people.

  Walter Bagehot

  People, Political, Politics

  Walter Bagehot (1930). “The English Constitution: And Other Political Essays”, p.121, Lulu.com

• 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.

  Walter Bagehot

  Sacrifice, Giving, Political

  Walter Bagehot (1974). “The collected works of Walter Bagehot”

• A constitutional statesman is in general a man of common opinions and uncommon abilities.

  Walter Bagehot

  Men, Politics, Opinion

  'Biographical Studies' (1881) 'The Character of Sir Robert Peel'

• No real English gentleman, in his secret soul, was ever sorry for the death of a political economist.

  Walter Bagehot

  Sorry, Real, Political

  'Estimates of some Englishmen and Scotchmen' (1858) 'The First Edinburgh Reviewers'

• 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

  Government, Political, Excellence

  Walter Bagehot, Norman St. John-Stevas (1959). “Walter Bagehot: A Study of His Life and Thought, Together with a Selection from His Political Writings”, London : Eyre & Spottiswoode

• When great questions end, little parties begin.

  Walter Bagehot

  Party, Politics, Littles

  Walter Bagehot (1930). “The English Constitution: And Other Political Essays”, p.161, Lulu.com

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