A biography for Walter Bagehothasn’t been written yet.
“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.”
“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.”
“The cure for admiring the House of Lords is to go and look at it.”
“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.”
“Honor sinks where commerce long prevails.”
“The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. It proceeds from not knowing what is going on in other people's minds.”
“The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything.”
“Life is a compromise of what your ego wants to do, what experience tells you to do, and what your nerves let you do.”
“An ambassador is not simply an agent; he is also a spectacle.”
“No real English gentleman, in his secret soul, was ever sorry for the death of a political economist.”
“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.”
“It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations.”
“The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”
“Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell.”
“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.”
“A family on the throne is an interesting idea. It brings down the pride of sovereignty to the level of petty life.”
“No great work has ever been produced except after a long interval of still and musing meditation.”
“The real essence of work is concentrated energy.”
“What impresses men is not mind, but the result of mind.”
“Nothing is more unpleasant than a virtuous person with a mean mind.”