Walter Bagehot

thumb|right|One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea. Walter Bagehot (February 3 1826 – March 24 1877) was an English businessman, essayist and journalist who wrote about literature, government and economics. Quotes The characteristic danger of great nations like the Romans or the English, which have a long history of continuous creation, is, that they may at last fail from not comprehending the great institutions which they have created. "Lord Althorpe and the Great Reform Act of 1832" (1876) in Works, vol. 3 (Hartford, 1889) p. 310 Shakespeare—the Man (1853) The reason why so few good books are written is, that so few people who can write know anything. In general an author has always lived in a room, has read books, has cultivated science, is acquainted with the style and sentiments of the best authors, but he is out of the way of employing his own eyes and ears. He has nothing to hear and nothing to see. His life is a vacuum. Morgan, Forrest Shakespeare—the Man, published in the Prospective Review, July 1853 The works of Walter Bagehot vol. 1 1891 Hartford, Connecticut Travelers Insurance Company https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101064786716;view=1up;seq=373 265–266 of 255–302 Behind every man's external life, which he leads in company, there is another which he leads alone, and which he carries with him apart. 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. Morgan, Forrest Shakespeare—the Man The works of Walter Bagehot vol. 1 1891 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101064786716;view=1up;seq=388 280 of 255–302 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. Ratcliffe, Susan Family 2007 Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and Proverbs 2007 NYC, NY Oxford University Press 105 Edward Gibbon (1856) Whatever may be the defects of Gibbon's history, none can deny him a proud precision and a style in marching order. ART. I—Edward Gibbon National Review 2 January 1856 1–42 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433081643169;view=1up;seq=40 (quote p. 28) ... Practical people have little idea of the practical ability required to write a large book, and especially a large history. Long before you get to the pen, there is an immensity of pure business: heaps of material are strewn every where; but they lie in disorder, unread, uncatalogued, unknown. It seems a dreary waste of life to be analysing, indexing, extracting works and passages, in which one per cent of the contents are interesting, and not half of that per centage will ultimately appear in the flowing narrative. ART. I—Edward Gibbon National Review 2 January 1856 1–42 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433081643169;view=1up;seq=41 (quote p. 29) ... The fame of Gibbon is highest among writers; those especially who have studied for years particular periods included in his theme (and how many those are; for in the East and West he has set his mark on all that is great for ten centuries!) acutely feel and admiringly observe how difficult it would be to say so much, and leave so little untouched ; to compress so many telling points; to present in so few words so apt and embracing a narrative of the whole. ART. I—Edward Gibbon National Review 2 January 1856 1–42 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433081643169;view=1up;seq=43 (quote p. 31) John Milton (1859) ... For ancient heroes the exhaustive method is possible: all that can be known of them is contained in a few short passages of Greek and Latin, and it is quite possible to say whatever can be said about every one of these; the result would not be unreasonably bulky, though it might be dull. But in the case of men who have lived in the thick of the crowded modern world, no such course is admissible; overmuch may be said, and we must choose what we will say. Biographers, however, are rarely bold enough to adopt the selective method consistently. They have, we suspect, the fear of the critics before their eyes. ART. VII—John Milton National Review July 1859 9 150–186 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027193559;view=1up;seq=161 (quote from p. 151) ... Nothing is so simple as the subject matter of his works. The two greatest of his creations, the character of Satan and the character of Eve, are two of the simplest—the latter probably the very simplest—in the whole field of literature. On this side, Milton's art is classical. On the other hand, in no writer is the imagery more profuse, the illustrations more various, the dress altogether more splendid; and in this respect the style of his art seems romantic and modern. In real truth, however, it is only ancient art in a modern disguise: the dress is a mere dress, and can be stripped off when we will.—we all of us do perhaps in memory strip it off for ourselves. ART. VII—John Milton National Review July 1859 9 150–186 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027193559;view=1up;seq=184 (quote from p. 174) ... Satan is made interesting. This has been the charge of a thousand orthodox and even heterodox writers against Milton. ART. VII—John Milton National Review July 1859 9 150–186 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027193559;view=1up;seq=189 (quote from p. 179) The English Constitution (1867) The masses are infinitely too ignorant to make much of governing themselves. Chapter IX, Its History, and the Effects of that History. — Conclusion , p. 193 The English Constitution (1894) A new Constitution does not produce its full effect as long as all its subjects were reared under an old Constitution, as long as its statesmen were trained by that old Constitution. It is not really tested till it comes to be worked by statesmen and among a people neither of whom are guided by a different experience. Introduction to the Second Edition (1872), p. ix A political country is like an American forest; you have only to cut down the old trees, and immediately new trees come up to replace them. Introduction, p. xii But the mass of the old electors did not analyse very much: they liked to have one of their "betters" to represent them; if he was rich they respected him much; and if he was a lord, they liked him the better. The issue put before these electors was, which of two rich people will you choose? And each of those rich people was put forward by great parties whose notions were the notions of the rich—whose plans were their plans. The electors only selected one or two wealthy men to carry out the schemes of one or two wealthy associations. Introduction, p. xiii The "old electors" Bagehot refers to were the £10 borough householders enfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832. In excited states of the public mind they have scarcely a discretion at all; the tendency of the public perturbation determines what shall and what shall not be dealt with. But, upon the other hand, in quiet times statesmen have great power; when there is no fire lighted, they can settle what fire shall be lit. And as the new suffrage is happily to be tried in a quiet time, the responsibility of our statesmen is great because their power is great too. Introduction, p. xxi An ancient and ever-altering constitution is like an old man who still wears with attached fondness clothes in the fashion of his youth: what you see of him is the same; what you do not see is wholly altered. No. I, "The Cabinet", p. 2 No orator ever made an impression by appealing to men as to their plainest physical wants, except when he could allege that those wants were caused by some one’s tyranny. But thousands have made the greatest impression by appealing to some vague dream of glory, or empire, or nationality. No. I, "The Cabinet", p. 7 In the first edition, the first sentence concludes "...except when he could allege or prove that those wants were caused by the tyranny of some other class." A cabinet is a combining committee,—a hyphen which joins, a buckle which fastens, the legislative part of the state to the executive part of the state. In its origin it belongs to the one, in its functions it belongs to the other. No. I, "The Cabinet", p. 14 Cabinet governments educate the nation; the presidential does not educate it, and may corrupt it. No. I, "The Cabinet", p. 19 Under a cabinet constitution at a sudden emergency this people can choose a ruler for the occasion. It is quite possible and even likely that he would not be ruler before the occasion. 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. A Lord Liverpool is better in everyday politics than a Chatham—a Louis Philippe far better than a Napoleon. By the structure of the world we want, at the sudden occurrence of a grave tempest, to change the helmsman—to replace the pilot of the calm by the pilot of the storm. No. I, "The Cabinet", p. 29 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. 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. No. II, "The Monarchy", p. 33 The masses of Englishmen are not fit for an elective government. No. II, "The Monarchy", p. 54 But the Queen has no such veto; She must sign her own death-warrant if the two Houses unanimously send it up to her. No. III, "The Monarchy (continued)", p. 58 A constitutional sovereign must in the common course of government be a man of but common ability. I am afraid, looking to the early acquired feebleness of hereditary dynasties, that we must expect him to be a man of inferior ability. Theory and experience both teach that the education of a prince can be but a poor education, and that a royal family will generally have less ability than other families. No. III, "The Monarchy (continued)", p. 71 The Sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights—the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn. And a king of great sense and sagacity would want no others. No. III, "The Monarchy (continued)", p. 75 A pompous man easily sweeps away the suggestions of those beneath him. No. III, "The Monarchy (continued)", p. 77 To wish to be a despot ... marks in our day an uncultivated mind. No. III, "The Monarchy (continued)", p. 80 [T]he two most singular prerogatives of an English king [are] the power of creating new peers and the power of dissolving the Commons. No. IV, The House of Lords, p. 90 [W]hatever is unnecessary in government is pernicious. No. IV, The House of Lords, p. 107 An Act of Parliament is at least as complex as a marriage settlement; and it is made much as a settlement would be if it were left to the vote and settled by the major part of persons concerned, including the unborn children. No. IV, The House of Lords, p. 110 The best test of a machine is the work it turns out. Let any one who knows what legal documents ought to be, read first a will he has just been making and then an Act of Parliament; he will certainly say, “I would have dismissed my attorney if he had done my business as the legislature has done the nation’s business.” No. IV, The House of Lords, p. 111 [A]dministration is an art as painting is an art; and ... no book can teach the practice of either. No. IV, The House of Lords, p. 118 Nations touch at their summits. No. IV, The House of Lords, p. 120 It always perhaps happens in a great nation, that certain bodies of sensible men posted prominently in its constitution, acquire functions, and usefully exercise functions, which at the outset, no one expected from them, and which do not identify themselves with their original design. This has happened to the House of Lords especially. No. IV, The House of Lords, p. 125 An assembly in which the mass of the members have nothing to lose, where most have nothing to gain, where every one has a social position firmly fixed, where no one has a constituency, where hardly any one cares for the minister of the day, is the very assembly in which to look for, from which to expect, independent criticism. No. IV, The House of Lords, p. 126 Bagehot means criticism of the government. A good horse likes to feel the rider’s bit; and a great deliberative assembly likes to feel that it is under worthy guidance. A minister who succumbs to the House,—who ostentatiously seeks its pleasure,—who does not try to regulate it,—who will not boldly point out plain errors to it, seldom thrives. The great leaders of Parliament have varied much, but they have all had a certain firmness. A great assembly is as soon spoiled by over-indulgence as a little child. No. V, The House of Commons, p. 132 Whatever expenditure is sanctioned—even when it is sanctioned against the ministry's wish—the ministry must find the money. Accordingly, they have the strongest motive to oppose extra outlay.... The ministry is (so to speak) the breadwinner of the political family, and has to meet the cost of philanthropy and glory; just as the head of a family has to pay for the charities of his wife and the toilette of his daughters. No. V, The House of Commons, p. 137 Nobody will understand parliamentary government who fancies it an easy thing, a natural thing, a thing not needing explanation. No. V, The House of Commons, p. 139 The caucus is a sort of representative meeting which sits voting and voting till they have cut out all the known men against whom much is to be said, and agreed on some unknown man against whom there is nothing known, and therefore nothing to be alleged. No. V, The House of Commons, p. 155 Bagehot was commenting on the method of selecting Presidential candidates in the United States. Free government is self-government. A government of the people by the people. The best government of this sort is that which the people think best. No. V, The House of Commons, p. 159 Cf the Gettysburg Address. If happily, by its intelligence and attractiveness, a cabinet can gain a hold upon the great middle part of Parliament, it will continue to exist notwithstanding the hatching of small plots and the machinations of mean factions. No. V, The House of Commons, p. 161 The greatest teacher of all in Parliament, the head-master of the nation, the great elevator of the country—so far as Parliament elevates it—must be the Prime Minister. No. V, The House of Commons, p. 169 The great maxim of modern thought is not only the toleration of everything, but the examination of everything. It is by examining very bare, very dull, very unpromising things, that modern science has come to be what it is. No. V, The House of Commons, pp. 172-3 In many matters of business, perhaps in most, a continuity of mediocrity is better than a hotch-potch of excellences. No. VI, On Changes of Ministry, p. 179 The trained official hates the rude, untrained public. No. VI, On Changes of Ministry, p. 194 France elects its ruler in the streets of Paris. No. VI, On Changes of Ministry, p. 204 According to our system the Chancellor of the Exchequer is the enemy of the Exchequer; a whole series of enactments try to protect it from him. No. VI, On Changes of Ministry, p. 213 It appears to me that the functions of our executive in dissolving the Commons and augmenting the Peers are among the most important, and the least appreciated, parts of our whole government, and that hundreds of errors have been made in copying the English Constitution from not comprehending them. No. VII, Its Supposed Checks and Balances, p. 220 The ultimate authority in the English Constitution is a newly-elected House of Commons. No. VII, Its Supposed Checks and Balances, p. 227 For the most part, a constitutional king is a damaged common man; not forced to business by necessity as a despot often is, but yet spoiled for business by most of the temptations which spoil a despot. History, too, seems to show that hereditary royal families gather from the repeated influence of their corrupting situation some dark taint in the blood, some transmitted and growing poison which hurts their judgments, darkens all their sorrow, and is a cloud on half their pleasure. It has been said, not truly, but with a possible approximation to truth, “That in 1802 every hereditary monarch was insane.” No. VII, Its Supposed Checks and Balances, p. 237 Nothing, perhaps, would more surprise the English people than if the Queen by a coup d’état and on a sudden destroyed a ministry firm in the allegiance and secure of a majority in Parliament. That power, indisputably, in theory, belongs to her; but it has passed so far away from the minds of men that it would terrify them, if she used it, like a volcanic eruption from Primrose Hill. No. VII, Its Supposed Checks and Balances, p. 240 The greatest enjoyment possible to man was that which this philosophy promises its votaries—the pleasure of being always right, and always reasoning—without ever being bound to look at anything. No. VII, Its Supposed Checks and Balances, p. 250 From SHAKESPEARE: THE INDIVIDUAL, quote attributed to Bagehot says: "The greatest pleasure in life is doing what other people say you cannot do." The apparent rulers of the English nation are like the most imposing personages of a splendid procession: it is by them the mob are influenced; it is they whom the spectators cheer. The real rulers are secreted in second-rate 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. No. VIII, The Pre-Requisites of Cabinet Government, p. 268 Our revolution has been called the minimum of a revolution, because in law, at least, it only changed the dynasty, but exactly on that account it was the greatest shock to the common multitude, who see the dynasty but see nothing else. No. IX, Its History, and the Effects of that History. — Conclusion , p. 284 On the Glorious Revolution. The natural impulse of the English people is to resist authority. No. IX, Its History, and the Effects of that History. — Conclusion , p. 287 Our constitution is full of curious oddities, which are impeding and mischievous, and ought to be struck out. 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. Just so the lines of our constitution were framed in old eras of sparse population, few wants, and simple habits; and we adhere in seeming to their shape, though civilisation has come with its dangers, complications, and enjoyments. These anomalies, in a hundred instances, mark the old boundaries of a constitutional struggle. The casual line was traced according to the strength of deceased combatants; succeeding generations fought elsewhere; and the hesitating line of a half-drawn battle was left to stand for a perpetual limit. No. IX, Its History, and the Effects of that History. — Conclusion , p. 291 Physics and Politics (1869) The great difficulty which history records is not that of the first step, but that of the second step. What is most evident is not the difficulty of getting a fixed law, but getting out of a fixed law; not of cementing (as upon a former occasion I phrased it) a cake of custom, but of breaking the cake of custom; not of making the first preservative habit, but of breaking through it, and reaching something better. Ch. 2, The Use of Conflict "Maternity," it has been said, "is a matter of fact, paternity is a matter of opinion." Ch. 4, Nation Making One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea. Ch. 5, The Age of Discussion All the inducements of early society tend to foster immediate action; all its penalties fall on the man who pauses; the traditional wisdom of those times was never weary of inculcating that "delays are dangerous," and that the sluggish man — the man "who roasteth not that which he took in hunting" — will not prosper on the earth, and indeed will very soon perish out of it. And in consequence an inability to stay quiet, an irritable desire to act directly, is one of the most conspicuous failings of mankind. Ch. 5 I wish the art of benefiting men had kept pace with the art of destroying them; for though war has become slow, philanthropy has remained hasty. The most melancholy of human reflections, perhaps, is that, on the whole, it is a question whether the, benevolence of mankind does most good or harm. Great good, no doubt, philanthropy does, but then it also does great evil. It augments so much vice, it multiplies so much suffering, it brings to life such great populations to suffer and to be vicious, that it is open to argument whether it be or be not an evil to the world, and this is entirely because excellent people fancy that they can do much by rapid action — that they will most benefit the world when they most relieve their own feelings; that as soon as an evil is seen "something" ought to be done to stay and prevent it. Ch. 5 Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market (1873) thumb|Lombard Street, 1873 Most men of business think "Anyhow this system will probably last my time. It has gone on a long time, and is likely to go on still." Ch. I, Introductory Credit means that a certain confidence is given, and a certain trust reposed. Is that trust justified? and is that confidence wise? These are the cardinal questions. To put it more simply credit is a set of promises to pay; will those promises be kept? Ch. II, A General View of Lombard Street The less money lying idle the greater is the dividend. Ch. II, A General View of Lombard Street The best way for the bank or banks who have the custody of the bank reserve to deal with a drain arising from internal discredit, is to lend freely. The first instinct of everyone is the contrary. There being a large demand on a fund which you want to preserve, the most obvious way to preserve it is to hoard it—to get in as much as you can, and to let nothing go out which you can help. But every banker knows that this is not the way to diminish discredit. This discredit means, 'an opinion that you have not got any money,' and to dissipate that opinion, you must, if possible, show that you have money: you must employ it for the public benefit in order that the public may know that you have it. Ch. II, A General View of Lombard Street The owners of savings not finding, in adequate quantities, their usual kind of investments, rush into anything that promises speciously, and when they find that these specious investments can be disposed of at a high profit, they rush into them more and more. The first taste is for high interest, but that taste soon becomes secondary. There is a second appetite for large gains to be made by selling the principal which is to yield the interest. So long as such sales can be effected the mania continues; when it ceases to be possible to effect them, ruin begins. Ch. VI, Why Lombard Street Is Often Very Dull, and Sometimes Extremely Excited The name ‘London Banker’ had especially a charmed value. He was supposed to represent, and often did represent, a certain union of pecuniary sagacity and educated refinement which was scarcely to be found in any other part of society. Ch. X, The Private Banks Literary Studies (1879) To a great experience one thing is essential — an experiencing nature. Shakespeare The purse strings tie us to our kind. The reason why so few good books are written is, that so few people that can write know anything. In general an author has always lived in a room, has read books, has cultivated science, is acquainted with the style and sentiments of the best authors, but he is out of the way of employing his own eyes and ears. He has nothing to hear and nothing to see. His life is a vacuum. Shakespeare A highly developed moral nature joined to an undeveloped intellectual nature, an undeveloped artistic nature, and a very limited religious nature, is of necessity repulsive. It represents a bit of human nature — a good bit, of course, but a bit only — in disproportionate, unnatural and revolting prominence. Wordsworth, Tennyson and Browning The Ethiop gods have Ethiop lips,Bronze cheeks, and woolly hair;The Grecian gods are like the Greeks,As keen-eyed, cold and fair. Literary Studies, II. 410. "Ignorance of Man". Biographical Studies (1907) A constitutional statesman is in general a man of common opinions and uncommon abilities. Sir Robert Peel You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next-door neighbor... Public opinion is a permeating influence, and it exacts obedience to itself; it requires us to think other men's thoughts, to speak other men's words, to follow other men's habits. Sir Robert Peel It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations. Sir George Cornewall Lewis [Of Guizot] A Puritan born in France by mistake. Guizot Walter Scott : The Critical Heritage (1970) In truth, poverty is an anomaly to rich people. It is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell. Chapter: Walter Bagehot on Scott National Review 1858, p404 The Life of Walter Bagehot (Biography by Emily Barrington, 1914) Every trouble in life is a joke compared to madness. This biography relates that Bagehot's "mother was at times insane", and that this fact was "the iron that entered into [Bagehot's] soul." https://books.google.com/books?id=AsHRDgAAQBAJ The Life of Walter Bagehot Emily Barrington 1914 Misattributed Honor sinks where commerce long prevails. Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails,And honor sinks, where commerce long prevails. — Oliver Goldsmith, "The Traveller; or, a Prospect of Society'" (1764). This quote can be found on the Oliver Goldsmith page. External links Walter_Bagehot Walter Bagehot Partial book list with links Category:Economists from England Category:Businesspeople from England Category:Journalists from England Category:1826 births Category:1877 deaths Category:Essayists from England Category:University College London alumni