Quote #24

It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations.

More from Walter Bagehot

  1. 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 per…
  2. [Of Guizot] A Puritan born in France by mistake.
  3. A constitutional statesman is in general a man of common opinions and uncommon abilities.
  4. A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people.
  5. A highly developed moral nature joined to an undeveloped intellectual nature, an undeveloped artistic nature, and a very limited religious …
  6. A princely marriage is the brilliant edition of a universal fact, and, as such, it rivets mankind.
  7. 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 …
  8. A schoolmaster should have an atmosphere of awe, and walk wonderingly, as if he was amazed at being himself.

All Walter Bagehot quotes