Quote #48

The greatest mistake is trying to be more agreeable than you can be.

More from Walter Bagehot

  1. The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is, that it is an intelligible government. The mass of mankind understand it, and they …
  2. The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
  3. The being without an opinion is so painful to human nature that most people will leap to a hasty opinion rather than undergo it.
  4. The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency.
  5. So long as war is the main business of nations, temporary despotism - despotism during the campaign - is indispensable.
  6. 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…
  7. Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell.
  8. The whole history of civilization is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.

All Walter Bagehot quotes