5 Walter Bagehot Quotes on History

Walter Bagehot quotes on history

11. 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.

35. Conquest is the missionary of valor, and the hard impact of military virtues beats meanness out of the world.

37. History is strewn with the wrecks of nations which have gained a little progressiveness at the cost of a great deal of hard manliness, and have thus prepared themselves for destruction as soon as the movements of the world gave a chance for it.

38. 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.

52. The whole history of civilization is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.