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.
~ Walter Bagehot

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Practical people have little idea of the practical ability required to write a large book, and especially a large history.
~ Walter Bagehot

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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.
~ Walter Bagehot

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Every trouble in life is a joke compared to madness.
~ Walter Bagehot

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

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A constitutional statesman is in general a man of common opinions and uncommon abilities.
~ Walter Bagehot

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The reason why so few good books are written is, that so few people who can write know anything.
~ Walter Bagehot

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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.
~ Walter Bagehot

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An inability to stay quiet, an irritable desire to act directly, is one of the most conspicuous failings of mankind.
~ Walter Bagehot

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