On the record
Unproved abstract principles without number have been eagerly caught up by sanguine men, and then carefully spun out into books and theories, which were to explain the whole world.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
Source
gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “Unproved abstract principles without number have been eagerly caught up by sanguine men, and then carefully spun out…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot warns against the allure of unproven abstract principles that lead to grand theories.
Share
More from Walter Bagehot
They are solely concerned with his attractiveness as a candidate; they need not regard his efficiency as a ruler.
And again, in political matters, how quickly a leading statesman can change the tone of the community!
He gave an excellent moral example to his contemporaries, but he is an instance of those whose good dies with them, while their evil lives after them.
He could have found the truth as a statesman just as he found it when a judge; but he never did find it.
Other voices in this conversation
