On the record
The worst of these superstitions is that they are easy to make and hard to destroy.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
Source
gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “The worst of these superstitions is that they are easy to make and hard to destroy.”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot warns about the persistence of superstitions, noting their ease of creation and difficulty of eradication.
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More from Walter Bagehot
It is natural that those who by special and admirable culture have come to look at all things upon the artistic side, should start back from these queer peculiarities.
Just so the lines of our Constitution were framed in old eras of sparse population, few wants, and simple habits; and we adhere in seeming to their shape, though civilisation has come with its dangers, complications, and enjoyments.
I own that I do not entirely sympathise with the horror of these anomalies which haunts some of our best critics.
At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.
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