Walter Bagehot: “The queen bee was taken away, but the hive went on.”

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The queen bee was taken away, but the hive went on.

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Walter Bagehot

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Bagehot uses the metaphor of a hive to illustrate the resilience of institutions even when key figures are removed.

More from Walter Bagehot

Those who doubt should go out into their kitchens.

He could have found the truth as a statesman just as he found it when a judge; but he never did find it.

They have given what I may call a CONFIDENCE IN THE UNIVERSE.

They are above corruption because they are the corruptors.

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