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The love of law, for example, is a virtue which no one now would call martial, yet in early times it disciplined nations, and the disciplined nations won.
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Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “The love of law, for example, is a virtue which no one now would call martial, yet in early times it disciplined…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot reflects on how the love of law, once a martial virtue, has evolved in its significance over time.
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No doubt this momentary gain is bought at a ruinous after-cost.
Nothing promotes intellect like intellectual discussion, and nothing promotes intellectual discussion so much as government by discussion.
The whole history of civilisation, is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.
Savages waste away before modern civilisation; they seem to have held their ground before the ancient.
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