For ages were spent in beginning that order and founding that state; the only sufficient and effectual agent in so doing was consecrated custom; but then that custom gathered over everything, arrested all onward progress, and stayed the originality of mankind.
Bagehot discusses the role of custom in establishing order and its impact on progress.
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The United States could not have become monarchical, even if the Constitutional Convention had decreed it, even if the component States had ratified it.
They have given what I may call a CONFIDENCE IN THE UNIVERSE.
All savage religions are full of superstitions founded on luck.
And again, in political matters, how quickly a leading statesman can change the tone of the community!
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