Political Quotes

Walter Bagehot: The strongest competitor wins in both the cases we are imagining; in the first, a race with intelligent reason, but…

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The strongest competitor wins in both the cases we are imagining; in the first, a race with intelligent reason, but without blind instinct, beats a race with that instinct but without that reason; in the second, a race with reason and high moral feeling beats a race with reason but without high moral feeling.
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Walter Bagehot

Editor's note · Context

Bagehot discusses the superiority of reason combined with moral feeling over mere instinct in competition.

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