Men so trained must come to think the routine of business not a means, but an end--to imagine the elaborate machinery of which they form a part, and from which they derive their dignity, to be a grand and achieved result, not a working and changeable instrument.
Bagehot describes how bureaucratic training can lead individuals to prioritize routine over innovation.
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More from Walter Bagehot
All savage religions are full of superstitions founded on luck.
Those who doubt should go out into their kitchens.
If the above reasoning be sound, compulsory constituencies are necessary, voluntary constituencies destructive; the optional transferability of votes is not a salutary aid, but a ruinous innovation.
They are above corruption because they are the corruptors.
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