Other things being equal, yesterday's institutions are by far the best for to-day; they are the most ready, the most influential, the most easy to get obeyed, the most likely to retain the reverence which they alone inherit, and which every other must win.
Bagehot argues that established institutions are often the most effective and respected in society.
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More from Walter Bagehot
They are solely concerned with his attractiveness as a candidate; they need not regard his efficiency as a ruler.
The power of free interchange of ideas being wanting, the ideas themselves were barren.
He gave an excellent moral example to his contemporaries, but he is an instance of those whose good dies with them, while their evil lives after them.
In early society, originality in life was forbidden and repressed by the fixed rule of life.
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