Of course the nation we are supposing must keep the virtues of its first stage as it passes into the after stage, else it will be trodden out; it will have lost the savage virtues in getting the beginning of the civilised virtues; and the savage virtues which tend to war are the daily bread of human nature.
Bagehot discusses the necessity for a nation to retain its foundational virtues while evolving into a more civilized state.
Share
More from Walter Bagehot
Those who doubt should go out into their kitchens.
The work would be done so well that we should not want any one to look over or revise it.
I do not think I put this too high when I say that a most important if not the most important object of early legislation was the enforcement of LUCKY rites.
One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.
Other voices in this conversation
