Walter Bagehot: “In old times a few ideas got possession of men and communities, but this is happily now possible no longer.”

But all men heed great results, and a change of Government is a great result.

Perhaps such powers as these are what a wise man would most seek to exercise and least fear to possess.

They are solely concerned with his attractiveness as a candidate; they need not regard his efficiency as a ruler.

In early society, originality in life was forbidden and repressed by the fixed rule of life.