Poverty is an anomaly to rich people. It is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell. – Walter Bagehot
A severe though not unfriendly critic of our institutions said that the cure for admiring the House of Lords was to go and look at it. – Walter Bagehot
The whole history of civilization is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards. – Walter Bagehot
Men who do not make advances to women are apt to become victims to women who make advances to them. – Walter Bagehot
However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. – Henry David Thoreau