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
An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also; interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft. – Walter Bagehot
A family on the throne is an interesting idea. It brings down the pride of sovereignty to the level of petty life. – Walter Bagehot
One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea. – Walter Bagehot
A few more days, and this essay will follow the Defensio Populi to the dust and silence of the upper shelf… For a month or two it will occupy a few minutes of chat in every drawing-room, and a few columns in every magazine; and it will then be withdrawn, to make room for the forthcoming novelties. – Thomas Babington Macaulay