Progress would not have been the rarity it is if the early food had not been the late poison.
Walter BagehotRead
Efficiency in an assembly requires a solid mass of steady votes; and these are collected by a deferential attachment to particular men, or by a belief in the principles that those men represent, and they are maintained by fear of those men - by the fear that if you vote against them, you may soon yourself have no vote at all.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights how loyalty and fear influence voting behavior in assemblies.
Walter Bagehot's quote emphasizes that within an assembly, the efficiency of decision-making hinges on solid support, which is often rooted in personal loyalty to influential individuals or the principles they uphold. This loyalty is not always based on admiration but often stems from a fear of retribution, suggesting that voting against powerful figures could jeopardize one's own influence or status.
Themes
EfficiencyAssemblyVotesLoyaltyFearPolitics
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate, this quote can be used to illustrate why members of the legislature may hesitate to vote against party leaders.
More from Walter Bagehot
All quotes βIt is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations.
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War both needs and generates certain virtues; not the highest, but what may be called the preliminary virtues, as valor, veracity, the spirit of obedience, the habit of discipline. Any of these, and of others like them, when possessed by a nation, and no matter how generated, will give them a military advantage, and make them more likely to stay in the race of nations.
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Life is a compromise of what your ego wants to do, what experience tells you to do, and what your nerves let you do.
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The most melancholy of human reflections, perhaps, is that, on the whole, it is a question whether the benevolence of mankind does most good or harm.
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Every banker knows that if he has to prove that he is worthy of credit, however good may be his arguments, in fact his credit is gone: but what we have requires no proof.
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