A Quote by Walter Bagehot

An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind.

Walter Bagehot

Quote Topics

Conspicuous Inability Mankind Quiet Stay

Quote Author

Walter Bagehot
English - Author
February 3, 1826 - March 24, 1877

All the inducements of early society tend to foster immediate action; all its penalties fall on the man who pauses; the traditional wisdom of those times was never weary of inculcating that "delays are dangerous," and that the sluggish man the man "who roasteth not that which he took in hunting" will not prosper on the earth, and indeed will very soon perish out of it. And in consequence an inability to stay quiet, an irritable desire to act directly, is one of the most conspicuous failings of mankind.

Walter Bagehot

One of the failings of ideologues is their inability to see that everyone else isn't necessarily an ideologue like them.

Josh Marshall

Expose not the secret failings of mankind, otherwise you must verily bring scandal upon them and distrust upon yourself.

Saadi

Hollywood has gone from the capital of conspicuous consumption to the cutting edge of conspicuous conservation.

Arianna Huffington

The students [of the 60's] substituted conspicuous compassion for their parents' conspicuous consumption.

Allan Bloom

Was it my conspicuousness that distressed me? Not at all. It was merely that I was not beautifully conspicuous but uglily conspicuous - it makes all the difference in the world.

Mark Twain

All sorrow has its root in man's inability to sit quiet in a room by himself.

Blaise Pascal

All mankind's troubles are caused by one single thing, which is their inability to sit quietly.

Blaise Pascal

When there's a terrible murder people who are interviewed say, 'This has always been a quiet neighborhood.' That is so dumb and uninformed! The earth is not a quiet neighborhood. There isn't anyplace that's a quiet neighborhood. People are asking themselves how to stay neat in the cyclone.

Paula Fox

Addressing the moral failings of black people while ignoring the centuries-old failings of their governments amounts to a bait and switch.

Ta-Nehisi Coates

What after all, has maintained the human race on this old globe despite all the calamities of nature and all the tragic failings of mankind, if not faith in new possibilities, and courage to advocate them?

Jane Addams

All mankind's unhappiness derives from one thing: his inability to know how to remain in repose in one room.

Blaise Pascal

Sometimes, when you look at an adviser's failings or perceived failings, I think the tough question you have to ask as a journalist is, 'What does this say about the president?'