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Quote by Walter Bagehot

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Literary studies ; Religious and metaphysical essays ; Letters on the French coup d'état

This book is a compilation of essays and letters that delve into various aspects of literary analysis, religious and metaphysical concepts, and the political implications of the French coup d'état. It offers insights into the intellectual and cultural climate of the time. more

Author

Walter Bagehot
Walter Bagehot

Walter Bagehot was an English journalist and social philosopher, best known for his editorial role at The Economist. His writings on economics, finance, and political institutions have had a profound impact on the field. more

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“Unless one can think wisely it is better to remain a dummy.”

“The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential. But on the other hand, knowledge of an apparently trivial detail quite often makes it possible to see into the depth of things. And so the wise man will seek to acquire the best possible knowledge about events, but always without becoming dependent upon this knowledge. To recognize the significant in the factual is wisdom.”

“As soon as science has emerged from its initial stages, theoretical advances are no longer achieved merely by a process of arrangement. Guided by empirical data, the investigator rather develops a system of thought which, in general, is built up logically from a small number of fundamental assumptions, the so-called axioms. We call such a system of thought a theory. The theory finds the justification for its existence in the fact that it correlates a large number of single observations, and it is just here that the 'truth' of the theory lies.”

“To conceal a want of real ideas, many make for themselves an imposing apparatus of long compound words, intricate flourishes and phrases, new and unheard-of expressions, all of which together furnish an extremely difficult jargon that sounds very learned. Yet with all this they say-precisely nothing.”