Walter Baghot

Walter Baghot (3 February 1826 – 24 March 1877) was a British businessman, essayist, and journalist who wrote extensively about literature, government, and economic affairs.

You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next-door neighbor.

The real essence of work is concentrated energy.

We must not let daylight in upon the magic.

Writers like teeth are divided into incisors and grinders.

The whole history of civilization is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.

It is often said that men are ruled by their imaginations; but it would be truer to say they are governed by the weakness of their imaginations.

Nothing is more unpleasant than a virtuous person with a mean mind.

A man's mother is his misfortune, but his wife is his fault.

All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality - the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape.

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.

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

A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

Business is really more agreeable than pleasure; it interests the whole mind . . . more deeply. But it does not look as if it did.

Poverty is an anomaly to rich people: it is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell.

To a great experience one thing is essential - an experiencing nature.

The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. It proceeds from not knowing what is going on in other people's minds.