Walter Bagehot Quotes
It is an inevitable defect, that bureaucrats will care more for routine than for results.
Walter Bagehot, 1826-1877, British Economist & Writer, The English Constitution, 1867
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Referring to the administrative procedures required of the Navajos by the Bureau of Indian Affairs:
He confuses modernity and religion. Muslims who live in a modern world have the same degree of bureaucracy then the Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and other religions do. The Muslims of America have the same degree of paperwork as other Americans, and the Turkish bureaucracy has as much filing and other paperwork as countries where the majority of people are of different religions. Historically, when England and France and other Christian countries were in the Dark Ages, Islamic bureaucrats kept Western and Eastern knowledge alive, and when the Ottoman Empire ruled most of the known world, they almost collapsed under their very heavy bureaucracy.
Gates was then a mid-level functionary at the CIA. His ability to tell the truth to powerful people got him promoted and he eventually became director himself as well as the Secretary of Defense. The Department of Agriculture at the time was generally known as a very bureaucratic organization.
Political conservatives have generally been very verbal in their attacks upon and criticisms of bureaucracy. And yet, bureaucrats are the epitome of conservatism in their outlook and mode of operation as is made clear by this quotation.
Walter Bagehot was a British journalist, businessman, and essayist, who wrote extensively about government, economics, literature and race.
