“A great man is one image – one thing, so to speak – to his valet, another to his son, another to his wife, another to his greatest friend. None of these must be stereotyped; all must be compared. To prohibit discussion is to prohibit the corrective process.” —Bagehot, “The Metaphysical Basis of Toleration” (1884)

How does it help the valet to correct his image of the great man by discerning it with the great man’s wife?

“Each epoch has its violent partisans, who will listen to nothing else, and who think every other epoch in comparison mean and wretched. These violent minds are always faulty and sometimes absurd, but they are almost always useful to mankind. They compel men to hear neglected truth. They uniformly exaggerate their gospel; but it generally is a gospel.” —Bagehot, ibid.