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

Bagehot is pointing to a recurring pattern in social and political development: arrangements that solve urgent early problems—binding a community together, enforcing order, transmitting shared beliefs—can later become obstacles when conditions change. What once stabilized a society may harden into dogma or bureaucracy, suppressing adaptation and innovation. The image of history “strewn” with such remnants suggests not isolated cases but a structural feature of civilization: progress often requires shedding inherited forms that have outlived their usefulness. The remark fits Bagehot’s broader interest in how institutions evolve and why some survive by adjusting while others become destructive through rigidity.