When the last of the Reformers died, religion, instead of emancipating the nations, had become an excuse for the criminal art of despots. Calvin preached, and Bellarmine lectured; but Machiavelli reigned.
LORD ACTON
For centuries it was never discovered that education was a function of the State, and the State never attempted to educate.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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When the last of the Reformers died, religion, instead of emancipating the nations, had become an excuse for the criminal art of despots. Calvin preached, and Bellarmine lectured; but Machiavelli reigned.
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Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers.
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A generous spirit prefers that his country should be poor, and weak, and of no account, but free, rather than powerful, prosperous, and enslaved.
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Democracy generally monopolizes and concentrates power.
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Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
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I’m not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.
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There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion.
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We are not sure we are right until we have made the best case possible for those who are wrong.
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The will of the people cannot make just that which is unjust.
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Piety sometimes gives birth to scruples, and faith to superstition, when they are not directed by wisdom and knowledge.
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At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating themselves with auxiliaries whose objects often differed from their own; and this association, which is always dangerous, has sometimes been disastrous.
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But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power….
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Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.
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Socialism means slavery.
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History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.
LORD ACTON