In every age its progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man’s craving for power, and the poor man’s craving for food.
LORD ACTONFar from being the product of a democratic revolution and of an opposition to English institutions, the constitution of the United States was the result of a powerful reaction against democracy, and in favor of the traditions of the mother country.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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The long term versus the short term argument is one used by losers.
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Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.
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A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.
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But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power….
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Every class is unfit to govern.
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Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
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Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
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The passion for power over others can never cease to threaten mankind, and is always sure of finding new and unforseen allies in continuing its martyrology.
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Feudalism made land the measure and the master of all things.
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No public character has ever stood the revelation of private utterance and correspondence.
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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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To develop and perfect and arm conscience is the great achievement of history.
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There should be a law to the People besides its own will.
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Live both in the future and the past. Who does not live in the past does not live in the future.
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The mills of God grind slowly.
LORD ACTON