The long term versus the short term argument is one used by losers.
LORD ACTONWhen 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.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
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Every class is unfit to govern.
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Liberty is the prevention of control by others.
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When the revolutionary theory of government began to prevail, and Church and State found that they were educating for opposite ends and in a contradictory spirit, it became necessary to remove children entirely from the influence of religion.
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Learn as much by writing as by reading.
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There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.
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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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Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.
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History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
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The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
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Liberty has not only enemies which it conquers, but perfidious friends, who rob the fruits of its victories: Absolute democracy, socialism.
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Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.
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The principle of the Inquisition was murderous. . . . The popes were not only murderers in the great style, but they also made murder a legal basis of the Christian Church and a condition of salvation.
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Far 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.
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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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We are not sure we are right until we have made the best case possible for those who are wrong.
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Great men are almost always bad men.
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Judge talent at its best and character at its worst.
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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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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.
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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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Political differences essentially depend on disagreement in moral principles.
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It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play.
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Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.
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The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.
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I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong.
LORD ACTON