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.
LORD ACTONThe will of the people cannot make just that which is unjust.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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A public man has no right to let his actions be determined by particular interests. He does the same thing as a judge who accepts a bribe. Like a judge he must consider what is right, not what is advantageous to a party or class.
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Government rules the present. Literature rules the future.
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There should be a law to the People besides its own will.
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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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Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.
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Before God, there is neither Greek nor barbarian, neither rich nor poor, and the slave is as good as his master, for by birth all men are free; they are citizens of the universal commonwealth which embraces all the world, brethren of one family, and children of God.
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The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.
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But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power….
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Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.
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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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Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.
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A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar.
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Socialism easily accepts despotism. It requires the strongest execution of power — power sufficient to interfere with property.
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Fanaticism in religion is the alliance of the passions she condemns with the dogmas she professes.
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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.
LORD ACTON