The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.
LORD ACTONBe generous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with justice.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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Democracy generally monopolizes and concentrates power.
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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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For centuries it was never discovered that education was a function of the State, and the State never attempted to educate.
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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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Fanaticism in religion is the alliance of the passions she condemns with the dogmas she professes.
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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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The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.
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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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The mills of God grind slowly.
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Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers.
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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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The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.
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The long term versus the short term argument is one used by losers.
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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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At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities.
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