Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end…liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition…
LORD ACTONPiety sometimes gives birth to scruples, and faith to superstition, when they are not directed by wisdom and knowledge.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
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Progress, the religion of those who have none.
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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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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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The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.
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The mills of God grind slowly.
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History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
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From the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
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Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
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It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others.
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The finest opportunity ever given to the world was thrown away because the passion of equality made vain the hope for freedom.
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Fanaticism in religion is the alliance of the passions she condemns with the dogmas she professes.
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If the past has been an obstacle and a burden, knowledge of the past is the safest and the surest emancipation.
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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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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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A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar.
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Learn as much by writing as by reading.
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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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There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success.
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Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty.
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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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Liberty is the prevention of control by others. This requires self-control and, therefore, religious and spiritual influences; education, knowledge, well-being.
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And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that.
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In every age its (liberty’s) 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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Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime, from the sowing of the seed at Athens, 2,460 years ago, until the ripened harvest was gathered by men of our race
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The true guide of our conduct is no outward authority, but the voice of God, who comes down to dwell in our souls, who knows all our thoughts, to whom are owing all the truth we know, and all the good we do; for vice is voluntary, and virtue comes from the grace of the heavenly spirit within.
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