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 ACTONAt all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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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 danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. ~ Every class is unfit to govern … Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.
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To develop and perfect and arm conscience is the great achievement of history.
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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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Ink was not invented to express our real feelings.
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Every class is unfit to govern.
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But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power….
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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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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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Piety sometimes gives birth to scruples, and faith to superstition, when they are not directed by wisdom and knowledge.
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There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success.
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A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar.
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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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Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.
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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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Those who have more power are liable to sin more; no theorem in geometry is more certain than this.
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Great men are almost always bad men.
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There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
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No public character has ever stood the revelation of private utterance and correspondence.
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A generous spirit prefers that his country should be poor, and weak, and of no account, but free, rather than powerful, prosperous, and enslaved.
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When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
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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…liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition…
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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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Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.
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