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.
LORD ACTONThere should be a law to the People besides its own will.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.
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Do not turn yourself from an end into a means-one does not justify the other.
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Progress, the religion of those who have none.
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Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites.
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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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There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
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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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To develop and perfect and arm conscience is the great achievement of history.
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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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The will of the people cannot make just that which is unjust.
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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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The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.
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Great men are almost always bad men.
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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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I’m not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.
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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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Every class is unfit to govern.
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Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.
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The true natural check on absolute democracy is the federal system, which limits the central government by the powers reserved, and the state governments by the powers they have ceded.
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The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.
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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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Federalism is the best curb on democracy. [It] assigns limited powers to the central government. Thereby all power is limited. It excludes absolute power of the majority.
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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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There should be a law to the People besides its own will.
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When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
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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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