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Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority…

Lord Acton

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.
LORD ACTON

Christian Murderous Principle Religion Style
Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.
LORD ACTON

Always Corruption Despotic Morality Power
Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.
LORD ACTON

Able Being Do Liberty Ought Power Right
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.
LORD ACTON

Almost Always Authority Great Influence Men Stillmore
Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together.
LORD ACTON

Emna Excellent Good Government Higher Mean Political Reason Together
Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
LORD ACTON

Administration Different Discussion Justice Political Publicity Reality
Do not turn yourself from an end into a means-one does not justify the other.
LORD ACTON

Doe End Justify Mean Other
Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.
LORD ACTON

Age Circumstance Constant Moral Obedient Through
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.
LORD ACTON

Gold Grainm Stream Knowledge Past Politics River Rivers Sand Science
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
LORD ACTON

Ago Bad Common Crime Good Ignorance Liberty Men Next Pretext Seed Sow Strong Year
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
LORD ACTON

Absolute Corrupt Exercise Influence Men Power Tend
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
LORD ACTON

End Higher Liberty Mean Political
The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.
LORD ACTON

Clas Class Danger Every Govern Particular Unfit
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 ACTON

Associate Association Country Friend Minorities Person Racem People Sincere Themselves Time Triumph
Democracy generally monopolizes and concentrates power.
LORD ACTON

Concentration Democracy Generally Monopolize Power
History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
LORD ACTON

Burden History Illumination Memories Soul

Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority…

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Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority…

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