If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh.
LORD ACTONA public man has no right to let his actions be determined by particular interests. He does the same thing as a judge who accepts a bribe. Like a judge he must consider what is right, not what is advantageous to a party or class.
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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Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.
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History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
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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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Government rules the present. Literature rules the future.
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When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
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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 test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.
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The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.
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Socialism means slavery.
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. It is the delicate fruit of a mature civilization; and scarcely a century has passed since nations, that knew the meaning of the term, resolved to be free.
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Socialism easily accepts despotism. It requires the strongest execution of power — power sufficient to interfere with property.
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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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Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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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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The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority.
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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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The long term versus the short term argument is one used by losers.
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Be generous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with justice.
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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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Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority…
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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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The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
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Learn as much by writing as by reading.
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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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No public character has ever stood the revelation of private utterance and correspondence.
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