Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
LORD ACTONJudge talent at its best and character at its worst.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority.
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Learn as much by writing as by reading.
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Ink was not invented to express our real feelings.
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Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together.
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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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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.
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But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power….
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A 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.
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Live both in the future and the past. Who does not live in the past does not live in the future.
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The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
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At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities.
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Progress, the religion of those who have none.
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Great men are almost always bad men.
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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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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