Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.
LORD ACTONIn every age its (liberty’s) progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man’s craving for power, and the poor man’s craving for food
More Lord Acton Quotes
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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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In every age its progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man’s craving for power, and the poor man’s craving for food.
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The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.
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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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Judge talent at its best and character at its worst.
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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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If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power…power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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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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Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together.
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Liberty is the prevention of control by others.
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But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power….
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There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion.
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History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.
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Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.
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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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