The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.
LORD ACTONMoral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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False principles, which correspond with the bad as well as with the just aspirations of mankind, are a normal and necessary element in the social life of nations.
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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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Those who have more power are liable to sin more; no theorem in geometry is more certain than this.
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When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
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Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
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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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Democracy generally monopolizes and concentrates power.
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Great men are almost always bad men.
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Progress, the religion of those who have none.
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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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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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Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites.
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A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.
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Government rules the present. Literature rules the future.
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Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end…liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition…
LORD ACTON