Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty.
LORD ACTONFar 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.
More Lord Acton Quotes
-
-
The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.
LORD ACTON -
Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites.
LORD ACTON -
Do not turn yourself from an end into a means-one does not justify the other.
LORD ACTON -
We are not sure we are right until we have made the best case possible for those who are wrong.
LORD ACTON -
Liberty is the prevention of control by others. This requires self-control and, therefore, religious and spiritual influences; education, knowledge, well-being.
LORD ACTON -
But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power….
LORD ACTON -
Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.
LORD ACTON -
Democracy generally monopolizes and concentrates power.
LORD ACTON -
A generous spirit prefers that his country should be poor, and weak, and of no account, but free, rather than powerful, prosperous, and enslaved.
LORD ACTON -
History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
LORD ACTON -
There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.
LORD ACTON -
Feudalism made land the measure and the master of all things.
LORD ACTON -
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
LORD ACTON -
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.
LORD ACTON -
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
LORD ACTON