Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
LORD ACTONWhen the revolutionary theory of government began to prevail, and Church and State found that they were educating for opposite ends and in a contradictory spirit, it became necessary to remove children entirely from the influence of religion.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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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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Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.
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The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.
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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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If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh.
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The passion for power over others can never cease to threaten mankind, and is always sure of finding new and unforseen allies in continuing its martyrology.
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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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If the past has been an obstacle and a burden, knowledge of the past is the safest and the surest emancipation.
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When the last of the Reformers died, religion, instead of emancipating the nations, had become an excuse for the criminal art of despots. Calvin preached, and Bellarmine lectured; but Machiavelli reigned.
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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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Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word.
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Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.
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The mills of God grind slowly.
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The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.
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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.
LORD ACTON