The true guide of our conduct is no outward authority, but the voice of God, who comes down to dwell in our souls, who knows all our thoughts, to whom are owing all the truth we know, and all the good we do; for vice is voluntary, and virtue comes from the grace of the heavenly spirit within.
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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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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Progress, the religion of those who have none.
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History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.
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Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.
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Democracy generally monopolizes and concentrates power.
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Do not turn yourself from an end into a means-one does not justify the other.
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But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power….
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Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime, from the sowing of the seed at Athens, 2,460 years ago, until the ripened harvest was gathered by men of our race
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A liberal is only a bundle of prejudices until he has mastered, has understood, experienced the philosophy of Conservatism.
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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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The true natural check on absolute democracy is the federal system, which limits the central government by the powers reserved, and the state governments by the powers they have ceded.
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Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.
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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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A generous spirit prefers that his country should be poor, and weak, and of no account, but free, rather than powerful, prosperous, and enslaved.
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The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.
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Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity.
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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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Learn as much by writing as by reading.
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I’m not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.
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We are not sure we are right until we have made the best case possible for those who are wrong.
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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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Fanaticism in religion is the alliance of the passions she condemns with the dogmas she professes.
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It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play.
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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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Judge talent at its best and character at its worst.
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There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success.
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