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History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.

Lord Acton

It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.
LORD ACTON

Bad Majority Minority Oppress
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.
LORD ACTON

Age Best Conquest Crave Enemies Every Food Ignorance Man Poor Progress
There should be a law to the People besides its own will.
LORD ACTON

Besides Law Own People Will
Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity.
LORD ACTON

Change Creed Eternity Fail Fall Law Manner Moral Opinion Table Tablet
Official truth is not actual truth.
LORD ACTON

Actually Official Truth
A people averse to the institution of private property is without the first elements of freedom
LORD ACTON

Element First Freedom People Private Property
Live both in the future and the past. Who does not live in the past does not live in the future.
LORD ACTON

Both Future Live Past
Ink was not invented to express our real feelings.
LORD ACTON

Express Feeling Ink Inverted Real
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
LORD ACTON

Freedom Higher Highest Liberty Mean Politics Wisdom
Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.
LORD ACTON

Almost Always Authority Great Influence Men Stillmore
Be generous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with justice.
LORD ACTON

Before Generous Justice Mercy Temper
The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.
LORD ACTON

Atheism Confound Heart Possession Ultimate Understanding
The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
LORD ACTON

Dagger Follow Future Men Past Strong Weak
Every class is unfit to govern.
LORD ACTON

Class Unfit
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.
LORD ACTON

Aspiration Correspond Element Just Life Mankind Normal Principles Social
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

Benefit Class Higher Liberty Mean Men Political

History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.

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History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.

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Popular Authors

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