Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.
LORD ACTONHistory, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.
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The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
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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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A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar.
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But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign 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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I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong.
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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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The minority can seldom resist. But from the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
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History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
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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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Every class is unfit to govern.
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Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.
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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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Liberty is the prevention of control by others.
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Far 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.
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It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others.
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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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There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success.
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The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.
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A people averse to the institution of private property is without the first elements of freedom
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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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To develop and perfect and arm conscience is the great achievement of history.
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And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that.
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Learn as much by writing as by reading.
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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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