At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating themselves with auxiliaries whose objects often differed from their own; and this association, which is always dangerous, has sometimes been disastrous.
LORD ACTONAt all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating themselves with auxiliaries whose objects often differed from their own; and this association, which is always dangerous, has sometimes been disastrous.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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From the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
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Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.
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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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There should be a law to the People besides its own will.
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The mills of God grind slowly.
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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 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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No public character has ever stood the revelation of private utterance and correspondence.
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But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power….
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The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.
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Socialism means slavery.
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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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There are many things the government cant do, many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It cannot feed the people. It cannot enrich the people. It cannot teach the people. It cannot convert the people.
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Learn as much by writing as by reading.
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Federalism is the best curb on democracy. [It] assigns limited powers to the central government. Thereby all power is limited. It excludes absolute power of the majority.
LORD ACTON