The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.
LORD ACTONThe possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.
LORD ACTONThe 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 ACTONIt is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.
LORD ACTONA public man has no right to let his actions be determined by particular interests. He does the same thing as a judge who accepts a bribe. Like a judge he must consider what is right, not what is advantageous to a party or class.
LORD ACTONLiberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together.
LORD ACTONGreat men are almost always bad men.
LORD ACTONJudge talent at its best and character at its worst.
LORD ACTONBefore 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.
LORD ACTONFanaticism in religion is the alliance of the passions she condemns with the dogmas she professes.
LORD ACTONThe 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.
LORD ACTONFor centuries it was never discovered that education was a function of the State, and the State never attempted to educate.
LORD ACTONGreat 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 ACTONPower tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
LORD ACTONA wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.
LORD ACTONThe danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.
LORD ACTONEvery thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
LORD ACTON