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
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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At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities.
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Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority…
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In every age its (liberty’s) 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
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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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A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.
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Do not turn yourself from an end into a means-one does not justify the other.
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Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.
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Be generous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with justice.
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To develop and perfect and arm conscience is the great achievement of history.
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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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History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.
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A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar.
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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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History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
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Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.
LORD ACTON