black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh.

Lord Acton

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
The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.
LORD ACTON

Gold Grainm Stream Knowledge Past Politics River Rivers Sand Science
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
Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers.
LORD ACTON

Aristocracy Contract Democracy Fanaticism Number Religious
A 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 ACTON

Action Class Interest Men Particular Party Public Right
The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.
LORD ACTON

Common Democracy Morality Vice Vices
History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
LORD ACTON

Burden History Illumination Memories Soul
I’m not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.
LORD ACTON

Beautiful Business Funny Inspirational Money
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 ACTON

Associate Association Country Friend Minorities Person Racem People Sincere Themselves Time Triumph
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
LORD ACTON

Corrupt Inspirational Leadership Power Trend Work
Be generous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with justice.
LORD ACTON

Before Generous Justice Mercy Temper
Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority…
LORD ACTON

Almost Always Exercise Influence Men Power
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
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.
LORD ACTON

Concentration Control Frequently Hand Men Mentality Peace Power Remember
The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.
LORD ACTON

Atheism Confound Heart Possession Ultimate Understanding
The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.
LORD ACTON

Democracies Force Fraud Majority Party Prevaiding Rule Succeed Tyranny

If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Lord Acton Quotes