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Government rules the present. Literature rules the future.

Lord Acton

There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
LORD ACTON

Corrupt Holder Office Political Power
Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.
LORD ACTON

Dignity Giving History Merit Truth Worth
The mills of God grind slowly.
LORD ACTON

Exactness God Grind Mill Retribution
Ink was not invented to express our real feelings.
LORD ACTON

Express Feeling Ink Inverted Real
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
LORD ACTON

Freedom Higher Highest Liberty Mean Politics Wisdom
Progress, the religion of those who have none.
LORD ACTON

None Progress Religion
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
Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word.
LORD ACTON

Character Conduct Men Personality Sentiment
If the past has been an obstacle and a burden, knowledge of the past is the safest and the surest emancipation.
LORD ACTON

Burden Emancipation History Knowledge Obstacle Past Safest Surest
Political differences essentially depend on disagreement in moral principles.
LORD ACTON

Differences Disagreement Essential Moral Political Principles
But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power….
LORD ACTON

Absolutism Behalf Claim Everything Laid Modern Power Sovereign
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
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 ACTON

Ago Bad Common Crime Good Ignorance Liberty Men Next Pretext Seed Sow Strong Year
The 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 ACTON

Come Conduct Down God Grace Guide Know Our Outward Soul Voice
The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority.
LORD ACTON

Democracy Evil Majority One Pervaide Tyranny
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

Government rules the present. Literature rules the future.

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Government rules the present. Literature rules the future.

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