If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power…power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
LORD ACTONGreat men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority…
More Lord Acton Quotes
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Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
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Judge talent at its best and character at its worst.
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I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong.
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Piety sometimes gives birth to scruples, and faith to superstition, when they are not directed by wisdom and knowledge.
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The passion for power over others can never cease to threaten mankind, and is always sure of finding new and unforseen allies in continuing its martyrology.
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Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.
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The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.
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The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.
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Liberty has not only enemies which it conquers, but perfidious friends, who rob the fruits of its victories: Absolute democracy, socialism.
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Far from being the product of a democratic revolution and of an opposition to English institutions, the constitution of the United States was the result of a powerful reaction against democracy, and in favor of the traditions of the mother country.
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Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others.
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Be generous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with justice.
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Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together.
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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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