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 ACTONCharacter is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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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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There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success.
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Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.
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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.
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Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority…
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Live both in the future and the past. Who does not live in the past does not live in the future.
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When the last of the Reformers died, religion, instead of emancipating the nations, had become an excuse for the criminal art of despots. Calvin preached, and Bellarmine lectured; but Machiavelli reigned.
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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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Every class is unfit to govern.
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The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. ~ Every class is unfit to govern … Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.
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Before 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.
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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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Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
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When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
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Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
LORD ACTON