Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word.

LORD ACTON

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Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word.

Lord Acton

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Sentiment

In every age its 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.
LORD ACTON

Best Conquest Enemies Every
Official truth is not actual truth.

LORD ACTON

Official truth is not actual truth.
LORD ACTON

Actually Official
Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together.

LORD ACTON

Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together.
LORD ACTON

Emna Excellent Higher Mean Political Together
The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.

LORD ACTON

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.
LORD ACTON

Clas Every Govern Particular Unfit
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

Frequently Hand Mentality
The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.

LORD ACTON

The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.
LORD ACTON

Bank Century Down Sooner Swept
No public character has ever stood the revelation of private utterance and correspondence.

LORD ACTON

No public character has ever stood the revelation of private utterance and correspondence.
LORD ACTON

Correspondance Revelation Stood Utterance
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.
LORD ACTON

All Free Neither Salve
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.

LORD ACTON

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.
LORD ACTON

Institution
Judge talent at its best and character at its worst.
LORD ACTON

Judging
Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.

LORD ACTON

Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.
LORD ACTON

Able Being Do Ought
The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.
LORD ACTON

Morality Vices
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
LORD ACTON

Higher Highest Mean
Though oppression may give rise to violent and repeated outbreaks, like the convulsions of a man in pain, it cannot mature a settled purpose and plan of regeneration, unless a new notion of happiness is joined to the sense of present evil.

LORD ACTON

Though oppression may give rise to violent and repeated outbreaks, like the convulsions of a man in pain, it cannot mature a settled purpose and plan of regeneration, unless a new notion of happiness is joined to the sense of present evil.
LORD ACTON

Convulsion Give Outbreak Repeat Violent
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.
LORD ACTON

Accept Do Favorable Pope Presumption Unlike
History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.

LORD ACTON

History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
LORD ACTON

Illumination

Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word.

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