The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
LORD ACTONThe strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
LORD ACTONHistory is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
LORD ACTONHistory, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.
LORD ACTONLiberty, 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 ACTONThe issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.
LORD ACTONThe 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.
LORD ACTONThe mills of God grind slowly.
LORD ACTONLive both in the future and the past. Who does not live in the past does not live in the future.
LORD ACTONLiberty is the prevention of control by others.
LORD ACTONLiberty has not only enemies which it conquers, but perfidious friends, who rob the fruits of its victories: Absolute democracy, socialism.
LORD ACTONCharacter is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word.
LORD ACTONI’m not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.
LORD ACTONBefore 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 ACTONWhen you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
LORD ACTONFrom the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
LORD ACTONThe 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