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 ACTONAuthority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
More Lord Acton Quotes
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Government rules the present. Literature rules the future.
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The minority can seldom resist. But from the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
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Every class is unfit to govern.
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Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end…liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition…
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Be generous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with justice.
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Official truth is not actual truth.
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History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.
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Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word.
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The true natural check on absolute democracy is the federal system, which limits the central government by the powers reserved, and the state governments by the powers they have ceded.
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Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.
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Democracy generally monopolizes and concentrates power.
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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.
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No public character has ever stood the revelation of private utterance and correspondence.
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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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There should be a law to the People besides its own will.
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False principles, which correspond with the bad as well as with the just aspirations of mankind, are a normal and necessary element in the social life of nations.
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Great men are almost always bad men.
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Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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The long term versus the short term argument is one used by losers.
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There are many things the government cant do, many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It cannot feed the people. It cannot enrich the people. It cannot teach the people. It cannot convert the people.
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History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.
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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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Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
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There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success.
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Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity.
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A liberal is only a bundle of prejudices until he has mastered, has understood, experienced the philosophy of Conservatism.
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