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The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.

Lord Acton

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Lord Acton
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The idea that the object of constitutions is not to confirm the predominance of any interest, but to prevent it to preserve with equal care the independence of labour and the security of property to make the rich safe against envy, and the poor against oppression, marks the highest level attained by the statesmanship of Greece.
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Fanaticism displays itself in the masses but the masses were rarely fanaticised and the crimes ascribed to it were commonly due to the calculations of dispassionate politicians.
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When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
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From the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
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Many things are better for silence than for speech: others are better for speech than for stationery.
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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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History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.
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The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.
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Many men can no more be kept straight by spiritual motives than we can live without policemen.
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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.
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Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. It is not for the sake of a good public administration that it is required, but for the security in the pursuit of the highest objects of civil society, and of private life.
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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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Socialism easily accepts despotism. It requires the strongest execution of power -- power sufficient to interfere with property.
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It is dangerous, at any time, to multiply sources of weakness.
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Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers.
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If the past has been an obstacle and a burden, knowledge of the past is the safest and the surest emancipation.
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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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Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
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There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.
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Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton