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Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.

Lord Acton

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Lord Acton
Political
Politician
Ends
Highest
Mean
Higher
Liberty
Wisdom
Politics
Freedom
Libertarian
Means
Capitalism

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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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Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.
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The State is competent to assign duties and draw the line between good and evil only in its immediate sphere. Beyond the limits of things necessary for its well-being, it can only give indirect help to fight the battle of life by promoting the influences which prevail against temptation--religion, education, and the distribution of wealth.
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History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.
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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.
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There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.
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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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It is dangerous, at any time, to multiply sources of weakness.
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At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities.
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The form of government and the condition of society must always correspond. Social equality is therefore a postulate of pure democracy.
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A man can be trusted only up to low-water mark.
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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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History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
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The principle of the Inquisition was murderous. . . . The popes were not only murderers in the great style, but they also made murder a legal basis of the Christian Church and a condition of salvation.
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When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
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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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Federalism is the best curb on democracy. [It] assigns limited powers to the central government. Thereby all power is limited. It excludes absolute power of the majority.
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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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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.
Lord Acton