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Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.

Lord Acton

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Lord Acton
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More quotes by Lord Acton

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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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To develop and perfect and arm conscience is the great achievement of history.
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Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.
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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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Every error pronounces judgment on itself when it attempts to apply its rules to the standard of truth.
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There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.
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The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.
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The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.
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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 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.
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There is not a soul who does not have to beg alms of another, either a smile, a handshake, or a fond eye.
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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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Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity.
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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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It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.
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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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The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
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The mills of God grind slowly.
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Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
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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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