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Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.

Lord Acton

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Lord Acton
Despotic
Accompanied
Corruption
Morality
Power
Always

More quotes by Lord Acton

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Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers.
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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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When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
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Political differences essentially depend on disagreement in moral principles.
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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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The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.
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The reward of history is that it releases and relieves us from present strife.
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Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin.
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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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The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
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Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty.
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It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others.
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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 common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.
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Progress, the religion of those who have none.
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The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority.
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A government does not desire its powers to be strictly defined, but the subjects require the line to be drawn with increasing precision.
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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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Remember that one touch of ill-nature makes the whole world kin.
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By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes to be his duty against the influences of authority and majorities, custom and opinion.
Lord Acton