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Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.

Lord Acton

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Lord Acton
Always
Despotic
Accompanied
Corruption
Morality
Power

More quotes by Lord Acton

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Socialism means slavery.
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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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At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating themselves with auxiliaries whose objects often differed from their own and this association, which is always dangerous, has sometimes been disastrous.
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Political differences essentially depend on disagreement in moral principles.
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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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There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men. Imagine a congress of eminent celebrities, such as More, Bacon, Grotius, Pascal, Cromwell, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Jefferson, Napoleon, Pitt, etc. The result would be an Encyclopedia of Error.
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I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.
Lord Acton
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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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From the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
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If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh.
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In every age its (liberty's) progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man's craving for power, and the poor man's craving for food
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The few have not strength to achieve great changes unaided the many have not wisdom to be moved by truth unmixed.
Lord Acton
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Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
Lord Acton
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Progress, the religion of those who have none.
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Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton
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The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.
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And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that.
Lord Acton
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History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.
Lord Acton
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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.
Lord Acton
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Liberty is the harmony between the will and the law.
Lord Acton