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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.

Lord Acton

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More quotes by Lord Acton

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Machiavelli's teaching would hardly have stood the test of Parliamentary government, for public discussion demands at least the profession of good faith.
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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.
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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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The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
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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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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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Progress, the religion of those who have none.
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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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Property is not the sacred right. When a rich man becomes poor it is a misfortune, it is not a moral evil. When a poor man becomes destitute, it is a moral evil, teeming with consequences and injurious to society and morality.
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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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Liberty is the harmony between the will and the law.
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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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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.
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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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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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At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities.
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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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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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Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers.
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Before men can find peace and harmony within themselves they must first fall in love with their country.
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