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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
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.
Lord Acton
There is not a soul who does not have to beg alms of another, either a smile, a handshake, or a fond eye.
Lord Acton
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 law of liberty tends to abolish the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of class over class. It is not the realisation of a political ideal: it is the discharge of a moral obligation.
Lord Acton
Machiavelli's teaching would hardly have stood the test of Parliamentary government, for public discussion demands at least the profession of good faith.
Lord Acton
The form of government and the condition of society must always correspond. Social equality is therefore a postulate of pure democracy.
Lord Acton
We are not sure we are right until we have made the best case possible for those who are wrong.
Lord Acton
Socialism easily accepts despotism. It requires the strongest execution of power -- power sufficient to interfere with property.
Lord Acton
Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin.
Lord Acton
Political differences essentially depend on disagreement in moral principles.
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Official truth is not actual truth.
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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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The reward of history is that it releases and relieves us from present strife.
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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.
Lord Acton
History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.
Lord Acton
Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty.
Lord Acton
Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.
Lord Acton
If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh.
Lord Acton
Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.
Lord Acton
Advice to Persons About to Write History - Don't.
Lord Acton