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Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.

Lord Acton

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Lord Acton
Truth
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I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.
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The wisdom of divine rule appears not in the perfection but in the improvement of the world... History is the true demonstration of Religion.
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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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When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
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Socialism means slavery.
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A generous spirit prefers that his country should be poor, and weak, and of no account, but free, rather than powerful, prosperous, and enslaved.
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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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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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Feudalism made land the measure and the master of all things.
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Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
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The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority.
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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.
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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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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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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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Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.
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I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power...power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.
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Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton