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Fanaticism displays itself in the masses but the masses were rarely fanaticised and the crimes ascribed to it were commonly due to the calculations of dispassionate politicians.

Lord Acton

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Lord Acton
Rarely
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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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Many men can no more be kept straight by spiritual motives than we can live without policemen.
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When the last of the Reformers died, religion, instead of emancipating the nations, had become an excuse for the criminal art of despots. Calvin preached, and Bellarmine lectured but Machiavelli reigned.
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Remember that one touch of ill-nature makes the whole world kin.
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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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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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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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Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.
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Socialism means slavery.
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Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
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It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others.
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A liberal is only a bundle of prejudices until he has mastered, has understood, experienced the philosophy of Conservatism.
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The form of government and the condition of society must always correspond. Social equality is therefore a postulate of pure democracy.
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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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Liberty is the harmony between the will and the law.
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The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.
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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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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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History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.
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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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