Quote

The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.

Lord Acton

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Lord Acton
Position
Security
Liberty
Minorities
Test
Tests

More quotes by Lord Acton

Image
Progress, the religion of those who have none.
Lord Acton
Image
Liberty has not only enemies which it conquers, but perfidious friends, who rob the fruits of its victories: Absolute democracy, socialism.
Lord Acton
Image
The passion for power over others can never cease to threaten mankind, and is always sure of finding new and unforseen allies in continuing its martyrology.
Lord Acton
Image
Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.
Lord Acton
Image
The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.
Lord Acton
Image
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
Lord Acton
Image
Many men can no more be kept straight by spiritual motives than we can live without policemen.
Lord Acton
Image
Government rules the present. Literature rules the future.
Lord Acton
Image
Feudalism made land the measure and the master of all things.
Lord Acton
Image
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.
Lord Acton
Image
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
Image
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
Image
History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.
Lord Acton
Image
The light that has guided us is still unquenched, and the causes that have carried us so far in the van of free nations have not spent their power because the story of the future is written in the past, and that which hath been is the same thing that shall be.
Lord Acton
Image
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.
Lord Acton
Image
History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.
Lord Acton
Image
It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.
Lord Acton
Image
From the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
Lord Acton
Image
When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
Lord Acton
Image
The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
Lord Acton