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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

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More quotes by Lord Acton

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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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A government does not desire its powers to be strictly defined, but the subjects require the line to be drawn with increasing precision.
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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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The principle of the Inquisition was murderous. . . . The popes were not only murderers in the great style, but they also made murder a legal basis of the Christian Church and a condition of salvation.
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The mills of God grind slowly.
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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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Federalism is the best curb on democracy. [It] assigns limited powers to the central government. Thereby all power is limited. It excludes absolute power of the majority.
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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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The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
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To develop and perfect and arm conscience is the great achievement of history.
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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.
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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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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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Government rules the present. Literature rules the future.
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Advice to Persons About to Write History - Don't.
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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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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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Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
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Feudalism made land the measure and the master of all things.
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