Lord Acton Quotes: top 77 famous quotes about Lord Acton

Lord Acton Quotes & Sayings

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There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success. — Lord Acton

A history that should pursue all the subtle threads from end to end might be eminently valuable, but not as a tribute to peace and conciliation. — Lord Acton

Liberty has not only enemies which it conquers, but perfidious friends, who rob the fruits of its victories: Absolute democracy, socialism. — Lord Acton

Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority. — Lord Acton

I have reached the end of my time, and have hardly come to the beginning of my task. — Lord Acton

I found bossing other people about such a delightful novelty that I had to remind myself of Lord Acton's famous axiom about its tendency to corrupt. — Victoria Clayton

Good and evil lie close together. Seek no artistic unity in character. — Lord Acton

Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force. — Lord Acton

Learn as much by writing as by reading.
-Lord Acton — N.a.

Advice to Persons About to Write History - Don't. — Lord Acton

It is dangerous, at any time, to multiply sources of weakness. — Lord Acton

Live both in the future and the past. Who does not live in the past does not live in the future. — Lord Acton

Guard against the prestige of great names; see that your judgments are your own; and do not shrink from disagreement; no trusting without testing — Lord Acton

The long term versus the short term argument is one used by losers. — Lord Acton

We are not sure we are right until we have made the best case possible for those who are wrong. — Lord Acton

Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty. — Lord Acton

Those who have more power are liable to sin more; no theorem in geometry is more certain than this. — Lord Acton

It is very easy to speak words of wisdom from a comfortable distance, when one sees no reality, no details, none of the effect on men's minds. — Lord Acton

The few have not strength to achieve great changes unaided; the many have not wisdom to be moved by truth unmixed. — Lord Acton

A liberal is only a bundle of prejudices until he has mastered, has understood, experienced the philosophy of Conservatism. — Lord Acton

Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers. — Lord Acton

Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word. — Lord Acton

To develop and perfect and arm conscience is the great achievement of history. — Lord Acton

Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime ... — Lord Acton

I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money. — Lord Acton

History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions. — Lord Acton

A people averse to the institution of private property is without the first elements of freedom — Lord Acton

Government rules the present. Literature rules the future. — Lord Acton

In England Parliament is above the law. In America the law is above Congress. — Lord Acton

Remember that one touch of ill-nature makes the whole world kin. — 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

The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality. — Lord Acton

Towns were the nursery of freedom. — Lord Acton

Every class is unfit to govern. — Lord Acton

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

The reward of history is that it releases and relieves us from present strife. — Lord Acton

Democracy generally monopolizes and concentrates power. — Lord Acton

The will of the people cannot make just that which is unjust. — Lord Acton

The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities. — Lord Acton

Piety sometimes gives birth to scruples, and faith to superstition, when they are not directed by wisdom and knowledge. — Lord Acton

Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality. — Lord Acton

It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others. — Lord Acton

No public character has ever stood the revelation of private utterance and correspondence. — Lord Acton

Fanaticism in religion is the alliance of the passions she condemns with the dogmas she professes. — Lord Acton

To be able to look back upon one's past life with satisfaction is to live twice. — Lord Acton

Progress, the religion of those who have none. — Lord Acton

Feudalism made land the measure and the master of all things. — Lord Acton

Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited. — Lord Acton

Socialism easily accepts despotism. It requires the strongest execution of power
power sufficient to interfere with property. — Lord Acton

A government does not desire its powers to be strictly defined, but the subjects require the line to be drawn with increasing precision. — Lord Acton

Be generous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with justice. — Lord Acton

There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men. — Lord Acton

The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding. — Lord Acton

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern. — Lord Acton

History is not only a particular branch of knowledge, but a particular mode and method of knowledge in other branches. — Lord Acton

Horace Greeley pursues temperance to extravagance." Lord Acton — Harold Holzer

There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. — Lord Acton

There should be a law to the People besides its own will. — Lord Acton

The mills of God grind slowly. — Lord Acton

Socialism means slavery. — Lord Acton

Self-preservation and self-denial: the basis of all political economy. — Lord Acton

Judge talent at its best and character at its worst. — Lord Acton

Many men can no more be kept straight by spiritual motives than we can live without policemen. — Lord Acton

Liberty is the harmony between the will and the law. — Lord Acton

The finest opportunity ever given to the world was thrown away because the passion of equality made vain the hope for freedom. — Lord Acton

The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge. — 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

If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh. — Lord Acton

Many things are better for silence than for speech: others are better for speech than for stationery. — Lord Acton

Do not turn yourself from an end into a means-one does not justify the other. — Lord Acton

A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar. — Lord Acton

Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin. — Lord Acton

A man can be trusted only up to low-water mark. — Lord Acton

Official truth is not actual truth. — Lord Acton

Before men can find peace and harmony within themselves they must first fall in love with their country. — Lord Acton

Ink was not invented to express our real feelings. — Lord Acton

Every error pronounces judgment on itself when it attempts to apply its rules to the standard of truth. — Lord Acton