Lord Acton Quotes About Liberty

Quotes about: Liberty

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

  Lord Acton

  Men, Liberty, Morality
• 

  Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  Lord Acton

  Inspirational, Leadership, Work

  Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 3 April 1887, in Louise Creighton 'Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton' (1904) vol. 1, ch. 13.

• Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.

  Lord Acton

  Liberty, Doe, Authority

  "Essays in the History of Liberty: Selected Writings of Lord Acton, 3 vols". Book by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1985-1988.

• It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.

  Lord Acton

  Freedom, Equality, Democracies Have

  Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.9, VM eBooks

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

  Lord Acton

  Enemy, Victory, Democracy

• Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.

  Lord Acton

  Wisdom, Freedom, Mean

  Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.19, VM eBooks

• Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.

  Lord Acton

  Mean, Government, Political

  Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.19, VM eBooks

• Liberty is the prevention of control by others. This requires self-control and, therefore, religious and spiritual influences; education, knowledge, well-being.

  Lord Acton

  Spiritual, Wisdom, Religious

  "Faith in Freedom: Libertarian Principles and Psychiatric Practices". Book by Thomas Stephen Szasz, 2004.

• Liberty is the harmony between the will and the law.

  Lord Acton

  Law, Liberty, Harmony

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

  Lord Acton

  Freedom, Passion, Opportunity

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

  Lord Acton

  Liberty, Deeds, Next

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.28, Jazzybee Verlag

• Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.

  Lord Acton

  Justice, Diversity, Challenges

• At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities.

  Lord Acton

  Liberty, Triumph, Minorities

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.28, Jazzybee Verlag

• 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

  Believe, Mean, Men

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.30, Jazzybee Verlag

• I saw in States' rights the only availing check upon the absolutism of the sovereign will, and secession filled me with hope, not as the destruction but as the redemption of Democracy.... Therefore I deemed that you were fighting the battles of our liberty, our progress, and our civilization, and I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo.

  Lord Acton

  Fighting, Rights, Civilization

• 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

  Lord Acton

  Wisdom, Strong, Ignorance

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.28, Jazzybee Verlag

• Liberty is the prevention of control by others.

  Lord Acton

  Liberty, Prevention

  "Faith in Freedom: Libertarian Principles and Psychiatric Practices". Book by Thomas Stephen Szasz, 2004.

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

  Lord Acton

  Liberty, Minorities, Tests

• The law of liberty tends to abolish the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of class over class. It is not the realisation of a political ideal: it is the discharge of a moral obligation.

  Lord Acton

  Race, Law, Class

  "Letters of Lord Acton to Mary Gladstone". Book by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1913.

• That great political idea, sanctifying freedom and consecrating it to God, teaching men to treasure the liberties of others as their own and to defend them for the love of justice and charity more than as a claim of right, has been the soul of what is great and good in the progress of the last two hundred years.

  Lord Acton

  Teaching, Men, Years

  Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.47, VM eBooks

• Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. It is not for the sake of a good public administration that it is required, but for the security in the pursuit of the highest objects of civil society, and of private life.

  Lord Acton

  Mean, Political, Liberty

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.45, Jazzybee Verlag

• Whenever a single definite object is made the supreme end of the State, be it the advantage of a class, the safety of the power of the country, the greatest happiness of the greatest number, or the support of any speculative idea, the State becomes for the time inevitably absolute. Liberty alone demands for its realization the limitation of the public authority, for liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition.

  Lord Acton

  Country, Class, Ideas

  Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.239, VM eBooks

• Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end...liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition...The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. ~ Every class is unfit to govern ... Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

  Lord Acton

  Mean, Men, Class

  "The History of Freedom in Antiquity". Book by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1907.

• Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime, from the sowing of the seed at Athens, 2,460 years ago, until the ripened harvest was gathered by men of our race. It is the delicate fruit of a mature civilization; and scarcely a century has passed since nations, that knew the meaning of the term, resolved to be free. In every age its 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.

  Lord Acton

  Strong, Ignorance, Men

  "The History of Freedom in Antiquity". Lord Acton's opening statement of his speech on February 28, 1877; later quoted in "The History of Freedom and Other Essays" edited by John Neville Figgis and Reginald Vere Laurence, 1907.

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