Lord Acton Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• Progress, the religion of those who have none.

  Lord Acton

  Progress

  11 Copy quote

• Government rules the present. Literature rules the future.

  Lord Acton

  Government, Literature

  6 Copy quote

• Be generous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with justice.

  Lord Acton

  Justice, Mercy, Temper

  6 Copy quote

• A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar.

  Lord Acton

  Liars, Men, Honest

  10 Copy quote

• A people averse to the institution of private property is without the first elements of freedom

  Lord Acton

  People, Elements, Firsts

  Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.247, VM eBooks

  7 Copy quote

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

  Lord Acton

  Made, Cases, Not Sure

  5 Copy quote

• At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating themselves with auxiliaries whose objects often differed from their own; and this association, which is always dangerous, has sometimes been disastrous.

  Lord Acton

  Triumph, Minorities, Association

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

  20 Copy quote

• Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites.

  Lord Acton

  Book, Delight

  Lord Acton (2016). “Lectures on Modern History: Great Event”, p.22, VM eBooks

  10 Copy quote

• 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

  10 Copy quote

• Far from being the product of a democratic revolution and of an opposition to English institutions, the constitution of the United States was the result of a powerful reaction against democracy, and in favor of the traditions of the mother country.

  Lord Acton

  Mother, Country, Powerful

  7 Copy quote

• The mills of God grind slowly.

  Lord Acton

  Grind, Retribution, Exactness

  28 Copy quote

• It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist. But from the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.

  Lord Acton

  Play, People, Minorities

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.36, Jazzybee Verlag

  16 Copy quote

• 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

  25 Copy quote

• 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.

  Lord Acton

  Christian, Style, Religion

  11 Copy quote

• Learn as much by writing as by reading.

  Lord Acton

  Spiritual, Reading, Writing

  "Lectures on Modern History". Book by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, sourcebooks.fordham.edu. 1906.

  11 Copy quote

• Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers.

  Lord Acton

  Numbers, Democracy, Aristocracy

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.42, Jazzybee Verlag

  4 Copy quote

• The true natural check on absolute democracy is the federal system, which limits the central government by the powers reserved, and the state governments by the powers they have ceded.

  Lord Acton

  Government, Democracy, Limits

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “Lectures on the French Revolution”, p.33, Jazzybee Verlag

  4 Copy quote

• For centuries it was never discovered that education was a function of the State, and the State never attempted to educate. But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power....When the revolutionary theory of government began to prevail, and Church and State found that they were educating for opposite ends and in a contradictory spirit, it became necessary to remove children entirely from the influence of religion.

  Lord Acton

  Children, Government, Opposites

  5 Copy quote

• In England Parliament is above the law. In America the law is above Congress.

  Lord Acton

  Law, America, England

  10 Copy quote

• The long term versus the short term argument is one used by losers.

  Lord Acton

  Sunset, Long, Loser

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  9 Copy quote

• 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

  Party, Men, Class

  4 Copy quote

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

  Lord Acton

  Tasks, Ends, My Time

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.71, Jazzybee Verlag

  6 Copy quote

• Live both in the future and the past. Who does not live in the past does not live in the future.

  Lord Acton

  Past, Doe

  8 Copy quote

• 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.

  13 Copy quote

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