Lord Acton Quotes

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.

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.

The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.

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

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.

Official truth is not actual truth.

There are many things the government cant do, many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It cannot feed the people. It cannot enrich the people. It cannot teach the people. It cannot convert the people.

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

Socialism means slavery.

A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.

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

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

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

When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.

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

Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.

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

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

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

The true guide of our conduct is no outward authority, but the voice of God, who comes down to dwell in our souls, who knows all our thoughts, to whom are owing all the truth we know, and all the good we do; for vice is voluntary, and virtue comes from the grace of the heavenly spirit within.

There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion.

Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity.

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

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