Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority... — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end...liberty is the only object which… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
There is no evidence to support the belief that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ever questioned Americas power. He questioned only the President's… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
The history of institutions is often a history of deception and illusions; for their virtue depends on the ideas that produce and on the… — Lord Acton Copy Share
A liberal is only a bundle of prejudices until he has mastered, has understood, experienced the philosophy of Conservatism. — Lord Acton Copy Share
Fanaticism displays itself in the masses; but the masses were rarely fanaticised; and the crimes ascribed to it were commonly due to the calculations… — Lord Acton Copy Share
In England Parliament is above the law. In America the law is above Congress. — Lord Acton Copy Share
There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success. — Lord Acton Copy Share
It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for… — Lord Acton Copy Share
Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word. — Lord Acton Copy Share
Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means… — Lord Acton Copy Share
There are many things the government cant do, many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It… — Lord Acton Copy Share
