Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority... — 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
The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Judge not according to the orthodox standard of a system religious, philosophical, political, but according as things promote, or fail to promote… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes to be his duty against… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
The true guide of our conduct is no outward authority, but the voice of God, who comes down to dwell in our… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their business, and that the nation is responsible to… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Whenever a single definite object is made the supreme end of the State, be it the advantage of a class, the safety… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
The epoch of doubt and transition during which the Greeks passed from the dim fancies of mythology to the fierce light of… — 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
