A generous spirit prefers that his country should be poor, and weak, and of no account, but free, rather than powerful, prosperous,… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
The wisdom of divine rule appears not in the perfection but in the improvement of the world... History is the true demonstration… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Fanaticism in religion is the alliance of the passions she condemns with the dogmas she professes. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
“Of all conceivable things that which is most alien to their spirit is to sacrifice any distinct interest or particular right to… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime... — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Piety sometimes gives birth to scruples, and faith to superstition, when they are not directed by wisdom and knowledge. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
The principle of the Inquisition was murderous. . . . The popes were not only murderers in the great style, but they… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
When the last of the Reformers died, religion, instead of emancipating the nations, had become an excuse for the criminal art of… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime, from the sowing of the… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
The barbarians, who possessed no books, no secular knowledge, no education, except in the schools of the clergy, and who had scarcely… — 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
