Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
There are many things the government cant do, many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
For centuries it was never discovered that education was a function of the State, and the State never attempted to educate. But… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
The form of government and the condition of society must always correspond. Social equality is therefore a postulate of pure democracy. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Machiavelli's teaching would hardly have stood the test of Parliamentary government, for public discussion demands at least the profession of good faith. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Federalism is the best curb on democracy. [It] assigns limited powers to the central government. Thereby all power is limited. It excludes… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Neither an enlightened philosophy, nor all the political wisdom of Rome, nor even the faith and virtue of the Christians availed against… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
A government does not desire its powers to be strictly defined, but the subjects require the line to be drawn with increasing… — 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
Government by idea tends to take in everything, to make the whole of society obedient to the idea. Spaces not so governed… — 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
Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
The true natural check on absolute democracy is the federal system, which limits the central government by the powers reserved, and the… — 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 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 Image
A liberal is only a bundle of prejudices until he has mastered, has understood, experienced the philosophy of Conservatism. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
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 Image
In England Parliament is above the law. In America the law is above Congress. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success. — 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 Heaven for… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word. — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
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 Image
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