Lord Acton Quotes

9 quotes from 9 authors

Lord Acton’s line about power still sparks debate, and these nine reflections capture the core of that argument. Each voice offers a take on how authority can corrupt, while some hint at ideas about liberty and rights. If you want deeper political philosophy or libertarian thought, the adjacent pages offer richer material.

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I see the liberty of the individual not only as a great moral good in itself (or, with Lord Acton, as the…

Murray Rothbard

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“In other words, ideas, when implemented, turn into precedents with unpredictable and potentially disturbing consequences. As the British historian and politician Lord…

Sarah Vowell

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“Although we had been warned by some of the greatest political thinkers of the nineteenth century, by Tocqueville and Lord Acton, that…

Friedrich Hayek

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What chiefly concerns and alarms many of us are the problems arising from religious fanaticism. As long as large numbers of militant…

Anthony Storr

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We're taught Lord Acton's axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I…

Robert Caro

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“GLAAD's original mission was certainly admirable. Gays and lesbians, who had long endured the cold shoulder of a disapproving society, finally had…

Tammy Bruce

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“If women were as libidinous as men, we’re told, society itself would collapse. Lord Acton was only repeating what everyone knew in…

Christopher Ryan

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“I believe in political equality. But there are two opposite reasons for being a democrat. You may think all men so good…

C.S. Lewis

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“The fact is that libertarianism is not and does not pretend to be a complete moral or aesthetic theory; it is only…

Murray N. Rothbard

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