I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power...power tends… — Lord Acton Copy Share Image
The principle of the Inquisition was murderous. . . . The popes were not only murderers in the great style, but they also made murder a legal basis of the Christian Church and a condition of salvation. — 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
