Best Lord Acton Sayings
- Progress, the religion of those who have none. Funny
- Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites. Best
- It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others. Easier
- It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of… Absolute
- Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances. Age
- A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar. Convinced
- A public man has no right to let his actions be determined by particular interests. He does the same thing as a judge who accepts… Accepting
- The true natural check on absolute democracy is the federal system, which limits the central government by the powers reserved, and the state governments by… Absolute
- Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. It is not for the sake of a… Administration
- Liberty is the harmony between the will and the law. Harmony
- Liberty has not only enemies which it conquers, but perfidious friends, who rob the fruits of its victories: Absolute democracy, socialism. Absolute
- I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo, Deeply
- Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty. Bad
- Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality. Accompanied
- Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force. Authority
- There are many things the government cant do, many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It cannot… Cannot Convert
- Guard against the prestige of great names; see that your judgments are your own; and do not shrink from disagreement; no trusting without testing Disagreement
- In every age its (liberty's) progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of… Age
- 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.… Absolute
- The finest opportunity ever given to the world was thrown away because the passion of equality made vain the hope for freedom. Equality
- At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating themselves with… All
- Democracy generally monopolizes and concentrates power. Concentrates
- The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They… Any
- Government by idea tends to take in everything, to make the whole of society obedient to the idea. Spaces not so governed are unconquered, beyond… Beyond
- The history of institutions is often a history of deception and illusions; for their virtue depends on the ideas that produce and on the spirit… Deception