Lord Acton Quotes - Page 4

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• In England Parliament is above the law. In America the law is above Congress.

  Lord Acton

  Law, America, England

  10 Copy quote

• The long term versus the short term argument is one used by losers.

  Lord Acton

  Sunset, Long, Loser

  7 Copy quote

• I have reached the end of my time, and have hardly come to the beginning of my task.

  Lord Acton

  Tasks, Ends, My Time

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.71, Jazzybee Verlag

  6 Copy quote

• Before God, there is neither Greek nor barbarian, neither rich nor poor, and the slave is as good as his master, for by birth all men are free; they are citizens of the universal commonwealth which embraces all the world, brethren of one family, and children of God.

  Lord Acton

  Children, Men, Greek

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.46, Jazzybee Verlag

  5 Copy quote

• Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end...liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition...The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. ~ Every class is unfit to govern ... Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

  Lord Acton

  Mean, Men, Class

  "The History of Freedom in Antiquity". Book by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1907.

  13 Copy quote

• Liberty is the harmony between the will and the law.

  Lord Acton

  Law, Liberty, Harmony

  6 Copy quote

• Live both in the future and the past. Who does not live in the past does not live in the future.

  Lord Acton

  Past, Doe

  8 Copy quote

• Every class is unfit to govern.

  Lord Acton

  Class

  "Letters of Lord Acton to Mary Gladstone". Book by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1913.

  7 Copy quote

• History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not on opinions.

  Lord Acton

  History, Opinion, Disputes

  Lord Acton (2016). “Lectures on Modern History: Great Event”, p.16, VM eBooks

  4 Copy quote

• That great political idea, sanctifying freedom and consecrating it to God, teaching men to treasure the liberties of others as their own and to defend them for the love of justice and charity more than as a claim of right, has been the soul of what is great and good in the progress of the last two hundred years.

  Lord Acton

  Teaching, Men, Years

  Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.47, VM eBooks

  4 Copy quote

• Fanaticism in religion is the alliance of the passions she condemns with the dogmas she professes.

  Lord Acton

  Passion, Alliances, Dogma

  11 Copy quote

• Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.

  Lord Acton

  Age, Moral, Circumstances

  11 Copy quote

• A liberal is only a bundle of prejudices until he has mastered, has understood, experienced the philosophy of Conservatism.

  Lord Acton

  Philosophy, Prejudice, Bundles

  9 Copy quote

• The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.

  Lord Acton

  Strong, Men, Weak Man

  12 Copy quote

• The law of liberty tends to abolish the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of class over class. It is not the realisation of a political ideal: it is the discharge of a moral obligation.

  Lord Acton

  Race, Law, Class

  "Letters of Lord Acton to Mary Gladstone". Book by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1913.

  4 Copy quote

• When the last of the Reformers died, religion, instead of emancipating the nations, had become an excuse for the criminal art of despots. Calvin preached, and Bellarmine lectured; but Machiavelli reigned.

  Lord Acton

  Art, Criminals, Lasts

  Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.39, VM eBooks

  4 Copy quote

• No public character has ever stood the revelation of private utterance and correspondence.

  Lord Acton

  Character, Utterance, Revelations

  Lord Acton (2016). “Historical Essays and Studies: Great Event”, p.449, VM eBooks

  18 Copy quote

• The idea that the object of constitutions is not to confirm the predominance of any interest, but to prevent it; to preserve with equal care the independence of labour and the security of property; to make the rich safe against envy, and the poor against oppression, marks the highest level attained by the statesmanship of Greece.

  Lord Acton

  Ideas, Envy, Independence

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.35, Jazzybee Verlag

  5 Copy quote

• Ink was not invented to express our real feelings.

  Lord Acton

  Real, Feelings, Ink

  6 Copy quote

• Many things are better for silence than for speech: others are better for speech than for stationery.

  Lord Acton

  Silence, Speech, Stationery

  5 Copy quote

• 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 that preserves them, and the form may remain unaltered when the substance has passed away.

  Lord Acton

  Ideas, Deception, Substance

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.28, Jazzybee Verlag

  4 Copy quote

• I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.

  Lord Acton

  Beautiful, Funny Inspirational, Business

  13 Copy quote

• Good and evil lie close together. Seek no artistic unity in character.

  Lord Acton

  Lying, Character, Evil

  4 Copy quote

• Property is not the sacred right. When a rich man becomes poor it is a misfortune, it is not a moral evil. When a poor man becomes destitute, it is a moral evil, teeming with consequences and injurious to society and morality.

  Lord Acton

  Men, Evil, Sacred

  12 Copy quote

• I exhort you never to debase the moral currency or to lower the standard of rectitude, but to try others by the final maxim that governs your own lives, and to suffer no man and no cause to escape the undying penalty which history has the power to inflict on wrong.

  Lord Acton

  Men, Suffering, Trying

  Lord Acton (2016). “Lectures on Modern History: Great Event”, p.22, VM eBooks

  4 Copy quote

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