Lord Acton Quotes

"Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end."
-Lord Acton in Freedom quotes.

"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 both deny that right is superior to authority."
-Lord Acton

"The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities."
-Lord Acton in Security quotes.

"Learn as much by writing as by reading."
-Lord Acton in Books quotes.

"There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it."
-Lord Acton

"A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times."
-Lord Acton

"Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity."
-Lord Acton

"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 latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist. But from the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason."
-Lord Acton

"The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern."
-Lord Acton

"There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion."
-Lord Acton

"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

"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the party that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections."
-Lord Acton