Quotes from Lord Acton

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 the border, unconverted, a future danger.

The form of government and the condition of society must always correspond. Social equality is therefore a postulate of pure democracy.

Many men can no more be kept straight by spiritual motives than we can live without policemen.

There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success.

False principles, which correspond with the bad as well as with the just aspirations of mankind, are a normal and necessary element in the social life of nations.

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

It is dangerous, at any time, to multiply sources of weakness.

Guard against the prestige of great names; see that your judgments are your own; and do not shrink from disagreement; no trusting without testing

Every error pronounces judgment on itself when it attempts to apply its rules to the standard of truth.

The few have not strength to achieve great changes unaided; the many have not wisdom to be moved by truth unmixed.

Imagine a congress of eminent celebrities such as More, Bacon, Grotius, Pascal, Cromwell, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Jefferson, Napoleon, Pitt, etc. They would be an Encyclopedia of Errors.

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

There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men. Imagine a congress of eminent celebrities such as More, Bacon, Grotius, Pascal, Cromwell, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Jefferson, Napoleon, Pitt, etc. The result would be an Encyclopedia of Errors.

There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

The wisdom of divine rule appears not in the perfection but in the improvement of the world... History is the true demonstration of Religion.

It is very easy to speak words of wisdom from a comfortable distance, when one sees no reality, no details, none of the effect on men's minds.

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

By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes to be his duty against the influences of authority and majorities, custom and opinion.

A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar.

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.

By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes his duty against the influence of authority and majorities, custom and opinion.

There are many things the government can't do, many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It cannot feed the people. It cannot enrich the people. It cannot teach the people. It cannot convert the people

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.

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