Quotes from Lord Acton

And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that.

Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin.

Machiavelli's teaching would hardly have stood the test of Parliamentary government, for public discussion demands at least the profession of good faith.

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.

And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangstersget control. History has proven that. All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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

Learn as much by writing as by reading.

The finest opportunity ever given to the world was thrown away because the passion of equality made vain the hope for freedom.

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.

The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.

It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.

Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right to do what we ought.

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