English - Historian | January 10, 1834 - June 19, 1902
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
John Dalberg-Acton
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The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.
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A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.
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To be able to look back upon one's past life with satisfaction is to live twice.
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Liberty is the condition of duty, the guardian of conscience. It grows as conscience grows. The domains of both grow together. Liberty is safety from all hindrances, even sin. So that Liberty ends by being Free Will.
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The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.
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Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral laws are written on the table of eternity.
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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.
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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.
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The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.
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There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.
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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.
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