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Lord Acton

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Famous Lord Acton Quotes

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

InspirationalPoliticalPoliticsLeadershipWorkLibertyLordPowerRightsPoliticianMoralityAuthorityAbsolutesCorruptionLibertarianLiberalismTyrantsFree MarketConservatismCarpe DiemFreedom And LibertyDespotismFreedom LibertyProperty RightsGreat PowerLimited GovernmentPresumptionAbuse Of PowerFree GovernmentLimiting GovernmentAbsolute PowerPower CorruptsLimited FreedomEternal VigilanceAbsolutismGovernment And SocietyToo Much PowerCorrupt GovernmentGovernment TyrannyPower GovernmentCorrupt PowerPower And CorruptionPower CorruptionAbsolute Power Corrupts AbsolutelyAuthority And Power
Author:Lord Acton
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“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.”

MenStillsGovernmentInfluenceExerciseAuthorityAbsolutesCorruptionTendenciesCertaintyGreat MenBad ManAbsolute PowerPower CorruptsCorrupt GovernmentCorrupt PowerPower And CorruptionPower CorruptionPower ManAbsolute Power Corrupts AbsolutelyAuthority And PowerInfluence And Power
Author:Lord Acton
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“Whenever a single definite object is made the supreme end of the State, be it the advantage of a class, the safety of the power of the country, the greatest happiness of the greatest number, or the support of any speculative idea, the State becomes for the time inevitably absolute. Liberty alone demands for its realization the limitation of the public authority, for liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition.”

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Book:The History of Freedom: Great Event
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“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.”

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Author:Lord Acton
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“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.”

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Book:The History of Freedom (and other Essays)
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