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Lord Acton

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Famous Lord Acton Quotes

“Neither an enlightened philosophy, nor all the political wisdom of Rome, nor even the faith and virtue of the Christians availed against the incorrigible tradition of antiquity. Something was wanted, beyond all the gifts of reflection and experience - a faculty of self government and self control, developed like its language in the fibre of a nation, and growing with its growth.”

SelfPhilosophyGovernmentWantedChristianPoliticalLanguageNationsGrowthVirtueGrowingReflectionTraditionEnlightenedFacultyRomeSelf ControlAntiquitySelf-governmentIncorrigiblePolitical Wisdom
Author:Lord Acton
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“For centuries it was never discovered that education was a function of the State, and the State never attempted to educate. But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power....When the revolutionary theory of government began to prevail, and Church and State found that they were educating for opposite ends and in a contradictory spirit, it became necessary to remove children entirely from the influence of religion.”

ChildrenEndsStatesGovernmentSpiritFoundChurchInfluenceModernCenturyTheoryOppositesFunctionClaimsRevolutionaryRemoveEducateSovereignBehalfContradictoryChurch And StateAbsolutism
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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