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“Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime, from the sowing of the seed at Athens, 2,460 years ago, until the ripened harvest was gathered by men of our race. It is the delicate fruit of a mature civilization; and scarcely a century has passed since nations, that knew the meaning of the term, resolved to be free. In every age its progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man's craving for power, and the poor man's craving for food.”

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Author:Lord Acton
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“I saw in States' rights the only availing check upon the absolutism of the sovereign will, and secession filled me with hope, not as the destruction but as the redemption of Democracy.... Therefore I deemed that you were fighting the battles of our liberty, our progress, and our civilization, and I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo.”

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Author:Lord Acton
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“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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“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.”

MeanEndsWisdomPoliticalPoliticsFreedomLibertyHigherPoliticianHighestCapitalismLibertarianFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyPrivate PropertyProperty RightsLimited GovernmentFree GovernmentLibertarian PartyAbsolute PowerPolitical FreedomRoad To SerfdomAbsolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
Book:The History of Freedom: Great Event
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“That great political idea, sanctifying freedom and consecrating it to God, teaching men to treasure the liberties of others as their own and to defend them for the love of justice and charity more than as a claim of right, has been the soul of what is great and good in the progress of the last two hundred years.”

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Book:The History of Freedom: Great Event
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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.”

MadeIdeasEndsCountryStatesGovernmentNumbersLibertyClassSupportObjectsDemandAuthorityBenefitsAdvantageAbsolutesSafetySupremeRealizationLimitationOppositionSincereProvokingDefinite
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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“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. It is not for the sake of a good public administration that it is required, but for the security in the pursuit of the highest objects of civil society, and of private life.”

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Book:The History of Freedom (and other Essays)
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“In every age its (liberty's) progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man's craving for power, and the poor man's craving for food”

MenHas BeensWisdomAgePoliticsStrongNaturalPoorLibertyEnemyEconomyProgressIgnoranceLustEaseLiberalismSuperstitionsConquestCravingPoor ManStrong ManNatural Enemies
Book:The History of Freedom (and other Essays)
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