Lord Acton

“Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral laws are written on the table of eternity.”

“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.”

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

“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.”

“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.”

“History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.”

“If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh.”

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

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

“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

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

“There is not a soul who does not have to beg alms of another, either a smile, a handshake, or a fond eye.”

“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.”