John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton Quotes

#1. Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#2. The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#3. 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. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#4. The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#5. Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#6. The object of civil society is justice, not truth, virtue, wealth, knowledge, glory or power. Justice is followed by equality and liberty. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#7. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutley - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#8. When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#9. Everybody likes to get as much power as circumstances allow, and nobody will vote for a self-denying ordinance. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#10. Great men are almost always bad men. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#11. Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#12. Judge talent at its best but character at its worst. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#13. Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#14. Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#15. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#16. History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

#17. A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times. - Author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton