Lord Acton
Lord Acton
John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO DL—known as Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Baronet from 1837 to 1869 and usually referred to simply as Lord Acton—was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He was the only son of Sir Ferdinand Dalberg-Acton, 7th Baronet and a grandson of the Neapolitan admiral Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet. He is perhaps best known for the remark, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth10 January 1834
I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power...power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Fanaticism in religion is the alliance of the passions she condemns with the dogmas she professes.
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.
Liberty has not only enemies which it conquers, but perfidious friends, who rob the fruits of its victories: Absolute democracy, socialism.
Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.
Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.
There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.
It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.
The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.
Federalism is the best curb on democracy. [It] assigns limited powers to the central government. Thereby all power is limited. It excludes absolute power of the majority.
The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.
A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.
History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.