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
It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others.
Great men are almost always bad men.
Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.
Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty.
Socialism means slavery.