36 Quotes by John Dalberg-Acton

By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes is his duty against the influence of authority and majorities, custom and opinion.

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.

Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.

I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.

There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.

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.

History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.

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

The long term versus the short term argument is one used by losers.