158 Quotes by Lord Acton

The few have not strength to achieve great changes unaided; the many have not wisdom to be moved by truth unmixed.

Fanaticism in religion is the alliance of the passions she condemns with the dogmas she professes.

Liberty has not only enemies which it conquers, but perfidious friends, who rob the fruits of its victories: Absolute democracy, socialism.

There is no evidence to support the belief that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ever questioned Americas power. He questioned only the President's John F. Kennedys readiness to use it. Elie Abel, The Missile Crisis (1966) Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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

Those who have more power are liable to sin more; no theorem in geometry is more certain than this.

Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.

Fanaticism displays itself in the masses; but the masses were rarely fanaticised; and the crimes ascribed to it were commonly due to the calculations of dispassionate politicians.

It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.