All John Acton Quotes
The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.
John Acton
60% of people like this quote
Far from being the product of a democratic revolution and of an opposition to English institutions, the constitution of the United States was the result of a powerful reaction against democracy, and in favor of the traditions of the mother country.
John Acton
59% of people like this quote
If the past has been an obstacle and a burden, knowledge of the past is the safest and the surest emancipation.
John Acton
57% of people like this quote
Liberty is the condition of duty, the guardian of conscience. It grows as conscience grows. The domains of both grow together. Liberty is safety from all hindrances, even sin. So that Liberty ends by being Free Will.
John Acton
56% of people like this quote
History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.
John Acton
52% of people like this quote
The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.
John Acton
52% of people like this quote
By a series of violent shocks, the nations in succession have struggled to shake off the Past, to reverse the action of Time and the verdict of success, and to rescue the world from the reign of the dead.
John Acton
52% of people like this quote
Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin.
John Acton
51% of people like this quote
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
John Acton
50% of people like this quote
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