A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.
Lord Acton

And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that.
Lord Acton

Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites.
Lord Acton

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

History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
Lord Acton

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

If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh.
Lord Acton

Learn as much by writing as by reading.
Lord Acton

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

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


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

Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral laws are written on the table of eternity.
Lord Acton

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton

Property is not the sacred right. When a rich man becomes poor it is a misfortune, it is not a moral evil. When a poor man becomes destitute, it is a moral evil, teeming with consequences and injurious to society and morality.
Lord Acton

Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin.
Lord Acton

Socialism means slavery.
Lord Acton

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.
Lord Acton

The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.
Lord Acton

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