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Character
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Guard against the prestige of great names; see that your judgments are your own; and do not shrink from disagreement; no trusting without testing.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
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Democracy
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The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
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Ignorance & Stupidity
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There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
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Justice
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Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton, attributed, unverified
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Minorities
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The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton, The History of Freedom in Antiquity, 1877
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Opinion
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Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral laws are written on the table of eternity.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
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Oppression
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It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist. But from the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
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Power
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Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
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Procrastination
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A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
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Satisfaction
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To be able to look back upon one's past life with satisfaction is to live twice.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
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Secrets
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Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton, (attributed)
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Society
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The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
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Books by and about Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton