Lord Acton Dalberg

There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men. . . .

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

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

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

The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.

Writers the most learned, the most accurate in details, and the soundest in tendency, frequently fall into a habit which can neither be cured nor pardoned - the habit of making history into the proof of their theories.

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.

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