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John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton on Power

1834–1902 England

← All quotes by John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

3 quotes

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

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In every age its [liberty's] progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man's craving for power, and the poor man's craving for food.

The History of Freedom in Antiquity (1877)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.