A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.
Quote by Lord Acton about people, things
Quotes by Lord Acton
20 quotes by Lord Acton
Lord Acton, British Historian
Life period: 1834 - 1902
Origin country: United Kingdom
Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
Quote by Lord Acton about advertising, justice, secret, nothing, things
I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.
Quote by Lord Acton about money, artists, things
If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh.
Quote by Lord Acton about nothing
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
Quote by Lord Acton about end, liberty
Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it.
Quote by Lord Acton about day, end, nothing
Machiavelli's teaching would hardly have stood the test of Parliamentary government, for public discussion demands at least the profession of good faith.
Quote by Lord Acton about teaching, tests, faith, public, good, good luck
Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral laws are written on the table of eternity.
Quote by Lord Acton about eternity, fall, moral, change
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Quote by Lord Acton about power, absolute
Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.
Quote by Lord Acton about power, absolute, man, bad luck, bad
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.
Quote by Lord Acton about moral, consequences, morality, society, man, rightness
The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.
Quote by Lord Acton about danger
The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the party that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.
Quote by Lord Acton about democracy, force, police
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.
Quote by Lord Acton about evolution, ignorance, things
To be able to look back upon one's past life with satisfaction is to live twice.
Quote by Lord Acton about past, life
The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority.
Quote by Lord Acton about man, authority, rightness, duty, state, country, spirit
It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people to govern others. Every man is the best, the most responsible, judge of his own advantage.
Quote by Lord Acton about people, judges, man
