John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton Quotes

• When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Truth

• Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity.

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Philosophy

• To be able to look back upon one’s past life with satisfaction is to live twice.

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Action

• There is not a soul who does not have to beg alms of another, either a smile, a handshake, or a fond eye.

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Smile, Soul

  Tags in Either, Beg

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

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Tags in Errors

• The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Experience, Knowledge

  Tags in Deposited, Grains, Gold

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

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Losers, Argument

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

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Issue, People, Bank

• Socialism means slavery.

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Tags in Socialism

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

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Government, Hardly, Profession, Parliamentary, Faith, Teaching

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

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Power

  Tags in Liberty, Right

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

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Today, Sigh, Catastrophe

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

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in History, Memory, Soul

  Tags in Burden, Illumination

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

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Content, Seek, Favourites, Book

• 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.

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in History, Power

  Tags in Mentality, Concentration, Men

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

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Country

  Tags in Minorities, Security

• The greatest men, you can quote for everything.

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Greatest, Everything

• The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Tags in Authority, Tradition, Restraints, Opposite, Legality

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

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Origin, Greek, Moves, Wild

• Liberty is the condition of duty, the guardian of conscience. It grows as conscience grows. The domains of both grow together. Liberty is safety from all hindrances, even sin. So that Liberty ends by being Free Will.

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Liberty, Ends, Safety, Guardian, Conscience

John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (39)

Birth:	10th January, 1834
Death:	19th June, 1902
Nationality:	British
Profession:	Historian, Politician

About

John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton was born in Naples, Italy. He was an English Catholic historian, politician and author. From 1837 to 1869 he was known as Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Baronet. He studied at the University of Munich. He was a professor of Modern History at Cambridge University from 1895-1902. He was a Member of Parliament for Carlow Borough, and for Bridgnorth. He wrote several books include: Lectures on Modern History, The History of Freedom, Historical Essays and Studies, Lectures on the French Revolution, A Lecture on the Study of History, and The Cambridge Modern History.

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