Thrown Away

The finest opportunity ever given to the world was thrown away because the passion for equality made vain the hope for freedom

Lord Acton (May 28th, 1877, An Address Delivered to the Members of the Bridgnorth Institute)

Exposing Foundations

Few discoveries are more irritating than those which expose the pedigree of ideas.

Lord Acton (1878)

Power

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

Lord Acton (expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887)