Whilst roamin in the gloamin of the internet I came upon an article in the New Criterion about Lord Acton's lectures on the French Revolution a subject of which i have made much study.
Lord Acton is mainly remembered today if at all for his taken out of context saying that "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutley." He had some more sayings that bear paying attention to.
"Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority"
“It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others.”
“A public man has no right to let his actions be determined by particular interests. He does the same thing as a judge who accepts a bribe. Like a judge he must consider what is right, not what is advantageous to a party or class.”
“Progress, the religion of those who have none.”
"Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right to do what we ought"
And this prophetic observation:
"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." Stalin,Hitler, Mao, Castro,Franco,Pol Pot.
1 comment:
Deep thoughts for a Friday!
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