“Liberty becomes a question of morals more that politics.”
Selected Writings of Lord Acton, ed. J. Rufus Fears, 3 vols. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1985-88), 3:490
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John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton 112
British politician and historian 1834–1902Related quotes

Source: The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science (1962), Chapter 5: On Some Popular Errors Concerning the Scope and Method of Economics, § 10 : The Concept of a Perfect System of Government
Context: It is a double-edged makeshift to entrust an individual or a group of individuals with the authority to resort to violence. The enticement implied is too tempting for a human being. The men who are to protect the community against violent aggression easily turn into the most dangerous aggressors. They transgress their mandate. They misuse their power for the oppression of those whom they were expected to defend against oppression. The main political problem is how to prevent the police power from becoming tyrannical. This is the meaning of all the struggles for liberty.

2000s, Bush's Lincolnian Challenge (2002)

“The more you ask certain questions, the more dangerous they become.”
Source: The Judges

"Diary of a Political Scientist," http://www.slate.com/id/2094743/entry/2095060/ Slate (February 5, 2004).

“Either morality is a fable, or the more enlightened we are, the more attached to it we become.”
The Influence of Literature upon Society (De la littérature considérée dans ses rapports avec les istitutions sociales, 1800) , Pt. 2, ch. 4
Context: The evil arising from mental improvement can be corrected only by a still further progress in that very improvement. Either morality is a fable, or the more enlightened we are, the more attached to it we become.

Saturday Review, 29, 1865, p. 532
1860s

Letter to Mary Gladstone (1881)