A History That Should Pursue

When The Last Of The Reformers Died, Religion, Instead Of Emancipating The Nations, Had Become An Excuse For The Criminal Art Of Despots. Calvin Preached, And Bellarmine Lectured; But Machiavelli Reigned.

The Epoch Of Doubt And Transition During Which The Greeks Passed From The Dim Fancies Of Mythology To The Fierce Light Of Science Was The Age Of Pericles, And The Endeavour To Substitute Certain Truth For The Prescriptions Of Impaired Authorities, Which Was Then Beginning To Absorb The Energies Of The Greek Intellect, Is The Grandest Movement In The Profane Annals Of Mankind, For To It We Owe, Even After The Immeasurable Progress Accomplished By Christianity, Much Of Our Philosophy And Far The Better Part Of The Political Knowledge We Possess.

The Strong Man With The Dagger Is Followed By The Weak Man With The Sponge.

Power Tends To Corrupt And Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. Great Men Are Almost Always Bad Men, Even When They Exercise Influence And Not Authority: Still More When You Superadd The Tendency Or The Certainty Of Corruption By Authority.

The Idea That The Object Of Constitutions Is Not To Confirm The Predominance Of Any Interest, But To Prevent It; To Preserve With Equal Care The Independence Of Labour And The Security Of Property; To Make The Rich Safe Against Envy, And The Poor Against Oppression, Marks The Highest Level Attained By The Statesmanship Of Greece.