Absolute Power Demoralizes.

Neither An Enlightened Philosophy, Nor All The Political Wisdom Of Rome, Nor Even The Faith And Virtue Of The Christians Availed Against The Incorrigible Tradition Of Antiquity. Something Was Wanted, Beyond All The Gifts Of Reflection And Experience - A Faculty Of Self Government And Self Control, Developed Like Its Language In The Fibre Of A Nation, And Growing With Its Growth.

By Liberty I Mean The Assurance That Every Man Shall Be Protected In Doing What He Believes To Be His Duty Against The Influences Of Authority And Majorities, Custom And Opinion.

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.

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.

Truth Is The Only Merit That Gives Dignity And Worth To History.