Lord Acton Quotes

Man must never be treated as a means to the end of the state, but always as an end within himself.

Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.

Love says respect the other as an end unto himself or herself; never use the other as a means. Nobody is a means for you, everybody is an end. But then ambition will flop, and our whole educational system depends on ambitiousness, our politics depends on ambition, our religions depend on ambition.

We are all equal in the sense that no man must mean - must be - the means for the purposes of another man; but each individual is an end in itself.

Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.

We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves.

The end justifies the means only when the means used are such as actually bring about the desired and desirable end.

Treating a person as a means to an end, and an end moreover which in this case is pleasure, the maximization of pleasure, will always stand in the way of love.

If the end is right, it justifies the beans!

The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means.

A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified.

Man exists for his own sake, and not to add a laborer to the State.

Human dignity is based upon freedom, and freedom upon human dignity. The one presupposes the other.

Our search for such [moral] principles can start with . . . the unconditional imperative to acknowledge every person as a person. If we ask for the contents given by this absolute, we find, first, something negative-the command not to treat a person as a thing. This seems little, but it is much. It is the core of the principle of justice.

Human dignity ... is derived from a sense of independence.

The peaker learns surely and certainly that life can be worthwhile, that it can be beautiful and valuable. There are ends in life, i.e., experiences which are so precious in themselves as to prove that not everything is a means to some end other than itself.

Real freedom isn't subject to how others estimate our value; it is in realizing that none are free who find their sense of worth wondering how others measure their lives.

I'm not a number. Dammit, I'm a man.

The ends justifies the means.

You become most powerful in whatever you do if the action is performed for its own sake rather than as a means to protect, enhance, or conform to your role identity.

My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.

Any humane and reasonable person must conclude that if the ends, however desireable, are uncertain and the means are horrible and certain, these means must not be employed.

People are not like a business. You can’t buy and sell them like so much property. You can’t lock them up in a vault and expect them to appreciate it.

When who you are and what you are is not decided by any external forces, then you are in dignity.

The attack on "selfishness" is an attack on man's self-esteem; to surrender one, is to surrender the other.