Lord Acton Quotes
False principles, which correspond with the bad as well as with the just aspirations of mankind, are a normal and necessary element in the social life of nations.
Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg. The History of Freedom and Other Essays. Edited by John Neville Figgis and Reginald Vere Laurence, Macmillan and Co., 1907.
Many historians and political scientists believe that there was no time in American History where there was a general consensus of values and political outlook. In each generation there are those who nostalgically looked to the past erroneously thinking that there was more uniformity of belief then.
In America we do not have an official church that can morally speak for the society as a whole. As a result, we often use the law to make a moral statement even if the law is rarely enforced like prostitution. Sometimes we hear the expression, “There ought to be a law” as that is the only way we can express a societal moral value.
John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He was the only son of Sir Ferdinand Dalberg-Acton, 7th Baronet, and a grandson of the Neapolitan admiral and prime minister Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet. Between 1837 and 1869 he was known as Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Baronet.
