Quote #1

There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion.

Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

More from John Acton

  1. Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publi…
  2. Whenever a single definite object is made the supreme end of the State, be it the advantage of a class, the safety of the power of the coun…
  3. Without presuming to decide the purely legal question, on which it seems evident to me from Madison's and Hamilton's papers that the Father…
  4. The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. The law of liberty tends to abolish the reign…
  5. There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men. Imagine a congress of eminent celebrities, such as Mor…
  6. I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they did not wrong. If th…
  7. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
  8. Liberty is the prevention of control by others. This requires self-control and, therefore, religious and spiritual influences; education, k…

All John Acton quotes