Quote #16

It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist.

Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

More from John Acton

  1. In ancient times the State absorbed authorities not its own, and intruded on the domain of personal freedom. In the Middle Ages it possesse…
  2. Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means …
  3. By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes his duty against the influence of authority and…
  4. It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for the acts o…
  5. At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating th…
  6. The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by for…
  7. Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime...
  8. Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.

All John Acton quotes