---
title: "Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are … — John Acton Quote #17 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means to a highe… — a quote by John Acton."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. It is not for the sake of a good public administration that it is required, but for security in the pursuit of the highest objects of civil society, and of private life. Increase of freedom in the State may sometimes promote mediocrity, and give vitality to prejudice; it may even retard useful legislation, diminish the capacity for war, and restrict the boundaries of Empire.

[John Acton](https://quotesby.net/John-Acton)\#17[WhatsApp (opens in a new tab)](https://wa.me/?text=%E2%80%9CLiberty%20and%20good%20government%20do%20not%20exclude%20each%20other%3B%20and%20there%20are%20excellent%20reasons%20why%20they%20should%20go%20together.%20Liberty%20is%20not%20a%20means%20to%20a%20higher%20political%20end.%20It%20is%20itself%20the%20highest%20political%20end.%20It%20is%20not%20for%20the%20sake%20of%20a%20good%20public%20administration%20that%20it%20is%20required%2C%20but%20for%20security%20in%20the%20pursuit%20of%20the%20highest%20objects%20of%20civil%20society%2C%20and%20of%20private%20life.%20Increase%20of%20freedom%20in%20the%20State%20may%20sometimes%20promote%20mediocrity%2C%20and%20give%20vitality%20to%20prejudice%3B%20it%20may%20even%20retard%20useful%20legislation%2C%20diminish%20the%20capacity%20for%20war%2C%20and%20restrict%20the%20boundaries%20of%20Empire.%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%94%20John%20Acton%20https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FJohn-Acton%2F17%2F)[X (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%E2%80%9CLiberty%20and%20good%20government%20do%20not%20exclude%20each%20other%3B%20and%20there%20are%20excellent%20reasons%20why%20they%20should%20go%20together.%20Liberty%20is%20not%20a%20means%20to%20a%20higher%20political%20end.%20It%20is%20itself%20the%20highest%20political%20end.%20It%20is%20not%20for%20the%20sake%20of%20a%20good%20public%20administration%20that%20it%20is%20required%2C%20but%20for%20security%20in%20the%20pursuit%20of%20the%20highest%20objects%20of%20civil%20society%2C%20and%20of%20private%20life.%20Increase%20of%20freedom%20in%20the%20State%20may%20sometimes%20promote%20mediocrity%2C%20and%20give%20vitality%20to%20prejudice%3B%20it%20may%20even%20retard%20useful%20legislation%2C%20diminish%20the%20capacity%20for%20war%2C%20and%20restrict%20the%20boundaries%20of%20Empire.%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%94%20John%20Acton&url=https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FJohn-Acton%2F17%2F)[Facebook (opens in a new tab)](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FJohn-Acton%2F17%2F)

## More from John Acton

1. > 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 ca…

[Permalink to quote \#16](https://quotesby.net/John-Acton/16/ "Permalink to quote 16")
2. > 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 of the State - ideas …

[Permalink to quote \#18](https://quotesby.net/John-Acton/18/ "Permalink to quote 18")
3. > In ancient times the State absorbed authorities not its own, and intruded on the domain of personal freedom. In the Middle Ages it possessed too little authori…

[Permalink to quote \#15](https://quotesby.net/John-Acton/15/ "Permalink to quote 15")

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "Quotation",
    "text": "Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. It is not for the sake of a good public administration that it is required, but for security in the pursuit of the highest objects of civil society, and of private life. Increase of freedom in the State may sometimes promote mediocrity, and give vitality to prejudice; it may even retard useful legislation, diminish the capacity for war, and restrict the boundaries of Empire.",
    "url": "https://quotesby.net/John-Acton/17/",
    "spokenByCharacter": {
        "@type": "Person",
        "name": "John Acton"
    }
}
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
    "itemListElement": [
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 1,
            "name": "Home",
            "item": "https://quotesby.net/"
        },
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 2,
            "name": "Authors",
            "item": "https://quotesby.net/authors/"
        },
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 3,
            "name": "John Acton",
            "item": "https://quotesby.net/John-Acton"
        },
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 4,
            "name": "Quote #17",
            "item": "https://quotesby.net/John-Acton/17/"
        }
    ]
}
```