Quote#Freedom
The Catholic notion, defining liberty not as the power of doing what…
Quote byJohn Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton · 1834–1902
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Roman Question. The Rambler (Jan, 1860) Vol. II, New Series, Part V, pp. 146-147. † Footnote: Nearly the earliest and clearest exponent of this doctrine is Spinoza, who says... "It is utterly inconceivable that each subject should be allowed by the constitution of the state to live according to .
English (original)
The Catholic notion, defining liberty not as the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought, denies that general interests can supersede individual rights. It condemns, therefore, the theory of the
— John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton
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According to the prevailing doctrine, which derives power from the people, and deposits it ultimately in their hands, the state is omnipotent over the individual, whose only remnant of freedom is then the participation in the exercise of …
it is always a delusive freedom, founded on a servitude more or less disguised.
Almost all that has been done for the good of the people has been done since the right lost the monopoly of power, since the rights of property were discovered to be not unlimited.
The English constitution was excellent until removed by foreign writers into the domain of theory, when in direct contradiction with its nature and origin it came to be admired as a common representative government.
We must not pursue science for ends independent of science. It must be pursued for its own sake, and must lead to its own results.
the state has been absolute on the Continent of Europe for the last 300 years.