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Quote#Politics & Power

This idea completely inverted the notion of human authority, for it…

Quote byJohn Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton · 1834–1902

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The History of Freedom in Antiquity (1877).

English (original)

this idea completely inverted the notion of human authority, for it inaugurated the reign of moral influence... Government by consent superseded government by compulsion, and the pyramid which had stood on a point was made to stand upon its base.

— John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

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