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Quote#Politics & Power

We understand the work and place of Pascal, or Newton, or…

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

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Letter to Mary Gladstone (Mar 15, 1880) Letters of Lord Acton to Mary Gladstone (1905) ed., , p. 99..

English (original)

We understand the work and place of Pascal, or Newton, or Montesquieu, or Adam Smith, when we have measured the gap between the state of astronomy, of political economy, &c., before they came and after they were gone. And the progress of the science is of more use to us than the idiosyncrasy of the man.

— John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

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