Quote#Self
Nationality is the great carrier of custom, of unreflecting habit and…
Quote byJohn Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton · 1834–1902
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Letter to William Ewart Gladstone (18 February 1888), quoted in J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence (eds.), Selections from the Correspondence of the First Lord Acton, Vol. I (1917), p. 182.
English (original)
Nationality is the great carrier of custom, of unreflecting habit and transmitted ideas that quench individuality. Conscience gives men force to resist and discard all this. Nationality has to be dealt with discriminatingly. It is not always liberal or constructive. It may be as dangerous when its boundary is outside that of the State as salutary when inside.
— John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton
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