Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority...

History is not only a particular branch of knowledge, but a particular mode and method of knowledge in other branches.

Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Property is not the sacred right. When a rich man becomes poor it is a misfortune, it is not a moral evil. When a poor man becomes destitute, it is a moral evil, teeming with consequences and injurious to society and morality.

Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.