Great men are almost always bad men.
Lord ActonRead
Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the significant influence of Greek culture on the development of Western civilization.
Lord Acton's quote suggests that nearly everything that shapes our world, whether it be art, science, language, or thought, has its roots in Greek culture and heritage. He highlights the foundational role that ancient Greece played in the development of various aspects of modern life, asserting that this cultural legacy is unparalleled except for the primal forces of nature.
Themes
GreekCultureInfluenceCivilizationHeritage
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of cultural heritage in shaping societies.
More from Lord Acton
All quotes βPower tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord ActonRead
Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
Lord ActonRead
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end...liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition...The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. ~ Every class is unfit to govern ... Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.
Lord ActonRead
Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.
Lord ActonRead
To develop and perfect and arm conscience is the great achievement of history.
Lord ActonRead
Similar quotes
These systems attempt to box God into a government confined within the perspective of man. Yet when humanity is used as the starting point for interpreting and interacting with God's creation, faulty theology and sociology emerge as mankind attempts to fashion God into the image of man.
Tony EvansRead
By definition, of course, we believe the person with a stigma is not quite human. On this assumption we exercise varieties of discrimination, through which we effectively, if often unthinkingly, reduce his life chances.
Erving GoffmanRead
When the emotional soul receives a wounding shock, the soul seems to recover as the body recovers. But this is only in appearance. Slowly, slowly the wound to the soul begins to make itself felt, like a bruise, which only slowly deepens its terrible ache, till it fills all the psyche. And when we think we have recovered and forgotten, it is then that the terrible after-effects have to be encountered at their worst.
D. H. LawrenceRead
It is a maxim among these lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind.
Jonathan SwiftRead
Because these wings are no longer wings to fly But merely vans to beat the air The air which is now thoroughly small and dry Smaller and dryer than the will Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still
T. S. EliotRead
Every person you look at, you can see the universe in their eyes, if you're really looking
George CarlinRead