Lord Acton

English historian and politician, 1834–1902. 1 explained quote.

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“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Lord Acton · 1887

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“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Lord Acton · Letter to Mandell Creighton · 1887 · Writer

Acton's argument that historians should not excuse popes and kings because of their office. He wrote “tends to” corrupt, a qualification usually dropped.

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About Lord Acton

John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, known as Lord Acton, was an English historian, Liberal politician and Catholic writer. He was a close friend and adviser of Prime Minister William Gladstone and became Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge in 1895, where he planned the multi-volume Cambridge Modern History.

Acton read enormously and published relatively little, and he is remembered today mostly for one sentence from a private letter. His central concern was liberty, and he believed historians had a duty to judge the powerful by the same moral standards as everyone else.