标题：阿克顿勋爵
简介
  阿克顿勋爵阿克顿勋爵是19世纪英国知识界和政治生活中最有影响的人物之一。他是自由主义运动的重要人物。他担任过下院议员，在曾四次当选的著名首相威廉·尤尔特·格莱斯顿任内，他产生过重要的政治影响。1885-1902年任剑桥大学近代史教授，主编《剑桥近代史》。作为历史学家，他把历史探索的客观性与历史性研究中的道德判断结合起来；作为政治哲学家，他对个人自由以及促进与威胁个人自由的力量的有力分析，深刻影响了20世纪思想史。他的一些极具洞察力的名言深入人心，比如：
Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupt absolutely.
权力会产生腐败，绝对的权力，绝对会产生腐败。
Great men are almost always bad man.
伟人几乎总是坏人。
Socialism means slavery.
社会主义意味着奴隶制度。
传记
1834年，阿克顿勋爵生于那不勒斯（今意大利一部分）。祖父约翰·阿克顿爵士，第六代从男爵曾任那不勒斯首相。阿克顿之父斐迪南·达尔伯格-阿克顿爵士，第七代从男爵早逝。他的寡母嫁给利弗森勋爵，他的继父后来在格莱斯顿内阁任外交大臣。
约翰·阿克顿早年在沃里克郡奥斯科特学院就学，后去慕尼黑，师从德国天主教史学家利奥波德·冯·兰克，掌握了历史研究的新方法，他在欧洲和美国长期逗留，回国后任英国剑桥大学历史系教授。1859－1865年当选英国下议院议员。同时在1859-1864年任天主教月刊《徘徊者》主编，他与英国首相威廉·尤尔特·格莱斯顿关系密切，因而于1869年获得阿克顿男爵爵位，1892年格莱斯顿又推举他为维多利亚女王的宫廷侍从。
1878年他在《评论季刊》上发表欧洲民主的著名文章，1907年他发表了他1877年的两篇讲稿《古代自由史》和《基督教自由史》，这是他计划编写的《自由史》的一部分。1895年任剑桥大学近代史钦定讲座教授，他的就职演说《论历史研究》给剑桥大学留下深刻印象，他在剑桥讲述法国大革命史和近代史两门有价值的课程，1899-1900年开始编撰《剑桥近代史》这一历史著作，因这部巨著耗尽心力，中风而死。
名言
Famous sayings of Lord Acton:
1. “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
2. "Great men are almost always bad men." 
3. “The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.” 
4. “There is no worse heresy than the fact that the office sanctifies the holder of it.” 
5. “There is not a soul who does not have to beg alms of another, either a smile, a handshake, or a fond eye.” 
6. “The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.” 
7. “Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites.” 
8 "The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future." 
9. “[History is] not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.” 
10. “And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” 
11. "The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks." 
12. "The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern." 
13. "Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right to do what we ought." 
14. "There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men." 
15. "Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin."[5] 
16. "Socialism means slavery." 
17. "At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating themselves with auxiliaries whose objects differed from their own; and this association, which is always dangerous, has been sometimes disastrous, by giving to opponents just grounds of opposition." 
18. "There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success."