原文是:
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely
所谓的'lord acton's dictum', 下面一句更重要的话是:
"great men are almost always bad men'
原本是说教皇的权力,lord acton本人也是个catholic,原文并不是指无法check 和 balance, 而是指papal infallibility. 说文革很贴切,毛当时在中国是精神领袖,也是独裁者, 他的话就是教条。
顺便把他前面的话也告诉你:
"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. Great men are almost always bad men"
Lord Acton对民主的观察也极其深刻:
“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”