Acton

Quotes from John Dalberg-Acton, Baron Acton

(as pertinent now as ever)

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

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.

Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites.

The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.

Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.

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

There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.

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.

Universal History is ... not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.

There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success. [said of Oliver Cromwell]

The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.

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.

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

Work

Better

Yes, I do think I’m better than you
but I won’t say it out loud;
I’ll go about my virtuous ways
and quietly let you be wowed.
For I know I rise head and shoulders
above the common crowd;
my moral superiority
does make me rather proud!

Stephen Brooke ©2025

Indulging myself again with 'music hall' style light verse. To be taken however one wishes, as is all my work (and play, for that matter).

On the subject of work, the fourth Jack Mack science fiction novel, 'Blind Jump,' written under the Oliver Davis Pike pen name, is out today. Jack's adventures have been somewhat my focus this past year and that may continue a little while longer. Available from Arachis Press (arachispress.com) in print or as free ebooks.

Conceptual

A work of art must be able to stand on its own, with no knowledge of the concept behind it. One needn’t be in on the joke to appreciate it.

Mean Mary Band 10/25/2025

My niece 'Mean Mary' James in concert with her new band (but same old brother).

Averages

That men are taller than women is true — on average. But there are short men and tall women. Height is not an intrinsic characteristic of being male; one does not need to be tall to be a man.

So it is with all the other criteria we have come up with to define gender. The differences are all averages. ‘Masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ are societal constructs built around those averages. None of them are intrinsic to whom or what we are.

Not a one of them makes us more or less of a man or a woman.

Kid Stuff

I took a chance with writing* my first book, the Young Adult title, ‘The Middle of Nowhere,’ from the viewpoint of a fifteen year old. That is difficult (if not impossible) to pull off without embarrassing oneself at least a little. Or, as the currently popular term goes, of creating ‘cringe.’

I’m okay with the story. Sure, I can see all sorts of small changes I could make but it works overall. It took me longer to write than any that followed, as I was still feeling my way. So it was useful at least as a learning experience.

For a time, I thought I might write a sequel. That is not going to happen. However, some of the characters have shown up in other novels and stories, including my Cully Beach series.

Of course, it is true that one of my latest works was from the viewpoint of a twelve year old (and a girl, to boot). That would be ‘The City and the Sword.’ And it just might have a sequel.

*Not that one isn’t always taking a chance when sitting down to write!

Connections

As Taosim is a philosophy rather than a religion, I have no problem calling myself a Taoist Christian. I could apply the same label to Francis of Assisi.

The Taoist influences on his ideas — and those of late medieval Christianity in general — had filtered into Europe via Islamic thinkers and poets, particularly the Sufis. These, in turn, had been influenced by the the Taoist teachings and poetry of T’ang China.

Of course, ideas had always flowed both directions. The premodern world was much more connected than historians used to believe. No culture is unique; all have been touched by outside influences to some degree.

Medieval scholars might not have known the name Li Po nor any of the other T’ang poets, yet they were on the end of a chain of influences that led back to them. They are a part of our culture, just as were the Classical poets of the West.

And, in turn, Hellenistic Neo-Platonism and other philosophies of the West found their way eastward, to India, to China. Ideas are rather portable, you know?