John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton Quote

That great political idea, sanctifying freedom and consecrating it to God, teaching men to treasure the liberties of others as their own and to defend them for the love of justice and charity more than as a claim of right, has been the soul of what is great and good in the progress of the last two hundred years.

Essays on freedom and power: Selected, and with a new introduction (ed. 1964)