Machiavelli's teaching would hardly have stood the test of parliamentary government, for public discussion demands at least the profession of good fa… - John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

We must not pursue science for ends independent of science. It must be pursued for its own sake, and must lead to its own results.

[W]e are not so much concerned this evening with the dead letter of edicts and of statutes as with the living thoughts of men.

From this universal degradation the world was rescued by the most gifted of the nations. Athens, which like other cities was distracted and oppressed by a privileged class, avoided violence and appointed Solon to revise its laws. ...Solon gave a share of power proportioned to the demands made on their resources. The poorest classes were exempt from direct taxes, but were excluded from office. Solon gave them a voice in electing magistrates from the classes above them, and the right of calling them to account. This concession... was the beginning of a mighty change. It introduced the idea that a man ought to have a voice in selecting those to whose rectitude and wisdom he is compelled to trust his fortune, his family, and his life. And this idea completely inverted the notion of human authority, for it inaugurated the reign of moral influence... Government by consent superseded government by compulsion, and the pyramid which had stood on a point was made to stand upon its base. By making every citizen the guardian of his own interest Solon admitted the element of Democracy into the State.