Whenever a single definite object is made the supreme end of the State, be it the advantage of a class, the safety of the power of the country, the g… - John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

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Whenever a single definite object is made the supreme end of the State, be it the advantage of a class, the safety of the power of the country, the greatest happiness of the greatest number, or the support of any speculative idea, the State becomes for the time inevitably absolute. Liberty alone demands for its realisation the limitation of the public authority, for liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition.