William Ewart Gladstone on John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

“[Lord Acton's character] is of the first order, and he is one of the most learned and accomplished, though one of the most modest and unassuming, men of the day.”

“His work may be put on the Index; but that is all. They will never excommunicate an English Peer. I always say that, if Lord Acton had written what Döllinger has written, and vice versa, it would still have been the Professor who would have got into trouble, while the Peer would have escaped scot free.”