Lord Granville to Lord Canning (4 September 1859), quoted in Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, The Life of Granville George Leveson Gower, Second Earl Granville, K.G. 1815–1891, Vol. I (1905), p. 358
“

Johnny Acton, who is extremely agreeable, left us two or three days ago to go to Germany, with the intention of coming back to study in the middle of October. His library is becoming immense. He has remodelled the old library. He has entirely filled the hall; he has furnished his own room with books, and he has bagged a bedroom for the same purpose. I can hardly open a book without finding notes or marks of his.

— Lord Granville

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Johnny Acton, who is extremely agreeable, left us two or three days ago to go to Germany, with the intention of coming back to study in the middle of October. His library is becoming immense. He has remodelled the old library. He has entirely filled the hall; he has furnished his own room with books, and he has bagged a bedroom for the same purpose. I can hardly open a book without finding notes or marks of his." in the context of "Lord Granville to Lord Canning (4 September 1859), quoted in Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, The Life of Granville George Leveson Gower, Second Earl Granville, K.G. 1815–1891, Vol. I (1905), p. 358" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton" (Quotes about Lord Acton) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

About John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, 1st Baron Acton (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902) was an English Catholic historian, commonly known as Lord Acton.