Compromise and barter

All government — indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act — is founded on compromise and barter.

Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton), historian (1834-1902) 

Lord Acton is remembered for his pungent aphorisms – “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” – but of far deeper significance was his lifelong study of the history of freedom.