Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. — John Acton
Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible. — Frank Herbert
The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding. — Lord Acton
If absolute power corrupts absolutely, where does that leave God?? — George Deacon
The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse. — Edmund Burke
Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power. — Charles Caleb Colton
That anyone who possesses power has a tendency to abuse it is an eternal truth. They tend to go as far as the barriers will allow. — Baron de Montesquieu
We have all been told that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I have long thought this is nonsense. — Bret Weinstein
If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure? — Harry Shearer
Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power. — John Steinbeck
Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty. — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Irresponsible power is inconsistent with liberty, and must corrupt those who exercise it. — John C. Calhoun
Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power. — George Bernard Shaw
The possession of arbitrary power has always, the world over, tended irresistibly to destroy humane sensibility, magnanimity, and truth. — Frederick Law Olmsted
But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go. — Baron de Montesquieu
Short Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely Quotes
A fondness for power is implanted in most men, and it is natural to abuse it when acquired. — Alexander Hamilton
The possession of power inevitably spoils the free use of reason. — Immanuel Kant
Power must never be trusted without a check. — John Adams
I have always been fascinated by the corruption of power. — Joe Eszterhas
Occupants of public offices love power and are prone to abuse it. — George Washington
Abuse of power comes as no surprise — Jenny Holzer
All things can corrupt when minds are prone to evil. — Ovid
The corruption of the best things gives rise to the worst. — David Hume
No man is wise enough, or good enough to be trusted with unlimited power. — Charles Caleb Colton
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely Image Quotes
You have the power to say - This is not how my story will end.
Power Is Corrupting Absolute Power Quotes
I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power...power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. — Lord Acton
The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority. — Lord Acton
Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals. — Robert Caro
You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. True power is sitting back and observing everything with logic. If words control your that means everyone can control you. Breathe and allow things to pass.
Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep. The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its anti-humanity. — Eric Hoffer
There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. — Lord Acton
Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat. — John Lehman
The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its antihumanity. — Eric Hoffer
Absolute truisms rot brains absolutely.[...]'Power corrupts' is useless as a tool for understanding the past, and gives us nothing as a guide to action. — Steven Brust
People Writing About Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. — Barry Goldwater
Power corrupts, but lack of power corrupts absolutely. — Adlai Stevenson
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. — Lord Acton
It has been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely, but many it not be truer to say that to be absolutely powerful a man must first corrupt himself? — Terence Rattigan
Power corrupts, and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely. — Vinton Cerf
We're taught Lord Acton's axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I don't believe it's always true any more. Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals. — Robert Caro
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. — Lord Acton
It's very hard to operate on a general philosophy of power. They say that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but I don't agree with that. I think you have to be corrupted to be corrupted by power. — Mark Pellegrino
Absolute power, as we have always known, corrupts absolutely; it corrupts because it does not do the trick for the individual. Reality always creeps in--the reality of our helplessness and our mortality; the reality that, despite our reach for the stars, a creaturely fate awaits us. — Irvin D. Yalom
Absolute power corrupts absolutely; and if you surrender your personal responsibility to a government which promises to take care of you, they will only take care of themselves. — Howard Nemerov
A small amount of power corrupts a small man absolutely. A little knowledge is dangerous to a little man. To a great man only great knowledge is dangerous. — Leonard J. V. Compagno
You know, 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely'? It's the same with powerlessness. Absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely. Einstein said everything had changed since the atom was split, except the way we think. We have to think anew. — Studs Terkel
There are similarities between absolute power and absolute faith: a demand for absolute obedience, a readiness to attempt the impossible, a bias for simple solutionsto cut the knot rather than unravel it, the viewing of compromise as surrender. Both absolute power and absolute faith are instruments of dehumanization. Hence, absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power. — Eric Hoffer
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. — Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
Power corrupts, but lack of power corrupts absolutely. — Adlai Stevenson I
With people in high office, the old - you go into the extreme, which is absolute power and absolute power corrupts. — Clint Eastwood
What chiefly concerns and alarms many of us are the problems arising from religious fanaticism. As long as large numbers of militant enthusiasts are persuaded that they alone have access to the truth, and that the rest of us are infidels, we remain under threat. Lord Acton's famous phrase about power can be used of another danger. Dogma tends to corrupt, and absolute dogma corrupts absolutely. — Anthony Storr
The most awful thing about power is not that it corrupts absolutely but that it makes people so utterly boring, so predictable. — Chinua Achebe
There is no evidence to support the belief that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ever questioned Americas power. He questioned only the President's John F. Kennedys readiness to use it. Elie Abel, The Missile Crisis (1966) Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. — Lord Acton
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end...liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition...The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. ~ Every class is unfit to govern ... Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men. — Lord Acton
The mistakes (of leaders) are amplified by the numbers who follow them without question. Charismatic leaders tend to build up followings, power structures and these power structures tend to be taken over by people who are corruptible. I don't think that the old saw about 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' is accurate: I think power attracts the corruptible. — Frank Herbert
Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state,' therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. — Thomas Jefferson
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