Great men are almost always bad men.

Unlimited power corrupts the possessor.

It is not power that corrupts but fear.

Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.

Power corrupts, and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.

Power corrupts, but lack of power corrupts absolutely.

Power corrupts, and obsolete power corrupts obsoletely.

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

If knowledge is power and power corrupt, does knowledge corrupt?

In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes.

The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its antihumanity.

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?

Power corrupts, and there is nothing more corrupting than power exercised in secret.

I don't think 'Citizen Kane' stands more than one watch. Power corrupts. Who didn't know that?

Unlimited power corrupts the possessor; and this I know, that, where law ends, there tyranny begins.

With people in high office, the old - you go into the extreme, which is absolute power and absolute power corrupts.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and I found that out when I was Attorney General in Massachusetts.

Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.

I truly believe that all power corrupts. Such is probably the thinking behind every political film ever made in Hollywood.

If power corrupts, the reverse is also true; persecution corrupts the victims though perhaps in subtler and more tragic ways.

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.

I no longer give Power Point presentations, because I've come to believe that power corrupts, and Power Point corrupts absolutely.

To assume all the powers is not good for anybody. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. All those experiments have a bad ending.

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

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.

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.

Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.

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.

I strongly believe that the Founding Fathers of our country got it right: power corrupts, and any time you have too much power concentrated in one place, it tends to get abused, so checks and balances are always needed.

When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

I don't actually subscribe to the view that all power corrupts. But absolute power - when secured on the back of massive parliamentary majorities, which don't reflect the balance of political opinion in the country - can corrupt absolutely.

It is true that power corrupts. The hope at the polling stations and the actions of the elected representatives, unfortunately, often turn to be opposite. The power of ballot turns into the power of wallet. Some law-makers become law-breakers.

I think Republicans need to take income inequality more seriously. Not because I favor equality of outcomes. I do not. I think the Right is correct to stress merit and earned rewards, not handouts and forced equality. But I think what Republicans are blind to is that power corrupts.

The story being told in 'Star Wars' is a classic one. Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency to do the same things over and over again. Power corrupts, and when you're in charge, you start doing things that you think are right, but they're actually not.

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.

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