Absolute Power Quotes

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  Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  Lord Acton

  Inspirational, Leadership, Work

  Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 3 April 1887, in Louise Creighton 'Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton' (1904) vol. 1, ch. 13.

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

  Harry Shearer

  Power, Political, Doe

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

  65 Copy quote

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  Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Inspirational, Leadership, Wisdom

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• Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.

  Frank Herbert

  Power, Political, Doe

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• 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

  Kings, Power, Men

  Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 3 April 1887, in Louise Creighton 'Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton' (1904) vol. 1, ch. 13.

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• Great men are almost always bad men.

  Lord Acton

  Men, Corrupt Power, Power Corrupts

  1887 Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 3 Apr.

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• Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Power, Stones, Anarchy

  104 Copy quote

• 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

  Heaven, Liberty, Doe

  Speech Accepting the Republican Presidential Nomination, delivered 16 July 1964, San Francisco

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• When one reaches absolute power, one loses total contact with reality.

  Gabriel Garcia Marquez

  Power, Reality, Contact

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• Absolute power can only be supported by error, ignorance and prejudice.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Ignorance, Government, Errors

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• Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.

  Eric Hoffer

  Inspirational, Faith, Atheist

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• Numerous politicians have seized absolute power and muzzled the press. Never in history has the press seized absolute power and muzzled the politicians.

  David Brinkley

  Political, Politics, Journalism

  41 Copy quote

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

  Robert Caro

  Believe, Corrupt Power, Power Corrupts

  "Robert Caro: a life with LBJ and the pursuit of power" by Chris McGreal, www.theguardian.com. June 10, 2012.

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• Power kills, absolute power kills absolutely.

  Rudolph Rummel

  Absolutes

  "Death by Government". Book by Rudolph Rummel, 1944.

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

  Eric Hoffer

  Power Corrupts, Inhumanity, Inherent

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.

  Lord Acton

  Rights, Government, Class

  "Letters of Lord Acton to Mary Gladstone". Book by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1913.

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• 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

  Believe, Book, Taught

  "Robert Caro: a life with LBJ and the pursuit of power". Interview with Chris McGreal, www.theguardian.com. June 9, 2012.

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• Federalism is the best curb on democracy. [It] assigns limited powers to the central government. Thereby all power is limited. It excludes absolute power of the majority.

  Lord Acton

  Government, Democracy, Majority

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• Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.

  Eric Hoffer

  Lying, Power, Government

  Eric Hoffer (1996). “The Passionate State of Mind”

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• The family code in Egypt is one of the worst family codes in the Arab world. Polygamy. The husband is having absolute power over the family.

  Nawal El Saadawi

  Husband, Egypt, World

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• 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

  Sheep, People, Humanity

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• People say I'm a nice girl saying terrible things. I tend to say the opposite of what I think. You hope that the absolute power of that transcends, and reaches the audience.

  Sarah Silverman

  Girl, Nice, Thinking

  "Quiet Depravity" by Dana Goodyear, www.newyorker.com. October 24, 2005.

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• Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.

  John Lehman

  Power, Confusion, Political

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• If absolute power corrupts absolutely, where does that leave God??

  George Deacon

  Funny, Badass, Humor

  41 Copy quote

• 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

  Exercise, Men, Influence And Power

  "Historical Essays and Studies". Book by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, oll.libertyfund.org. 1907.

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