Corruption Quotes - Page 3

• The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Drawing, Teeth, Civil Rights

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.40, Rowman & Littlefield

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• There are two parties involved in every corrupt transaction, typically a government official and a business person. Yet those who pay bribes are often depicted as innocent victims ... The reality is that both parties conspire to defraud the public.

  Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

  Party, Reality, Government

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• I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Positive, Being Yourself

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• The government is so out of control. It is so bloated and infested with fraud and deceit and corruption and abuse of power.

  Ted Nugent

  Government, Abuse, Deceit

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• Corruption is uniquely reprehensible in a democracy because it violates the system's first principle, which we all learned back in the sunshiny days of elementary school: that the government exist to serve the public, not particular companies or individuals or even elected officials.

  Thomas Frank

  School, Government, Democracy

  Thomas Frank (2008). “The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule”, p.3, Macmillan

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• 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.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Firsts, Power Corrupts

  Letter to Nathaniel Macon, 1821.

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• No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious & charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Music, Religious, Government

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• The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and
  money began to play an important part in determining
  elections. Later on, this process of corruption spread to
  the law courts. And then to the army, and finally the
  Republic was subjected to the rule of emperors

  Plutarch

  Army, Play, Law Courts

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• The situation in Georgia is determined by the breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia. While we must acknowledge the reforms initiated by Mikheil Saakashvili that drastically lowered the level of corruption and authoritarian structures in the Georgian state, under the above-mentioned circumstances, the ruling elite must keep a firm grip on the country.

  Garry Kasparov

  Country, Reform, Levels

  Source: www.rferl.org

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• 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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• Corruption wins not more than honesty.

  William Shakespeare

  Honesty, Winning, Love Thyself

  'Henry VIII' (1613) act 3, sc. 2, l. 441

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• The downfall of every civilization comes, not from the moral corruption of the common man, but rather from the moral complacency of common men in high places.

  E. Digby Baltzell

  Men, Civilization, Complacency

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• Our foremost priority is the removal of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, disease and illiteracy. All social welfare programmes must be implemented efficiently. Agencies involved in the delivery of services should have a strong sense of duty and work in a transparent, corruption-free, time-bound and accountable manner.

  Pratibha Patil

  Strong, Agency, Should Have

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• The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity.

  Frank Serpico

  Children, Believe, Fighting

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• The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Education, Children, Growing Up

  Friedrich Nietzsche (1977). “The Portable Nietzsche”, p.63, Penguin

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• It is time for a new compact among the civilized peoples of this world to eradicate war at its most fundamental source: the corruption of young minds by violent ideology.

  Barack Obama

  War, Mind, Fundamentals

  Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by President Barack Obama, Address to the United Nations General Assembly, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. September 24, 2014.

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• The word "independence" is united to the accessory ideas of dignity and virtue. The word "dependence" is united to the ideas of inferiority and corruption.

  Jeremy Bentham

  Ideas, Independence, Accessories

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• This is a matter of public health. The public was sick and tired of DeLay and his corruption.

  Jim Hightower

  Tired, Sick, Delay

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• The government is asleep - there is a big administrative corruption everywhere in its institutions

  Ibrahim Ali

  Government, Institutions, Bigs

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• The corruption of people is to behave in an inhuman way.

  Alan Bullock

  People, Way, Behave

  "Lord Bullock of Leafield" by Mark Frankland, www.theguardian.com. February 3, 2004.

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• Calvin: Do you believe in the Devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man? Hobbes: I'm not sure man needs the help.

  Bill Watterson

  Believe, Men, Evil

  "The Days Are Just Packed". Book by Bill Watterson, October 1993.

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• One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.

  Carl Sagan

  Taken, Science, Long

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.314, Ballantine Books

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• It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native criminal class except Congress.

  Mark Twain

  Class, Criminals, Literature

  Following the Equator ch. 8, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar" (1897)

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• The beast for me is greed. Whether you read Dante, Swift, or any of these guys, it always boils down to the same thing: the corruption of the soul.

  Ben Nicholson

  Greed, Guy, Soul

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• Everyone says corruption is everywhere, but for me it seems strange to say that and then not try to put the people guilty of that corruption away.

  Alexei Navalny

  People, Trying, Strange

  "Alexei Navalny: Russia's new rebel who has Vladimir Putin in his sights" by Tom Parfitt, www.theguardian.com. January 15, 2012.

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