Karl Popper (1902–1994) Austrian-British philosopher of science
Source: Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963), p. 368
“The wickedness of men is that their power breeds stupidity and blindness.”
Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
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Novelist 1954Related quotes
“However wickedness outstrips men, it has no wings to fly from God.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet
Derived from a longer quote in Henry V, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 283.
Misattributed
“Power is okay, and stupidity is usually harmless. Power and stupidity together are dangerous".”
Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind
Source: The Name of the Wind
Michael Chabon (1963) Novelist, short story writer, essayist
Source: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007), Chapter 39
Kenneth Clark (1903–1983) Art historian, broadcaster and museum director
The Other Half: A Self Portrait http://books.google.com/books?id=4gg0AAAAMAAJ&q=%22In+time+of+war+all+countries+behave+equally+badly+because+the+power+of+action+is+handed+over+to+stupid+and+obstinate+men%22&pg=PA4#v=onepage (1977)
“Tis very strange Men should be so fond of being thought wickeder than they are.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) English trader, writer and journalist
A System of Magick (1726).
Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher
Section 42
The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)
Context: It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of inadequacy and impotence. They hate not wickedness but weakness. When it is their power to do so, the weak destroy weakness wherever they see it.
“How stupid and shortsighted the ruling class really is! Cupidity is stone blind. It has no vision.”
Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) American labor and political leader
The Canton, Ohio Speech, Anti-War Speech (1918)
Context: How stupid and shortsighted the ruling class really is! Cupidity is stone blind. It has no vision. The greedy, profit-seeking exploiter cannot see beyond the end of his nose. He can see a chance for an "opening"; he is cunning enough to know what graft is and where it is, and how it can be secured, but vision he has none — not the slightest. He knows nothing of the great throbbing world that spreads out in all directions. He has no capacity for literature; no appreciation of art; no soul for beauty. That is the penalty the parasites pay for the violation of the laws of life.