“All authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercise it, and degrades those over whom it is exercised.”
The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
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Oscar Wilde 812
Irish writer and poet 1854–1900Related quotes

“Charity degrades those who receive it and hardens those who dispense it.”

Upon being forced to leave a train car due to his color, as quoted in Up from Slavery (1901), Ch. VI: "Black Race And Red Race, the penalty of telling the truth, of telling the simple truth, in answer to a series of strange questions", by Booker T. Washington

Source: Politics Among Nations (1948), p. 27 (1954 edition).
Context: We must distinguish between military and political power.
Political power is a psychological relation between those who exercise it and those over whom it is exercised. It gives the former control over certain actions of the latter through the influence which the former exert over the latter's minds. That influence may be exerted through orders, threats, persuasion, or a combination of any of these.

“With moral degradation goes political degradation.”
Napoleon the Little (1852), Conclusion, Part First, III
Napoleon the Little (1852)

Source: Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), Ch. 10
Context: This woman was a goddess to the end. For her no love could be degrading: she stood outside all degradation. This episode, which she thought so sordid, and which was so tragic for him, remained supremely beautiful. To such a height was he lifted, that without regret he could now have told her that he was her worshipper too. But what was the use of telling her? For all the wonderful things had happened.
"Thank you," was all that he permitted himself. "Thank you for everything."

“The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.”
Source: Books, Coningsby (1844), Lothair (1870), Ch. 17.