Source: The Life of the Mind (1971/1978), p. 56.
“Absolute power by virtue of its very nature withdraws itself from all specification.”
Vol. 4, Part 2. Translated by W.P. Dickson
The History of Rome - Volume 4: Part 2
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Theodor Mommsen 65
German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, po… 1817–1903Related quotes
Preface, A vii
Critique of Pure Reason (1781; 1787)
Eric Hoffer
(1898–1983) American philosopher
Source: The Ordeal of Change (1963), Ch. 15: "The Unnaturalness Of Human Nature"
Context: One should see the dominant role of the weak in shaping man's fate not as a perversion of natural instincts and vital impulses, but as the starting point of the deviation which led man to break away from, and rise above, nature — not as degeneration but as the generation of a new order of creation.
The corruption inherent in absolute power derives from the fact that such power is never free from the tendency to turn man into a thing, and press him back into the matrix of nature from which he has risen. For the impulse of power is to turn every variable into a constant, and give to commands the inexorableness and relentlessness of laws of nature. Hence 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.
Jane Roberts
(1929–1984) American Writer
Session 890, Page 176
Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment, Volume One (1986)
Carl Linnaeus
(1707–1778) Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist
As quoted in Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm (2009), "Linnaeus and homo religiosus," Universitet, p. 83.
“Power confuses itself with virtue and tends also to take itself for omnipotence.”
J. William Fulbright
(1905–1995) American politician
Source: The Arrogance of Power (1966), p. 4
Sydney J. Harris
(1917–1986) American journalist
“What’s Wrong with Being Proud?”
Pieces of Eight (1982)
Context: Patriotism is proud of a country’s virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country’s virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, “the greatest,” but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.
Sydney Smith
(1771–1845) English writer and clergyman
Quote reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 364
