Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher
"Thoughts of Eric Hoffer, Including: 'Absolute Faith Corrupts Absolutely'", The New York Times Magazine (April 25, 1971), p. 50.
Ch. 6 http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch06.htm <br class="br">The State and Revolution (1917)
Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher
"Thoughts of Eric Hoffer, Including: 'Absolute Faith Corrupts Absolutely'", The New York Times Magazine (April 25, 1971), p. 50.
“One of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption.”
Upton Sinclair (1878–1968) American novelist, writer, journalist, political activist
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2014, 25th Anniversary of Polish Freedom Day Speech (June 2014)
Context: Our democracies must be defined not by what or who we’re against, but by a politics of inclusion and tolerance that welcomes all our citizens. Our economies must deliver a broader prosperity that creates more opportunity -- across Europe and across the world -- especially for young people. Leaders must uphold the public trust and stand against corruption, not steal from the pockets of their own people. Our societies must embrace a greater justice that recognizes the inherent dignity of every human being. And as we’ve been reminded by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, our free nations cannot be complacent in pursuit of the vision we share -- a Europe that is whole and free and at peace. We have to work for that. We have to stand with those who seek freedom.
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902) British politician and historian
Letter http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1407&Itemid=283 to Mandell Creighton (5 April 1887), published in Historical Essays and Studies, by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton (1907), edited by John Neville Figgis and Reginald Vere Laurence, Appendix, p. 504; also in Essays on Freedom and Power (1972)<br>Paraphrased variant: All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. <br class="br">Context: I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way against holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. 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. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. That is the point at which the negation of Catholicism and the negation of Liberalism meet and keep high festival, and the end learns to justify the means.
“It was not power that corrupted people, but fools who corrupted power.”
Kim Stanley Robinson book Green Mars
Nadia Chernyshevski
Green Mars (1993)
Joceline Clemencia (1952–2011) Curaçaoan writer
Source: Source https://triunfodisablika.wordpress.com/2020/11/29/an-anti-colonial-anthem-joceline-clemencia/
Reza Pahlavi (1960) Last crown prince of the former Imperial State of Iran
As quoted by Rachel Makabi, 'A Race Against Time' http://www.rezapahlavi.org/details_article.php?article=34&page=5, Newsweek International, Sept 4, 2006. <br class="br">Interviews, 2006
“Capital is a coward. It flees from corruption and bad policies, conflict and unpredictability.”
Colin Powell (1937) Former U.S. Secretary of State and retired four-star general
As quoted by Ambassador Cameron R. Hume in a speech on U.S. Government Initiatives in South Africa http://pretoria.usembassy.gov/wwwhambhume020918.html at the American Chamber of Commerce, Johannesburg, South Africa (18 September 2002). <br class="br">2000s <br class="br">Context: Capital is a coward. It flees from corruption and bad policies, conflict and unpredictability. It shuns ignorance, disease and illiteracy. Capital goes where it is welcomed and where investors can be confident of a return on the resources they have put at risk. It goes to countries where women can work, children can read, and entrepreneurs can dream.
Nathaniel Lindley, Baron Lindley (1828–1921) English judge
Lyons & Sons v. Wilkins (1896), 74 L. T. Rep. (N. S.) 364. Compare Mogul Steamship Co. v. MacGregor, Gow, & Co., 66 L. T. Rep. (N. S.) 1; Temperton v. Russell and others, 69 L. T. Rep. (N. S.) 78.