“The pursuit of knowledge is, I think, mainly actuated by love of power. And so are all advances in scientific technique. In politics, also, a reformer may have just as strong a love of power as a despot. It would be a complete mistake to decry love of power altogether as a motive. Whether you will be led by this motive to actions which are useful, or to actions which are pernicious, depends upon the social system, and upon your capacities.”

1950s, What Desires Are Politically Important? (1950)

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Bertrand Russell 562
logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi… 1872–1970

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