Mark Pellegrino Quotes

We're taught Lord Acton's axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I don't believe it's always true any more. Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

I don't actually subscribe to the view that all power corrupts. But absolute power - when secured on the back of massive parliamentary majorities, which don't reflect the balance of political opinion in the country - can corrupt absolutely.

All power corrupts but some must govern.

Man's sense of Morality tends to decrease as his Power increases

Politics and the fate of mankind are shaped by men without ideals and without greatness. Men who have greatness within them don’t go far in politics.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.

A politician's goal is always to manipulate public debate. I think there are some politicians with higher goals. But all of them get corrupted by power.

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?

In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes.

Unlimited power corrupts the possessor.

Most people who get into power in the western world start with great intentions, but slowly they all become entrapped and hung by their own petard.

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.

Power corrupts; but absolute power is really neat.

My three years in politics was very instructive about the way in which the appetite for political power can destroy a human mind, destroy principles and values, and transform people into little monsters.

The problem with Russia is not corruption per se, or even Putin per se. Russian government is not corrupt because Vladimir Putin has absolute power. Russian government has been corrupt and will always be as long as anyone has absolute power.

The foundation of leadership is your own moral compass. I think the best quality leaders really know where their moral compass is. They get it out when they are making decisions. It's their guide. But not only do you have to have a moral compass and take it out of your pocket, it has to have a true north.

Power attracts the corruptible. Suspect all who seek it ... We should grant power over our affairs only to those who are reluctant to hold it and then only under conditions that increase that reluctance.

Donald Trump is way worse than George W. Bush. George W. Bush is a fundamentally decent man of limited intelligence who surrounded himself with awful people who dragged him in terrible directions. He was a bad president. But he was not actively malign, in the sense that he did what he thought was right. I don't think this guy cares what's right. I think he's in it for self-aggrandizement, for profit, and for power.

Power corrupts, and obsolete power corrupts obsoletely.

Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.

With people in high office, the old - you go into the extreme, which is absolute power and absolute power corrupts.

The longer a politician bears power, the more he is controlled by that power.

The mistakes (of leaders) are amplified by the numbers who follow them without question. Charismatic leaders tend to build up followings, power structures and these power structures tend to be taken over by people who are corruptible. I don't think that the old saw about 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' is accurate: I think power attracts the corruptible.