Daniel O. Hastings Quotes

Occupants of public offices love power and are prone to abuse it.

But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.

What I fear most is power with impunity. I fear abuse of power, and the power to abuse.

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

Men in authority tend to abuse it – not all men, but many.

Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.

Overly concentrated power, whether in public, private or even in civic hands is an invitation to abuse.

People who are in a position of power like to throw their weight around, and that becomes abuse.

The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

I have always been fascinated by the corruption of power.

The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.

People abusing their power makes me see red.

Every one, more or less, loves Power, yet those who most wish for it are seldom the fittest to be trusted with it.

Power has long been regarded as morally corrosive, and we often suspect the intentions of those who seek it.

Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best.

The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are a majority.

All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

Power intoxicates men. It is never voluntarily surrendered. It must be taken from them.

The sudden acquisition of power by those who have never had it before can be intoxicating and we run the risk of petty power games ...

You can't be a dictator any more; anyone who tries to play the part of God will stumble.

Suspect power more than vice.

We have the President assuming powers that are never going to end.

Experience constantly proves that every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.

His essence was force ... the relish of power, and command.

Power is always dangerous. It attracts the worst and corrupts the best..