Robert G. Ingersoll Quotes
Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except upon the side of mercy.
Ingersoll, Robert G. "Abraham Lincoln." The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume III: Lectures. Dresden ed., C.P. Farrell, 1900, p. 172.
Sometimes misattributed to Abraham Lincoln, this quote has many forms but Ingersoll appears to have have written the earliest (which was written about Lincoln). Ingersoll’s original quote: “Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test.”
In a variant of Lord Acton’s famous quotation {292904} Caro focused on what people did with power once they had achieved it. This, he believed, revealed character.
Mytilene was at war with Athens. Pittacus suggested that instead of the armies fighting, the war should be decided by a battle between him and the Athenian General who accepted. Pittacus won and was the Ruler of Athens, where he became quite popular. He wrote all his laws and decrees in poetry. He resigned after 10 years. He was considered one of the 7 great Greek Sages.
Robert Green "Bob" Ingersoll was an American lawyer, a Civil War veteran, political leader, and orator of the United States during the Golden Age of Free Thought, noted for his broad range of culture and his defense of agnosticism. He was nicknamed "The Great Agnostic". Ingersoll was considered to be the greatest orator and political thinker of his day, but his overt atheistic views curtailed his elected political career.
