Will Durant Quotes

Absolute power should never be trusted to man. It has perverted the wisest heads, and corrupted the best hearts in the world. I should be afraid to commit my property, liberty and life to a body of angels for one whole year.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and I found that out when I was Attorney General in Massachusetts.

To assume all the powers is not good for anybody. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. All those experiments have a bad ending.

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

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.

Men are never very wise in the exercise of a new power.

The essence of government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse

Power tends to corrupt if you're there too long.

Power without responsibility, the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages.

You know, "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"? It's the same with powerlessness. Absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely.

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

Anyone in a position of power is either corrupt or assumed to be corrupt, and the assumption of corruption is as bad as the reality of it.

It's man's nature to abuse knowledge and power, be it in the realm of science, government, or Wall Street. Take God out of the picture, and you have real trouble.

It is not crazy to think that powerful people do some pretty horrible things. And maybe they get out of hand. Maybe it just gets away from them. It snowballs.

Power corrupts, and obsolete power corrupts obsoletely.

Individuals achieve optimal stupidity when they're given substantial powers while being insulated from the results of their actions.

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

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.

Clever tyrants are never punished.

Unlimited power corrupts the possessor.

The American people do not begrudge anyone his or her power until they start abusing it.

Power is always a corrupting influence.

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.

There is an interesting interplay between power corrupting and corruption empowering. The causality does not go one way.

With power comes the abuse of power. And where there are bosses, there are crazy bosses. It's nothing new.