Mason Cooley Quotes
Power makes gods. Virtue makes martyrs.
Cooley, Mason. City Aphorisms. Pascal Press, 1984-1998.
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.”
See {640733} for an English political leader’s similar view.
Robespierre was the driving force behind the Reign of Terror where hundreds of thousands of French citizens were beheaded because they were accused of not being loyal enough to the regime.
Mason Cooley was an American aphorist known for his witty aphorisms. One of these such aphorisms Cooley developed was "The time I kill is killing me." He was professor emeritus of French, speech and world literature at the College of Staten Island. He was also an assistant professor of English at Columbia University from 1959 to 1967 and an adjunct professor from 1980 to 1988. He received his B.A. from San Diego State University and his Ph.D. from Oxford.
