Robert Caro Quotes
Power reveals.
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.
Robert Caro, Biographer and Historian, C-SPAN Book TV, April 4, 2002
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.
Perhaps the most famous quotation in all of Political Science is this one. What is fascinating is that 74 years earlier, Shelly, the most famous of the English Poets expressed the same idea in one of his great poems. See {627920}. The last sentence of this quote is often excluded.
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.
- Born: October 30, 1935
- Nationality: American
- Profession: Biographer
Robert Allan Caro is an American journalist and author known for his biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson.
