Thomas Jefferson Quotes

When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any individual in a government, he becomes the center, round which every kind of corruption generates and forms.

Tom DeLay himself has never been the issue. DeLay is a symptom of a larger disease?a sick Republican culture of corruption that touches everyone who took his dirty money, voted for his corrupt leadership, or sat silently while their party has sold our government to the highest bidder.

Every government is always growing corrupt.

Was there ever such a bare-faced corruption in any country before?

The problem with Russia is not corruption per se, or even Putin per se. Russian government is not corrupt because Vladimir Putin has absolute power. Russian government has been corrupt and will always be as long as anyone has absolute power.

When power is for sale, then government power should be severely limited. When power is abused, then the less power the better.

It is a matter of common knowledge that the government of South Carolina is under domination of a small ring of cunning, conniving men.

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

You can't give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad - in fact, to do anything it wants.

I think the American government is now the most corrupt government in the world.

The government is so out of control. It is so bloated and infested with fraud and deceit and corruption and abuse of power.

Great wealth took possession of the government. It was reflected in Mr. Harding's selection of a cabinet.

Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruptions.

I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.

Well, the role of money in politics is pretty corrupting right now.

The pathological degree to which former Vice President Dick Cheney operated in secrecy led to government abuses that we'll probably spend years learning about.

When one may pay out over two million dollars to presidential and Congressional campaigns, the U.S. government is virtually up for sale.

If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it.

Either force or corruption has been the principle of every modern government.

You can’t have a corrupt lobbyist if you don’t have a corrupt Congressman or staff member…. It’s a team effort.

He who is the most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power is as eager after for the prerogatives of government.

The boss of all bosses operates like a shifty-eyed precinct captain on the make ... These are activities on would expect of a small-time ward heeler, not a figure of such influence and stature.

We have a cancer within, close to the Presidency, that is growing. It is growing daily.

The Mexican government has been corrupt for 140 years.

There are no necessary evils in government. It's evils exist only in its abuses.