Joseph Chamberlain Quotes

I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature, and that power whether vested in many or few is ever grasping, and like the grave, cries, 'Give, give.'

When scrutiny is lacking, tyranny, corruption and man's baser qualities have a better chance of entering into the public business of any government.

All Western governments are just thieves. Nothing but evil comes from them.

Those who have by an unrighteous power made merchandise of the earth, giving all to some, & none to others, declare themselves tyranicall & usurping.

Money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we're tired of hearing promises that we know they'll never keep.

An elite class that is free to operate without limits - whether limits imposed by the rule of law or fear of the responses from those harmed by their behavior - is an elite class that will plunder, degrade, and cheat at will, and act endlessly to fortify its own power.

Unlimited power corrupts the possessor.

Power is always a corrupting influence.

For there is no defense for a man who, in the excess of his wealth, has kicked the great altar of Justice out of sight.

The Few assume to be the deputies, but they are often only the despoilers of the Many.

Powerlessness corrupts: absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely

Occupants of public offices love power and are prone to abuse it.

The People will have unfounded Power. And the People are extremely addicted to Corruption and Venality, as well as the Great. I am not without Apprehensions from this Quarter.

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes.

All riches come from iniquity, and unless one has lost, another cannot gain.

Experience constantly proves that every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.

The Court is corrupt: The fields are overgrown with weeds; the granaries are empty. Yet there are those dressed in fineries, With swords at their sides: Filled with food and drink, Possessed of too much wealth. This is called "Taking the lead in robbery.

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

England is not a Free People, till the Poor that have no Land, have a free allowance to dig and labour the Commons, and so live as Comfortably as the Landlords that live in their Inclosures. For the People have not laid out their Monies, and shed their Bloud, that their Landlords, the Norman power, should still have its liberty and freedom to rule in Tyranny …

The kings are ravenous beasts, their ministers are dogs.

Beware of all men who would turn the tasks and the necessities of the nation to their own private profit or use them for the building up of private power.

The loggers are more powerful than we are …. There is bribery everywhere.

This case serves as an appalling reminder of the evils that result when large numbers of the politically powerless are placed at the mercy of institutions engendered and controlled by a politically powerful few.

Nothing is quite so wretchedly corrupt as an aristocracy which has lost its power but kept its wealth