Jackson Browne Quotes

Civilization, let me tell you what it is. First the soldier, then the merchant, then the priest, then the lawyer. The merchant hires the soldier and priest to conquer the country for him. First the soldier, he is a murderer; then the priest, he is a liar; then the merchant, he is a thief; and they all bring in the lawyer to make their laws and defend their deeds, and there you have your civilization!

The world is not fair, and often fools, cowards, liars and the selfish hide in high places.

Nowadays those are rewarded who make right appear wrong.

The statesman shears the sheep; the politician skins them.

I think it's very easy to get corrupted.

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.

There is a tendency in all parties, when they have been for a long time in possession of power, to augment it.

All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

Most governments do have inbuilt biases in favour of the rich and powerful, and most do contain plenty of manipulators who love intrigue, who have lost whatever moral compass they may once have had and who protect themselves with steely cynicism.

There is hardly a single person in the House of Commons worth painting; though many of them would be better for a little whitewashing.

Two sentiments inherent in power never fail to produce this moral corruption; they are: contempt for the masses and the overestimation of one's own merits.

The political elite has never told the truth.

Suspect power more than vice.

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.

When you censure the Age, Be cautious and sage, Lest the Courtiers offended should be: If you mention Vice or Bribe, 'Tis so pat to all the Tribe ;, Each cries----That was levell'd at me.

The corrupt are running out of places to hide.

Men are very much to be pitied in that they are to be governed by a king who is but a man like them; for it would require Gods to reform men. But kings are not less to be pitied, since being but men, that are weak and imperfect, they are to govern this innumerable multitude of corrupt and deceitful men.

The public history of all countries, and all ages, is bet a sort of mask, richly colored. The interior working of the machinery must be foul.

We've become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy. I think that's been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I've ever seen in my life.

Politics has become beyond acceptable when it comes to humanity. People are just frozen in falsehood.

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.

Power dements even more than it corrupts, lowering the guard of foresight and raising the haste of action.

Power corrupts, and obsolete power corrupts obsoletely.

The Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. . . . Was there ever witnessed such a bare faced corruption in any country before?