Studs Terkel Quotes

Powerlessness corrupts: absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely

Power corrupts; but absolute power is really neat.

There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power.

Unlimited power corrupts the possessor.

To assume all the powers is not good for anybody. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. All those experiments have a bad ending.

Absolute power should never be trusted to man. It has perverted the wisest heads, and corrupted the best hearts in the world. I should be afraid to commit my property, liberty and life to a body of angels for one whole year.

You can't trust anybody with power.

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

Power is always a corrupting influence.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.

I believe the root of all evil is abuse of power.

You cannot be in a position of power and destroy the life of another person.

It is weakness rather than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power.

There is no more contemptible poison than power over one's fellow men.

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.

I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.

Power tends to corrupt if you're there too long.

The possession of power does not necessarily imply its unrighteous or oppressive use, although it generally awakes suspicion.

Power is always dangerous. It attracts the worst and corrupts the best..

Corruption is just another form of tyranny.

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?

A strength to harm is perilous in the hand of an ambitious head.

Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself.

Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who posses it; and this I know, my lords: that where law ends, tyranny begins.