Corrupts Quotes

Knowledge is a dangerous thing. But ignorance is no protection. ~ Masha Du Toit

We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression. ~ Eric Hoffer

Complex regulation in place of simple-rules capitalism disrupts market processes and corrupts business incentives. ~ Robert L. Bradley, Jr.

Love is so contaminated. It tarnishes all that is beautiful and corrupts the soul. Love is so much uglier than hate because when you hate, you're not confused. When you're in love, you're dumb. ~ L.J. Shen

I truly believe that all power corrupts. Such is probably the thinking behind every political film ever made in Hollywood. ~ Elia Kazan

Sordid and infamous sensuality, the most dreadful evil that issued from the box of Pandora, corrupts every heart, and eradicates every virtue. Fly! wherefore dost thou linger? Fly, cast not one look behind thee; nor let even thy thought return to the accursed evil for a moment. ~ Francois Fenelon

Machines are admirable and tyrannize only with the user's consent. Where, then, is the enemy? Not where the machine gives relief from drudgery but where human judgment abdicates. The smoothest machine-made product of the age is the organization man, for even the best organizing principle tends to corrupt, and the mechanical principle corrupts absolutely. ~ Jacques Barzun

Awaken your heart to kindness and mercy for the people and love and tenderness for them. Never, never act with them like a predatory beast which seeks to be satiated by devouring them, for the people fall into two categories: they are either your brethren in faith or your kindred in creation ... Do not ever say, 'I have been given authority' or 'My command should be obeyed.' Because it corrupts the heart, consumes one's faith, and invites calamities. ~ Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Actually, the "leap of faith" - to give it the memorable name that Soren Kierkegaard bestowed upon it - is an imposture. As he himself pointed out, it is not a "leap" that can be made once and for all. It is a leap that has to go on and on being performed, in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary. This effort is actually too much for the human mind, and leads to delusions and manias. Religion understands perfectly well that the "leap" is subject to sharply diminishing returns, which is why it often doesn't in fact rely on "faith" at all but instead corrupts faith and insults reason by offering evidence and pointing to confected "proofs." This evidence and these proofs include arguments from design, revelations, punishments, and miracles. Now that religion's monopoly has been broken, it is within the compass of any human being to see these evidences and proofs as the feeble-minded inventions that they are. ~ Christopher Hitchens

Many of the greatest tyrants on the records of history have begun their reigns in the fairest manner. But the truth is, this unnatural power corrupts both the heart and the understanding. And to prevent the least hope of amendment, a king is ever surrounded by a crowd of infamous flatterers, who find their account in keeping him from the least light of reason, till all ideas of rectitude and justice are utterly erased from his mind. ~ Edmund Burke

Success Corrupts and Limits Potential as Soon as You Start to Think You Could Do It Alone. ~ Scott Belsky

Dear mourners,' he begins, 'let me first tell you that truth must always be spoken, no matter that it hurts. For truth untold is wicked, damning. It corrupts, begs rebellion. Rebellion being the right of those who are themselves corrupted. It becomes the way of their truth, and, without it, they are dead. ~ Peter Gray

No peace was ever won from fate by subterfuge or argument; no peace is ever in store for any of us, but that which we shall win by victory over shame or sin
victory over the sin that oppresses, as well as over that which corrupts. ~ John Ruskin

The model of the human habitat dictated by zoning is a formless, soul-less, centerless, demoralizing mess. It bankrupts families and townships. It disables whole classes of decent, normal citizens. It ruins the air we breathe. It corrupts and deadens our spirit. ~ James Howard Kunstler

Light and Darkness are never balanced. Nor Good and Evil. One cannot balance a something with a nothing.

The mystery behind the disruptive forces of chaos and evility is that these particulars cannot even commit to themselves - they are their own undoing - and the foulness that would corrupt, corrupts itself.

Those who align with evility invite their own destruction. Our crusade, as caretakers of the Spirit, the One Spirit, is to remain indifferent to the theatre of destruction, and be true to the permanency of all that is good. ~ Gabriel Brunsdon

We're taught Lord Acton's axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I don't believe it's always true any more. Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals. ~ Robert Caro

No matter how hard Evil tries, it can never quite match up to the power of Good, because Evil is ultimately self-destructive. Evil may set out to corrupt others, but in the process corrupts itself. ~ John Connolly

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

It's 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. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable. ~ David Brin

Occult Theft,
Theft which hides itself even from itself, and is legal, respectable, and cowardly,
corrupts the body and soul of man, to the last fibre of them. And the guilty Thieves of Europe, the real sources of all deadly war in it, are the Capitalists ~ John Ruskin

Speech doesn't corrupt. Money corrupts, and money isn't speech. ~ Russ Feingold

It is not that power corrupts but that power is a magnet to the corruptible. ~ Frank Herbert

They ordered the extermination
of all minds they couldn't control ~ Tupac Shakur

What is true is that the idea of power corrupts. Power corrupts most rapidly those who believe in it, and it is they who will want it most. Obviously, our democratic system tends to give power to those who hunger for it and gives every opportunity to those who don't want power to avoid getting it. Not a very satisfactory arrangement if power corrupts those who believe in it and want it. ~ Gregory Bateson

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

He always says that those who control the present can rewrite the past. ~ Anne Fortier

It is probably true that business corrupts everything it touches. It corrupts politics, sports, literature, art, labor unions and so on. But business also corrupts and undermines monolithic totalitarianism. Capitalism is at its liberating best in a noncapitalist environment. ~ Eric Hoffer

All horsepower corrupts. ~ Patrick Leigh Fermor

The enjoyment of power inevitably corrupts the judgment of reason, and perverts its liberty. ~ Immanuel Kant

If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and do know better. ~ George Orwell

This book will prove the following ten facts:
1. A Goon is a being who melts into the foreground and sticks there.
2. Pigs have wings, making them hard to catch.
3. All power corrupts, but we need electricity.
4. When an irresistible force meets an immovable object, the result is a family fight.
5. Music does not always sooth the troubled beast.
6. An Englishman's home is his castle.
7. The female of the species is more deadly than the male.
8. One black eye deserves another.
9. Space is the final frontier, and so is the sewage farm.
10. It pays to increase your word power. ~ Diana Wynne Jones

Luxury ... corrupts at once rich and poor, the rich by possession and the poor by covetousness. ~ Henri Rousseau

Sin defies God, utterly corrupts each individual, corrodes all social relationships, and issues in death. ~ D. A. Carson

Too much liberty corrupts us all. ~ Terence

We cannot use the Ruling Ring. That we now know too well. It belongs to Sauron and was made by him alone, and is altogether evil. Its strength, Boromir, is too great for anyone to wield at will, save only those who have already a great power of their own. But for them it holds an even deadlier peril. The very desire of it corrupts the heart. Consider ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

When power corrupts, it keeps a log of its progress, written into that most sensitive memory device, the human face. Who could withstand the light? What viewer could believe in the war, the system, the countless lies about American freedom, looking into these mugs shots of the bought and sold? ~ Thomas Pynchon

What chiefly concerns and alarms many of us are the problems arising from religious fanaticism. As long as large numbers of militant enthusiasts are persuaded that they alone have access to the truth, and that the rest of us are infidels, we remain under threat. Lord Acton's famous phrase about power can be used of another danger. Dogma tends to corrupt, and absolute dogma corrupts absolutely. ~ Anthony Storr

Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good morals. ~ Anonymous

... if a thing can be said to be, to exist, then such is the nature of these expansive times that this thing which is must suffer to be touched. Ours is a time of connection; the private, and we must accept this, and it's a hard thing to accept, the private is gone. All must be touched. All touch corrupts. All must be corrupted. And if you're thinking how awful these sentiments are, you are perfectly correct, these are awful times, but you must remember as well that this has always been the chiefest characteristic of the Present, to everyone living through it; always, throughout history, and so far as I can see for all the days and years to come until the sun and the stars fall down and the clocks have all ground themselves to expiry and the future has long long shaded away into Time Immemorial: the Present is always an awful place to be. ~ Tony Kushner

It has been often said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. ~ Eric Hoffer

Time is money, Money is power, power corrupts eventually ~ B.O.B

Arrogance corrupts. ~ Toba Beta

For a companion, I require one who will make an equal demand on me with my own genius. Such a one will always be rightly tolerant.It is suicide, and corrupts good manners, to welcome any less than this. I value and trust those who love and praise my aspiration rather than my performance. If you would not stop to look at me, but look whither I am looking, and farther, then my education could not dispense with your company. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Doctors need to be held accountable, since power corrupts. There must be complaints procedures and litigation, commissions of enquiry, punishment and compensation. At the same time if you do not hide or deny any mistakes when things go wrong, and if your patients and their families know that you are distressed by whatever happened, you might, if you are lucky, receive the precious gift of forgiveness. ~ Henry Marsh

Welfare corrupts the lower class much faster than the middle class. ~ James Cook

Politics is shit; it corrupts everything it touches ... ~ Charles Stross

Most of the crimes which disturb the internal peace of society are produced by the restraints which the necessary, but unequal, laws of property have imposed on the appetites of mankind, by confining to a few the possession of those objects that are coveted by many. Of all our passions and appetites, the love of power is of the most imperious and unsociable nature, since the pride of one man requires the submission of the multitude. In the tumult of civil discord, the laws of society lose their force, and their place is seldom supplied by those of humanity. The ardor of contention, the pride of victory, the despair of success, the memory of past injuries, and the fear of future dangers, all contribute to inflame the mind, and to silence the voice of pity. From such motives almost every page of history has been stained with civil blood.... ~ Edward Gibbon

Power corrupts, and there is nothing more corrupting than power exercised in secret. ~ Daniel Schorr

The old axiom that 'all power corrupts' has doubtful validity, because it derives from our neglect of Plato 's advice to find men carefully and train them by methods which make them fit for heroes. ~ Oswald Mosley

All culture corrupts, but French culture corrupts absolutely. ~ Lawrence Durrell

PACs corrupt the system. They handle vast amounts of money and the money corrupts. ~ Paul Ryan

How difficult it has become to decipher the truth from the fictitious, to trust one's own eyes over the art of image distortion. Information is power and if readings have taught us anything, it is that power inevitably corrupts. ~ Aysha Taryam

Procrastination is also a subtle act of corruption – it corrupts valuable time ~ Amit Abraham

Only those are happy who never think or, rather, who only think about life's bare necessities, and to think about such things means not to think at all. True thinking resembles a demon who muddies the spring of life or a sickness which corrupts its roots. To think all the time, to raise questions, to doubt your own destiny, to feel the weariness of living, to be worn out to the point of exhaustion by thoughts and life, to leave behind you, as symbols of your life's drama, a trail of smoke and blood - all this means you are so unhappy that reflection and thinking appear as a curse causing a violent revulsion in you. ~ Emil Cioran

The habit of shedding blood, or even of seeing it shed, corrupts all sentiment of humanity. ~ Constantin-Francois Chasseboeuf

Ageing is not easy, Sennhora Castro. It's a terrible, incurable pathology. And great love is another pathology. It starts well. It's a most desirable disease. One wouldn't want to do without it. It's like yeast that corrupts the juice of grapes. One loves, one loves, one persists in loving-the incubation period can be very long- and then, with death, comes the heart break. Love must always meet its unwanted end. ~ Yann Martel

Evil communication truly corrupts good manner.

Not every adult has good moral upbringing and as such they abuse ethics at will. To them, they are having fun when in truth they are fooling themselves. ~ OMOSOHWOFA CASEY

Power corrupts. Knowledge is power. Study hard. Be evil. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Whatever is old corrupts, and the past turns to snakes. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

You wouldn't know what it's like to grow up privileged and powerful. It's intoxicating. Watching how people defer to you, and to your parents. Power reeks from your pores, and it infects people around you. Power corrupts, envelops, entices . . . The more powerful my father becomes, the more he fears losing it. ~ Robert Bryndza

Evil communication corrupts good manners. I hope to live to hear that good communication corrects bad manners. ~ Benjamin Banneker

Repeatedly asking for government help undermines the foundations of society by destroying initiative and responsibility. It is also a fatal blow to efficiency and corrupts the political process. ~ Charles Koch

Racism springs from the lie that certain human beings are less than fully human. It's a self-centered falsehood that corrupts our minds into believing we are right to treat others as we would not want to be treated. ~ Alveda King

Apathy is a spiritual numbness that creeps in and corrupts the good that God intends for our life and the good that He wants us to accomplish for Him and His kingdom. ~ Elizabeth George

War is a kind of superstition, the pageantry of arms and badges corrupts the imagination of men. ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

It is not easy to be the citizen of a Superpower, nor is it getting easier. I would feel isolated with my shame if I were not sure that I belong, among millions of Americans, to a perennial minority of the nation. The obstinate bleeding hearts who will never agree that might makes right and know if the end justifies the means, the end is worthless. Power corrupts, an old truism but why does it also make the powerful so stupid? Their power schemes become unstuck in time, at cruel cost to other; then the powerful put their stupid important heads together and invent the next similar schemes [written 1987]. ~ Martha Gellhorn

Many original occupiers believe the political system has become so corrupt that even participating in it, engaging with it, corrupts the movement. I understand what they are saying. But often, change does come more quickly from the inside rather than the outside. My advice: try both. But don't try violence. ~ Jennifer Granholm

The political lie is ever present. It corrupts those who lie and those who believe the lie. ~ Arthur D. Robbins

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. ~ Eric Hoffer

If power corrupts, the reverse is also true; persecution corrupts the victims though perhaps in subtler and more tragic ways. ~ Arthur Koestler

Maybe I'm just tired. (Geary)
People only say that when they're not really willing to deal with the issue at hand. It's like when you ask a guy what he's thinking and he says 'nothing' but in reality you know he's checking out another woman and he doesn't want you to give him grief over it. It's Thia's theory. (Tory)
I think you need to stay away from her before she corrupts you. (Geary)
Nah, it's too much fun. She has the most misguided views on everything. But I think what I just said is one of the few lucid thoughts she's ever managed. (Tory) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

Success corrupts character when a person loses the spirit of thankfulness. ~ Orrin Woodward

The true objection to slavery is not that it is unjust to the inferior but that it corrupts the superior. ~ H.G.Wells

Nothing corrupts like happiness. It makes us think that since we share this moment, we can also share the past. ~ Peter Hoeg

Contempt is a kind of gangrene which, if it seizes one part of a character, corrupts all the rest by degrees. ~ Samuel Johnson

The welfare state corrupts family life. Even Democrats have acknowledged the destructive consequences of the welfare state on the underclass. It has rendered vast numbers of male unnecessary to females, who have looked to the state to support them and their children (and the more children, the more state support) rather than to husbands. In effect, these women took the state as their husband. ~ Dennis Prager

Unlimited power corrupts the possessor. ~ William Pitt

That kings should be philosophers, or philosophers kings is neither to be expected nor to be desired, for the possession of power inevitably corrupts reason's free judgment. However, that kings or sovereign peoples (who rule themselves by laws of equality) should not allow the class of philosophers to disappear or to be silent, but should permit them to speak publicly is indispensable to the enlightenment of their affairs. ~ Immanuel Kant

He who practices Tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law without practicing Tasawwuf corrupts himself.
Only he who combines the two proves true. ~ Malik Ibn Anas

You might have good, moral efforts of working hard and earning money in order to help feed the poor or something along those lines - and then you get the money you've been seeking and you see and feel and taste how sweet it is and you only want more and more and more for ... yourself.
Money corrupts its own intentions. ~ Cole Ryan

I no longer give Power Point presentations, because I've come to believe that power corrupts, and Power Point corrupts absolutely. ~ Vinton Cerf

In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith

One of the (many) problems with government is not that power corrupts or even that it is magnetic to corruptible people; rather, it is that we have been conditioned to tolerate corruption in power, and so we don't even try to hold our politicians accountable. ~ Michel Templet

Knowledge is power, isn't that what we say? But power corrupts. An institution based on knowledge and learning can't help but be a corrupt institution. ~ Sam Cabot

Great men are almost always bad men. ~ John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

Philosophy is an elegant thing, if anyone modestly meddles with it; but if they are conversant with it more than is becoming, it corrupts them. ~ Plato

Power is pure undiluted energy which is incapable of corrupting itself.
So where got we this 'that power corrupts men'? We got it wrong.
Power does not corrupt men, it only reveals the corruption in them.
If ever we find power corrupted in any way, we should know it has fallen victim to a man. ~ Paul Bamikole

It's a fifty-fifty chance that your main aim is to be thelyphthoric, a word that comes from the Greek thely meaning "woman" and phthoric meaning "corrupting," thus the OED's simple definition: "that corrupts or ruins women. ~ Mark Forsyth

It may be that hope misleads. But hate - hate corrupts. I have been too quick to hate. I become like what I abhor. ~ Stephen R. Donaldson

You can take power from others; you can steal it. It is not a very high-grade power. It will give you a certain amount of access to a better life; but it corrupts the individual. ~ Frederick Lenz

Once you allow anyone to terrorize you, you will be terrorized all your life. Terror corrupts. Pretty soon you'll be terrorizing others ... Life doesn't mean anything if you can't rid yourself of fear. ~ Martha Albrand

In the game of cricket, a hero is a person who respects the game and does not corrupt the game. The one who doesn't or corrupts the game, they are the villain. They should be punished, and they have been punished in the past. ~ Virat Kohli

Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause. ~ Chris Hedges

She's vicious,' Miss Stein said. 'She's truly vicious, so she can never be happy except with new people. She corrupts people. ~ Ernest Hemingway,

Great power often corrupts virtue; it invariably renders vice more malignant ... In proportion as the powers of government increase, both its own character and that of the people becomes worse. ~ John Taylor Of Caroline

The News-writer lies down at Night in great Tranquillity, upon a piece of News which corrupts before Morning, and which he is obliged to throw away as soon as he awakes. ~ Jean De La Bruyere

If knowledge is power and power corrupt, does knowledge corrupt? ~ James Moore

Self-deception is like this. It blinds us to the true causes of problems, and once we're blind, all the "solutions" we can think of will actually make matters worse. Whether at work or at home, self-deception obscures the truth about ourselves, corrupts our view of others and our circumstances, and inhibits our ability to make wise and helpful decisions. ~ The Arbinger Institute

Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power. ~ Eric Hoffer

Oil creates the illusion of a completely changed life, life without work, life for free. Oil is a resource that anaesthetises thought, blurs vision, corrupts. ~ Ryszard Kapuscinski