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corruption quotes

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“there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” Mark Twain, Following the Equator
“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” Barack Obama, Inaugural Address
“Again, the many are more incorruptible than the few; they are like the greater quantity of water which is less easily corrupted than a little.” Aristotle, Politics
“Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience, but by the exercise of a power which they believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which they consider to be usurped and oppressive.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
“Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.” Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Fair speech may hide a foul heart.” J. R. R. Tolkien, The Two Towers
“I hate ingratitude more in a man than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or any taint of vice whose strong corruption inhabits our frail blood.” William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
“to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics, is the first task of the statesmanship of the day...” Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography
“Virtue is chok'd with foul ambition, and charity chas'd hence by rancour's hand; foul subornation is predominant, and equity exil'd your highness' land.” William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2
“if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
“Corruption wins not more than honesty.” William Shakespeare, Henry VIII
“Do you know how a man makes his way here? By brilliant genius or by skilful corruption. You must either cut your way through these masses of men like a cannon ball, or steal among them like a plague.” Honoré de Balzac, Father Goriot
“But then the pastors and men of God can only be human,—cannot be altogether men of God; and so they have oppressed us, and burned us, and tortured us, and hence come to love palaces, and fine linen, and purple, and, alas, sometimes, mere luxury...” Anthony Trollope, Phineas Redux
“The government of my country snubs honest simplicity but fondles artistic villainy, and I think I might have developed into a very capable pickpocket if I had remained in the public service a year or two.” Mark Twain, Roughing It
“To an atheist all writings tend to atheism: he corrupts the most innocent matter with his own venom.” Michel de Montaigne, The Essays of Michel de Montaigne

Related topics

power speech politics evil beauty honesty America critics meaning government religion deceit success language oppression virtue thought genius obedience vice

Related authors

William Shakespeare (3)
Mark Twain (2)
Barack Obama (1)
Aristotle (1)
George Orwell (1)
Oscar Wilde (1)
J. R. R. Tolkien (1)
Alexis de Tocqueville (1)
Theodore Roosevelt (1)
Michel de Montaigne (1)
Anthony Trollope (1)
Honoré de Balzac (1)

Related sources

Inaugural Address (1)
Politics (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
Twelfth Night (1)
Democracy in America (1)
Following the Equator (1)
Henry VIII (1)
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (1)
Politics and the English Language (1)
The Two Towers (1)
Father Goriot (1)
Phineas Redux (1)
Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography (1)
Henry VI, Part 2 (1)
Roughing It (1)