Quote

At the heart of the mystery of corruption lies the desire of one man to impose his will on others to the largest possible extent.

Robert Payne

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Robert Payne
Men
Corruption
Lies
Mystery
Possible
Lying
Desire
Impose
Others
Largest
Heart
Extent

More quotes by Robert Payne

Image
For domination has nothing whatsoever to do with good government, and power as an end in itself destroys good government.
Robert Payne
Image
The game of power is played remorselessly by men who have not the slightest knowledge of, or interest in, the way ordinary people live, and the ordinary people are too terrified to protest.
Robert Payne
Image
Uncorrupted man, with God's blessing, advances across the fields of the universe as though he were walking down a country lane.
Robert Payne
Image
Long before the empire had reached its greatest extent, the Romans were bored by it.
Robert Payne
Image
Corrupt men are always liars. Lies are their instruments, their pleasure, their solace. In time they come to believe their lies, or rather to half-believe them.
Robert Payne
Image
It is no more rational to have lawyers in positions of power than it would be to have garbage collectors in positions of power. And in human terms garbage collectors would be preferable.
Robert Payne
Image
It is almost a general rule that nations do not decline gradually. Instead they fall abruptly from their greatest heights.
Robert Payne
Image
A culture is not only the language and the arts of a people. It is all their history, all their hopes for the future.
Robert Payne
Image
The United States is dangerously close to being a plutocracy. A third of the private wealth is owned by less than 5 percent of the population.
Robert Payne
Image
Nietzsche's accomplishment is that he permits us to see corruption from the inside.
Robert Payne
Image
Naked power has its limitations, since power is a generator of corruption and corruption in its turn tends to dilute the effectiveness of power.
Robert Payne
Image
Corruption appears to be a universal phenomenon that lays its own imperious claims on the world, and therefore it is the duty of all nations to prepare themselves against its onslaught by taking proper precautions.
Robert Payne
Image
The corrupt, when found out, become especially good moralists.
Robert Payne
Image
All is forgiven to kings and popes. History grants them immunity, even a full pardon, even when they admit their crimes and glory in them.
Robert Payne
Image
Throughout the history of Christianity, there had been a core of belief that man was not doomed to be everlastingly corrupt.
Robert Payne
Image
The corrupt man is nearly always rootless, deeply aware of his rootlessness.
Robert Payne