CURATED COLLECTION

How Power Corrupts People

Power doesn't reveal character — it accelerates it, and these quotes track what that acceleration looks like.

99 quotes found

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There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than to make men understand.

—Niccolò MachiavelliDiplomat, Historian & Philosopher

Renaissance ERA • Southern Europe

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What we call peace is nothing but a temporary truce.

—Ingeborg BachmannPoet & Writer

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

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The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint.

—Alexis de TocquevilleScientist & Historian

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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History is a teacher, and it punishes those who do not listen.

—Maria DąbrowskaNovelist

Early Modern ERA • Eastern Europe

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What is a country but an argument we must learn to live with?

—Sara SuleriCritic & Memoirist

Late Modern ERA • South Asia

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Man is a creature that can be made to believe anything, provided it is repeated often enough.

—Arthur SchopenhauerPhilosopher

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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Sometimes, silence is the loudest sound. It speaks volumes of unspoken truths.

—Pham Thi HoaiNovelist & Essayist

Late Modern ERA • Southeast Asia

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How can she reasonably love a Man who is always using his Power against her?

—Mary AstellPhilosopher, Feminist & Writer

Enlightenment ERA • Western Europe

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Who is to blame? She who sins for pay or he who pays for sin?

—Sor Juana Inés de la CruzPoet, Philosopher & Feminist

Renaissance ERA • Latin America

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The British never understood our aspirations for true national independence.

—Chin PengAuthor & Thinker

Contemporary ERA • Southeast Asia

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If you're not careful, newspapers will have you hating the oppressed and loving the oppressors.

—Malcolm XActivist & Minister

Post-War ERA • North America

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The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war.

—Ernest HemingwayNovelist & Journalist

Early Modern ERA • North America

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Let the unworthy bark, the lion does not heed the noise of dogs.

—Nef'iPoet

Renaissance ERA • MENA

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Men are generally more careful to injure him who has taken their property than him who has taken their honor.

—Niccolò MachiavelliPhilosopher & Diplomat

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

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Religion is the opium of the people.

—Karl MarxPhilosopher & Economist

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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No one is good except for good fortune.

—Theognis of MegaraElegiac Poet

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

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The value of a man is his price; so much as would be given for the use of his power.

—Thomas HobbesPhilosopher

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

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The colonizer's language became our own, twisted, vibrant, full of defiant new meanings.

—Jessica HagedornNovelist, Poet & Artist

Late Modern ERA • Southeast Asia

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Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

—Percy Bysshe ShelleyPoet & Thinker

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

—George OrwellNovelist & Essayist

Early Modern ERA • Western Europe

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