Quoted Text

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely




Meaning

Literal meaning.

Origin

This arose as a quotation by Lord Acton in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887:

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

William Pitt the Younger, The Earl of Chatham and British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778, is sometimes wrongly attributed as the source. He did say something similar though, in a speech to the UK House of Lords in 1770:

"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it"

Quoted Text

"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it"

Quoted from 47

I'm glad to see you are a multi purpose zealot.

Quoted from 47

  Its amazing how when you write and intend one thing someone else reads it a different way.

Quoted from 16

  What I think we need to do is get back to what is actually in some pieces of paper that most people have forgotten about.  Those pieces of paper would be little things like A) The Constitution of the United States of America, B) The Declaration of Independence, and maybe some other documents that have been pushed by the wayside.  

And if I may ask a question of anybody here.  Has anybody ever checked to see if the Constitution has ever taken a breath?  I know it sounds like an idiotic question, but there's so many people in the Democratic Party that say's the Constitution is a living, breathing document.  Seems to me it's basic ideals that were put down on paper for people to follow.  It was never meant to be interpreted for more than it states on the paper.

I would love to join a group that gets back to the original thoughts of these papers, maybe in a party such as it would be, maybe the Constitution Party.