Corruption is a tree, whose branches are
Of an immeasurable length: they spread
Ev'rywhere; and the dew read more

Corruption is a tree, whose branches are
Of an immeasurable length: they spread
Ev'rywhere; and the dew that drops from thence
Hath infected some chairs and stools of authority.

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually read more

It is 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.

Don't buy a single vote more than necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide.

Don't buy a single vote more than necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide.

Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today

Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today

If something can corrupt you, you're corrupted already.

If something can corrupt you, you're corrupted already.

The men with the muck-rake are often indispensable to the
well-being of society, but only if they know when read more

The men with the muck-rake are often indispensable to the
well-being of society, but only if they know when to stop raking
the muck.
- Theodore Roosevelt,

So true is that old saying, Corruptio optimi pessima.

So true is that old saying, Corruptio optimi pessima.

I know, when they prove bad, they are a sort of the vilest
creatures: yet still the same reason read more

I know, when they prove bad, they are a sort of the vilest
creatures: yet still the same reason gives it: for Optima
corrupta pessima: the best things corrupted become the worst.

'Tis the most certain sign, the world's accurst
That the best things corrupted, are the worst;
'Twas read more

'Tis the most certain sign, the world's accurst
That the best things corrupted, are the worst;
'Twas the corrupted Light of knowledge, hurl'd
Sin, Death, and Ignorance o'er all the world;
That Sun like this (from which our sight we have)
Gaz'd on too long, resumes the light he gave.