Power corrupts: the rest of the quote.

[Senior citizen]

"I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favorable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way against holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." -- Lord Acton

I found this on p. 151 of the book, "Chatter: Dispatches from the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping," c. 2005 by Patrick Radden Keefe, published by Random House. As he notes, the entire quote is "more compelling and nuanced" than the well known fragment.

[Imagine My Surprise]

1. Hey, thanks for sharing that!

Perhaps the most misquoted quote is "money is the root of all evil"; it actually says "the love of money is the root of all evil".

[DireStrike]

2. Is that true?

My mother says that all the time; she thinks she made it up, I think.

[crispini]

3. Wups. I always thought that quote was Orwell for some reason.

Well, now I know. Thanks! :thumbsup: