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

Lord Acton

More information about this quote

Topic

Abuse of power Power Great men Corruption

Speaker

Lord Acton

Source

Letters of Lord Acton

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1887 1880s 19th century

Occupation

Politician Writer

From

United Kingdom Europe

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Lord Acton. Letter to Archbishop Mandell Creighton. 5 Apr. 1887.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Lord Acton about abuse of power: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men…”
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A quote by Lord Acton about abuse of power: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men…”
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A quote by Lord Acton about abuse of power: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men…”
Download
A quote by Lord Acton about abuse of power: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men…”
Download
A quote by Lord Acton about abuse of power: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men…”
Download
A quote by Lord Acton about abuse of power: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men…”
Download
A quote by Lord Acton about abuse of power: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men…”
Download

Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1880s

There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.

Mark Twain

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Buy The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at Amazon Buy The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at Amazon
Read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Embellishment Truth

Author

Mark Twain
Source
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Medium
Novel
Genre
Children's literature Adventure novel
Language
English
Time
1884 1880s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. London: Chatto & Windus, 1884, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, edited by R. Kent Rasmussen. Penguin Classics, 2014, ch. 1.

Another quote about Power

Every Communist must grasp the truth: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."

Mao Zedong

Read this quote at marxists.org
More information about this quote
Topic
Power Political theory Politics
Speaker
Mao Zedong
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
Chinese
Time
1938 1930s 20th century
Authentication Score 2
Citation

Zedong, Mao. "Problems of War and Strategy." Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party. 6 Nov. 1938, Yan'an, China.

Another quote of the following type Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Rome was not built in one day.

John Heywood

Proverbs (Heywood)

More information about this quote
Topic
Accomplishing a task

Author

John Heywood
Source
Proverbs (Heywood)
Statement Type
Proverbs, aphorisms and adages
Language
English
Time
1580 1580s 16th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Heywood, John. The Proverbs of John Heywood. London: George Bell and Sons, 1874, pt. 1, ch. 11.