Pearl S. Buck Quotes

Politics ruins the character.

The corruption of every government begins nearly always with that of principles.

The government is run by men who have the rudder of State in their hands and cushions of state beneath their High and Mighty Behinds.

No public man can be just a little crooked.

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

Power doesn't corrupt people, people corrupt power.

Good men and women come to Washington and get caught in a culture of corruption.

I suppose that an honest man shines more in politics than he does elsewhere.

My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth there's hardly any difference.

I have told you already a hundred times: You are not a King and yet you have no idea how to be one …. All your difficulties and anxieties come from your own bad administration and because you have never paid any attention to my advice. I shall always regret having given you a kingdom where you have merely profited from the reputation of my name

Bad politics make for bad morals.

Ethics and power are separate.

This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,Was once thought honest.

States are doomed when they are unable to distinguish good men from bad.

If there is any hell more unprincipled than our rulers, and we, the ruled, I feel curious to see it.

It is not power that corrupts but fear.

Unlimited power corrupts the possessor.

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.

Ambition, in a private man is a vice, is in a prince the virtue.

Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.

Government is essentially immoral.

An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.

Whether it comes from a despotic sovereign or an elected president, from a murderous general or a beloved leader, I see power as an inhuman and hateful phenomenon.

President Lincoln is timid, vacillating, and inefficient.