Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority...

Good and evil lie close together. Seek no artistic unity in character.

I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.

Machiavelli's teaching would hardly have stood the test of Parliamentary government, for public discussion demands at least the profession of good faith.

Self-preservation and self-denial: the basis of all political economy.

At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities.