Naked power has its limitations, since power is a generator of corruption and corruption in its turn tends to dilute the effectiveness of power.

At the heart of the mystery of corruption lies the desire of one man to impose his will on others to the largest possible extent.

It is no more rational to have lawyers in positions of power than it would be to have garbage collectors in positions of power. And in human terms garbage collectors would be preferable.

Long before the empire had reached its greatest extent, the Romans were bored by it.

It is almost a general rule that nations do not decline gradually. Instead they fall abruptly from their greatest heights.

Corrupt men are always liars. Lies are their instruments, their pleasure, their solace. In time they come to believe their lies, or rather to half-believe them.

Sometimes societies die and putrefy long before they are pronounced dead, and sometimes men die of corruption long before they have taken to their deathbeds.