Corruption appears to be a universal phenomenon that lays its own imperious claims on the world, and therefore it is the duty of all nations to prepare themselves against its onslaught by taking proper precautions.

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

Fragmentation occurs when a civilization is in decline.

Nietzsche's accomplishment is that he permits us to see corruption from the inside.

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.

Conquest, tyranny, treachery, and the clash of cultures bring about corrupt societies, and so does old age. Sometimes the five faces of corruption are visible at the same time.