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.

The corrupt man is nearly always rootless, deeply aware of his rootlessness.

For domination has nothing whatsoever to do with good government, and power as an end in itself destroys good government.

A culture is not only the language and the arts of a people. It is all their history, all their hopes for the future.

Historically the first philosopher to enquire deeply into the nature of corruption in society was Ibn Khaldun (1322-1406), whose wandering life was largely spent in the northern littoral of Africa at a time when kingdoms and sultanates were crumbling.

The corrupt, when found out, become especially good moralists.

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