There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power.
Interpretation
Unlimited power can corrupt individuals, leading to the destruction of their noble qualities and feelings.
The quote by William Henry Harrison warns about the dangers of unlimited power, suggesting that when individuals hold absolute authority, it can lead to moral degradation. This unchecked power often corrupts the individual, suppressing their noblest qualities and transforming them into something destructive, highlighting a fundamental truth about human nature—that power can alter one's character and intentions.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about political corruption.
We admit of no government by divine right, believing that so far as power is concerned the Beneficent Creator has made no distinction amongst men; that all are upon an equality, and that the only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed.
The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed.
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
Men become cannibals of their own hearts; remorse, regret, and restless impatience usurp the place of more wholesome feeling: every thing seems better than that which is.
bad things, like good things don't happen any more often than they ought to by chance. the universe has no mind, no feelings, and no personality, so it doesn't do things in order to either hurt or please you. bad things happen because things happen.
I was tired and crazy and rushed, and every time I boarded a plane, I wanted the plane to crash. I envied people dying of cancer. I hated my life. I was tired and bored with my job and my furniture, and I couldn’t see any way to change things. Only end them.
Man associates ideas not according to logic or verifiable exactitude, but according to his pleasure and interests. It is for this reason that most truths are nothing but prejudices.
When you break the big laws, you do not get liberty; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws.
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