So true is that old saying, Corruptio optimi pessima.

So true is that old saying, Corruptio optimi pessima.

When rogues like these (a sparrow cries)
To honours and employments rise,
I court no favor, ask read more

When rogues like these (a sparrow cries)
To honours and employments rise,
I court no favor, ask no place,
For such preferment is disgrace.

The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference

The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference

'Tis the most certain sign, the world's accurst
That the best things corrupted, are the worst;
'Twas read more

'Tis the most certain sign, the world's accurst
That the best things corrupted, are the worst;
'Twas the corrupted Light of knowledge, hurl'd
Sin, Death, and Ignorance o'er all the world;
That Sun like this (from which our sight we have)
Gaz'd on too long, resumes the light he gave.

The spiritual virtue of a sacrament is like light; although it
passes among the impure, it is not polluted.
read more

The spiritual virtue of a sacrament is like light; although it
passes among the impure, it is not polluted.
[Lat., Spiritalis enim virtus sacramenti ita est ut lux: etsi
per immundos transeat, non inquinatur.]

If something can corrupt you, you're corrupted already.

If something can corrupt you, you're corrupted already.

Don't buy a single vote more than necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide.

Don't buy a single vote more than necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide.

The men with the muck-rake are often indispensable to the
well-being of society, but only if they know when read more

The men with the muck-rake are often indispensable to the
well-being of society, but only if they know when to stop raking
the muck.
- Theodore Roosevelt,

. . . thieves at home must hang; but he that puts
Into his overgorged and bloated purse
read more

. . . thieves at home must hang; but he that puts
Into his overgorged and bloated purse
The wealth of Indian provinces, escapes.