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Robert Payne

Robert Payne Quotes

Novelist

Robert Payne was a British novelist known for his profound insights into historical and mystical themes. His works often blend historical backgrounds with supernatural elements, enjoying great popularity among readers.

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All Corruption Men Nations Wealth Age Culture Decline Humans Kings Long

Famous Robert Payne Quotes

“The books of men have their day and grow obsolete. God's word is like Himself, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.”

Men Book Grows Forever Yesterday Obsolete

Author:Robert Payne

“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.”

World Nations Duty Universal Claims Lays Corruption Phenomenon Precaution

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“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.”

Men Long Sometimes Dies Taken Corruption Deathbed

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“It is precisely when we help one another that we gain our victories over corruption, but the victory is assured only when we help one another with all our strength.”

Helping Victory Gains Corruption Assured

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

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

People Art Culture Language Hope For The Future

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“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.”

Doe Sometimes Age Faces Culture Five Corruption Tyranny Old Age Visible Conquest Clash Treachery Corrupt Society

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“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.”

Men Heart Lying Desire Mystery Corruption One Man

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

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

Ends Government Domination

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“The United States is dangerously close to being a plutocracy. A third of the private wealth is owned by less than 5 percent of the population.”

States Wealth United United States Percent Thirds Population Plutocracy

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

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

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

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

Found Moralist Good Moral

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“The second corruption of the state is oligarchy (oligos = few), in which the military elite is narrowed down to a few ruling families of immense wealth and prestige, who now openly flaunt their wealth and possessions.”

States Wealth Military Possession Corruption Elites Immense Ruling Prestige Oligarchy

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

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

Long Bored Empires

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“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.”

Firsts Philosopher Corruption Kingdoms Wander Crumbling

Author:Robert Payne

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

Fall Nations Height Decline

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“Uncorrupted man, with God's blessing, advances across the fields of the universe as though he were walking down a country lane.”

Men Country Universe Fields Walking Blessing Lanes

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“Throughout the history of Christianity, there had been a core of belief that man was not doomed to be everlastingly corrupt.”

Men Belief Christianity Core Doomed

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“All is forgiven to kings and popes. History grants them immunity, even a full pardon, even when they admit their crimes and glory in them.”

Crime Kings Glory Grants Pope Forgiven Pardon Immunity

Author:Robert Payne

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

Corruption Accomplishment Permit

Author:Robert Payne

“A totalitarian dictatorship cannot explain; it can only suppress.”

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“Fragmentation occurs when a civilization is in decline.”

Civilization Decline Fragmentation

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

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

Turns Corruption Naked Limitation Effectiveness Generator

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“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.”

Men Believe Lying Pleasure Half Instruments Liars Solace

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“The game of power is played remorselessly by men who have not the slightest knowledge of, or interest in, the way ordinary people live, and the ordinary people are too terrified to protest.”

People Men Way Games Interest Ordinary Protest Terrified Ordinary People

Author:Robert Payne

“A nation's wealth is too serious a matter to be left to the wealthy. The riches of a nation belong to all, to be shared among all for the general welfare.”

Matter Left Nations Wealth Serious Riches Welfare Wealthy General Welfare

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“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.”

Humans Would Be Term Position Lawyer Rational Garbage Collectors Position Of Power

Book:The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“In the Middle Ages the king offered protection to his subjects in return for their loyalty, and the subjects were doubly protected, for the church also sheltered them. The need for shelter - for a father image that cares and will hopefully provide and give some meaning to human lives - remains as real as it was in the Middle Ages, but modern technocracy has no place for either the father or the church and provides no substitute.”

Source: The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America

“The small Hitlers are around us every day.”

Book:The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler

Source: The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler

About the Author

Born: December 4, 1911
Died: March 3, 1983
Known for: Novelist
Quotes: 28

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The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day AmericaRelated source material

The Life and Death of Adolf HitlerRelated source material

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