“Moral decay first hampers and then strangles honest government, regular commerce, and even the ability to take genuine pleasure in the goods of this world. Compulsion is applied from above as self-discipline relaxes below, and the last liberties expire under the weight of a unitary state.... Since religion has lost its empire over the souls of men, the most prominent boundary that divided good from evil is overthrown; kings and nations are guided by chance and none can say where are the natural limits of despotism and the bound of license.” MenWorldFirstsSoulSelfStatesGovernmentLastsEvilLostNationsNaturalChanceAbilityPleasureLibertyMoralHonestThis WorldKingsDisciplineLimitsWeightBoundsCorruptionBoundariesGenuineRelaxEmpiresGoodsDividedDecayCommerceSelf DisciplineLicenseCompulsionDespotismProminentHamperMoral DecayHonest Government Author:Russell Kirk
“The hegemony of finance and the banks has produced the indebted. Control over information and communication networks has created the mediatized. The security regime and the generalized state of exception have constructed a figure prey to fear and yearning for protection—the securitized. And the corruption of democracy has forged a strange, depoliticized figure, the represented. These subjective figures constitute the social terrain on which—and against which—movements of resistance and rebellion must act.” StatesSocialDemocracySecurityFiguresInformationMovementStrangeCommunicationCorruptionProtectionResistanceFinanceExceptionRebellionRegimesYearningSubjectivePreyDemocracies HaveForgedTerrainHegemonyIndebtedInformation And Communication Author:Michael Hardt
“In a state of tranquility, wealth, and luxury, our descendants would forget the arts of war and the noble activity and zeal which made their ancestors invincible. Every art of corruption would be employed to loosen the bond of union which renders our resistance formidable. When the spirit of liberty which now animates our hearts and gives success to our arms is extinct, our numbers will accelerate our ruin and render us easier victims to tyranny.” GivingHeartArtMadeWarStatesWould BeSpiritWealthForgetNumbersLibertyArmsEasierActivityVictimUnionsCorruptionNobleTyrannyResistanceRuinsLuxuryAncestorTranquilityEmployedArt Of WarZealInvincibleDescendantsFormidableAccelerate Author:Samuel Adams
“I have nothing against the smell of rot but something against what hides the smell of rot in the United States of America.” StatesAmericaUnitedUnited StatesCorruptionSmellUnited States Of America Author:Giannina Braschi
“Corruption could lead to the collapse of the Party [Communist Party of China] and the downfall of the state [People's Republic of China].” PeopleStatesPartyCorruptionChinaRepublicCommunistCollapseDownfallCommunist Party Author:Xi Jinping