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As power becomes great, concupiscence grows less.

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More quotes by As-Saffah

It is rare that bounty is given unasked but a just claim is destroyed thereby.

When forbearance is mischievous, to pardon is weakness.

Patience is praiseworthy save in what prejudices the faith or renders sovereignty contemptible, and moderation is commendable except at the season of opportunity.

Verily they are the basest and meanest of men who account avarice prudence, and clemency ignoble.

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The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

John Adams A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

When we see a great man desiring power instead of his real goal we soon recognize that he is sick, or more precisely that his attitude to his work is sick.

Martin Buber What is Man? (1938)

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

C. S. Lewis God in the Dock (1970)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: As-Saffah (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.