TERMS STARTING WITH
corruptionist ::: n. --> One who corrupts, or who upholds corruption.
corruption ::: moral perversion; depravity.
corruption ::: n. --> The act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or disorganization, in the process of putrefaction; putrefaction; deterioration.
The product of corruption; putrid matter.
The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery.
The act of changing, or of being changed, for the
TERMS ANYWHERE
a corruption of Raguel (q.v.). According to
a corruption of Sahariel. Asderel is an evil archangel
Abracadabra [possibly from Celtic abra or abar god + cad holy; Blavatsky from an elaboration of the Gnostic Abrasax or Abraxas, a corruption of a Coptic or Egyptian magic formula meaning “hurt me not”] Mystical word used as a charm by the Gnostic school of Basilides. The Gnostic physician Serenus Sammonicus (2nd-3rd century) prescribed it as a remedy for agues and fevers. On amulets the word is often inscribed as a triangle with the point down, beginning with all eleven letters, below which are the first ten, and so on down to the single letter at the point. The power of any charm lies, not in the word itself, but in the hidden science connecting sounds and symbols with the potencies in nature to which they correspond. See also ABLANATHANALBA
actually a corruption or variant of Ezeeqael.
Adbhitanya [possibly corruption of Sanskrit adbhutama or adbhutva from adbhuta marvelous, wonderful] In the Vishnu-Purana (3:2), adbhuta is the name of the Indra of the ninth manvantara. Commentary quoted by Blavatsky refers to the first continent once “inhabited by the Sons of Sveta-dwipa [the White Island], the blessed, and Adbhitanya, east and west, the first, the one and the pure . . .” (SD 2:319). Another name for this land or primevally inhabited part of the earth is Adi-varsha.
adjutator ::: n. --> A corruption of Agitator.
adulteration ::: n. --> The act of adulterating; corruption, or debasement (esp. of food or drink) by foreign mixture.
An adulterated state or product.
adultery ::: n. --> The unfaithfulness of a married person to the marriage bed; sexual intercourse by a married man with another than his wife, or voluntary sexual intercourse by a married woman with another than her husband.
Adulteration; corruption.
Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the seventh commandment.
Faithlessness in religion.
Aiken code "data" An alternative form of the {Binary Coded Decimal} (BCD) system for encoding numbers. Where BCD encodes each decimal digit in normal binary, Aiken code uses the encoding shown below. This is supposed to be less prone to corruption. The following table shows the encoding of each decimal digit, D, in BCD and Aiken code: D BCD Aiken 0 0000 0000 1 0001 0001 2 0010 0010 3 0011 0011 4 0100 0100 5 0101 1011 (inverted 4) 6 0110 1100 (inverted 3) 7 0111 1101 (inverted 2) 8 1000 1110 (inverted 1) 9 1001 1111 (inverted 0) The Aiken code was probably designed by {Howard Aiken} in the 1940s or 1950s for use in data transmission. Compare: {Gray code}. [What is it good for and why?] (2007-07-16)
(angels of corruption). The sole angel of this group
Angels of Corruption (or Perdition)—origin¬
argal ::: n. --> Crude tartar. See Argol.
Alt. of Argali ::: adv. --> A ludicrous corruption of the Latin word ergo, therefore.
Atisa DīpaMkarasrījNAna. (T. A ti sha Mar me mdzad dpal ye shes) (982-1054). Indian Buddhist monk and scholar revered by Tibetan Buddhists as a leading teacher in the later dissemination (PHYI DAR) of Buddhism in Tibet. His name, also written as Atisha, is an ApabhraMsa form of the Sanskrit term atisaya, meaning "surpassing kindness." Born into a royal family in what is today Bangladesh, Atisa studied MAHAYANA Buddhist philosophy and TANTRA as a married layman prior to being ordained at the age of twenty-nine, receiving the ordination name of DīpaMkarasrījNAna. After studying at the great monasteries of northern India, including NALANDA, ODANTAPURĪ, VIKRAMAsĪLA, and SOMAPURA, he is said to have journeyed to the island of Sumatra, where he studied under the CITTAMATRA teacher Dharmakīrtisrī (also known as guru Sauvarnadvīpa) for twelve years; he would later praise Dharmakīrtisrī as a great teacher of BODHICITTA. Returning to India, he taught at the Indian monastic university of VIKRAMAsĪLA. Atisa was invited to Tibet by the king of western Tibet YE SHES 'OD and his grandnephew BYANG CHUB 'OD, who were seeking to remove perceived corruption in the practice of Buddhism in Tibet. Atisa reached Tibet in 1042, where he initially worked together with the renowned translator RIN CHEN BZANG PO at THO LING monastery in the translation of PRAJNAPARAMITA texts. There, he composed his famous work, the BODHIPATHAPRADĪPA, or "Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment," an overview of the MahAyAna Buddhist path that served as a basis for the genre of literature known as LAM RIM ("stages of the path"). He spent the remaining twelve years of his life in the central regions of Tibet, where he formed his principal seat in Snye thang (Nyetang) outside of LHA SA where he translated a number of MADHYAMAKA works into Tibetan. He died there and his relics were interred in the SGROL MA LHA KHANG. Atisa and his chief disciples 'BROM STON RGYAL BA'I 'BYUNG GNAS and RNGOG LEGS PA'I SHES RAB are considered the forefathers of the BKA' GDAMS PA sect of Tibetan Buddhism. In Tibet, he is commonly known by the honorific title Jo bo rje (Jowoje), "the Superior Lord."
attaint ::: disgrace, corruption; taint; stain .
Azkariel—a corruption of Ak(h)raziel (q.v.).
baz ::: /baz/ The third metasyntactic variable Suppose we have three functions: FOO, BAR, and BAZ. FOO calls BAR, which calls BAZ... (See also fum). Occasionally appended to foo to produce foobaz.Early versions of the Hacker Jargon dictionary derived baz as a Stanford corruption of bar. However, Pete Samson (compiler of the TMRC lexicon) reports counties of Rowrfolk and Bassex (Rowrbazzle mingled with Norfolk/Suffolk/Middlesex/ Essex).[Jargon File]
baz /baz/ The third {metasyntactic variable} "Suppose we have three functions: FOO, BAR, and BAZ. FOO calls BAR, which calls BAZ..." (See also {fum}). Occasionally appended to {foo} to produce "foobaz". Early versions of the Hacker Jargon dictionary derived "baz" as a Stanford corruption of {bar}. However, Pete Samson (compiler of the {TMRC} lexicon) reports it was already current when he joined TMRC in 1958. He says "It came from "Pogo". Albert the Alligator, when vexed or outraged, would shout "Bazz Fazz!" or "Rowrbazzle!" The club layout was said to model the (mythical) New England counties of Rowrfolk and Bassex (Rowrbazzle mingled with Norfolk/Suffolk/Middlesex/ Essex)." [{Jargon File}] (2008-06-30)
corruptionist ::: n. --> One who corrupts, or who upholds corruption.
corruption ::: moral perversion; depravity.
corruption ::: n. --> The act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or disorganization, in the process of putrefaction; putrefaction; deterioration.
The product of corruption; putrid matter.
The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery.
The act of changing, or of being changed, for the
Brahma-Samaj, Brahmo-Samaj A religious and theistic movement in India, originating with Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who began teaching and writing in Calcutta soon after 1800. Instituted as a reform movement working against idolatry, the degenerations of orthodox Brahmanism, the perversions and corruptions of popular Hinduism, as well as against Christian missionaries. Baboo Keshub Chunder Sen became its leader in 1858. This movement did not become as popular as the Arya-Samaj, but it became conspicuous for its work in the cause of literary culture and social reform. Its some 4,000 adherents are mostly found in Calcutta and its neighborhood.
cacotechny ::: n. --> A corruption or corrupt state of art.
can't happen "programming" The traditional program comment for code executed under a condition that should never be true, for example a file size computed as negative. Often, such a condition being true indicates data corruption or a faulty {algorithm}; it is almost always handled by emitting a fatal error message and terminating or crashing, since there is little else that can be done. Some case variant of "can't happen" is also often the text emitted if the "impossible" error actually happens. Although "can't happen" events are genuinely infrequent in production code, programmers wise enough to check for them habitually are often surprised at how frequently they are triggered during development and how many headaches checking for them turns out to head off. See also {firewall code}, {professional programming}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-05-10)
cathay ::: n. --> China; -- an old name for the Celestial Empire, said have been introduced by Marco Polo and to be a corruption of the Tartar name for North China (Khitai, the country of the Khitans.)
Cazardia—a corruption of Gazardiel (q.v.).
checksum "storage, communications" A computed value which depends on the contents of a block of data and which is transmitted or stored along with the data in order to detect corruption of the data. The receiving system recomputes the checksum based upon the received data and compares this value with the one sent with the data. If the two values are the same, the receiver has some confidence that the data was received correctly. The checksum may be 8 bits (modulo 256 sum), 16, 32, or some other size. It is computed by summing the bytes or words of the data block ignoring {overflow}. The checksum may be negated so that the total of the data words plus the checksum is zero. {Internet} {packets} use a 32-bit checksum. See also {digital signature}, {cyclic redundancy check}. (1996-03-01)
corruptful ::: a. --> Tending to corrupt; full of corruption.
corruptive ::: a. --> Having the quality of taining or vitiating; tending to produce corruption.
corruptless ::: a. --> Not susceptible of corruption or decay; incorruptible.
corruptly ::: adv. --> In a corrupt manner; by means of corruption or corrupting influences; wrongfully.
Council, 3rd. The third council is said to have been held at PAtALIPUTRA under the patronage of the Mauryan Emperor AsOKA. According to PAli sources, Asoka's lavish support of the Buddhist SAMGHA had prompted many non-Buddhist mendicants and brAhmanas to don the robes of Buddhist monks in order to receive alms. With the legitimate saMgha unable to forcibly remove the false monks from their midst, the UPOsADHA ceremony was suspended. The emperor sent a minister to order the monks to continue to perform the ceremony. When they refused, he beheaded a number of monks, only stopping when he was about to behead the emperor's ordained brother. The emperor eventually summoned the distinguished monk MOGGALIPUTTATISSA, who taught him the correct DHARMA and VINAYA in order that Asoka might intervene on behalf of the legitimate party. Asoka interrogated the saMgha and, using the authority of the state, defrocked those found to be false monks. With the saMgha thus purified of corruption, Moggaliputtatissa selected a group of one thousand monks from a total of sixty thousand and convened a council to rehearse the Buddha's teachings as preserved in the PAli tipitaka (S. TRIPItAKA) and its commentaries (AttHAKATHA). At that same time, Moggaliputtatissa composed the KATHAVATTHU, the seventh and last book of the PAli abhidhammapitaka, in order to refute various heretical Buddhist views; he also declared the dharma as it was understood by the VIBHAJYAVADA to be orthodox. At the conclusion of the council, Moggaliputtatissa dispatched missionaries to nine neighboring lands to propagate the newly purified teaching. Since accounts of this council only appear in PAli sources, the historicity of this council has been questioned by modern scholars. It is possible that such a council occurred only within the STHAVIRANIKAYA tradition, but perhaps a century later, in the last half of the second century BCE, at which time the KathAvatthu was compiled. See also SAMGĪTI.
cyclic redundancy check "algorithm" (CRC or "cyclic redundancy code") A number derived from, and stored or transmitted with, a block of data in order to detect corruption. By recalculating the CRC and comparing it to the value originally transmitted, the receiver can detect some types of transmission errors. A CRC is more complicated than a {checksum}. It is calculated using division either using {shifts} and {exclusive ORs} or {table lookup} ({modulo} 256 or 65536). The CRC is "redundant" in that it adds no information. A single corrupted {bit} in the data will result in a one bit change in the calculated CRC but multiple corrupted bits may cancel each other out. CRCs treat blocks of input bits as coefficient-sets for {polynomials}. E.g., binary 10100000 implies the polynomial: 1*x^7 + 0*x^6 + 1*x^5 + 0*x^4 + 0*x^3 + 0*x^2 + 0*x^1 + 0*x^0. This is the "message polynomial". A second polynomial, with constant coefficients, is called the "generator polynomial". This is divided into the message polynomial, giving a quotient and remainder. The coefficients of the remainder form the bits of the final CRC. So, an order-33 generator polynomial is necessary to generate a 32-bit CRC. The exact bit-set used for the generator polynomial will naturally affect the CRC that is computed. Most CRC implementations seem to operate 8 bits at a time by building a table of 256 entries, representing all 256 possible 8-bit byte combinations, and determining the effect that each byte will have. CRCs are then computed using an input byte to select a 16- or 32-bit value from the table. This value is then used to update the CRC. {Ethernet} {packets} have a 32-bit CRC. Many disk formats include a CRC at some level. (1997-08-02)
cyclic redundancy check ::: (algorithm) (CRC or cyclic redundancy code) A number derived from, and stored or transmitted with, a block of data in order to detect corruption. By recalculating the CRC and comparing it to the value originally transmitted, the receiver can detect some types of transmission errors.A CRC is more complicated than a checksum. It is calculated using division either using shifts and exclusive ORs or table lookup (modulo 256 or 65536).The CRC is redundant in that it adds no information. A single corrupted bit in the data will result in a one bit change in the calculated CRC but multiple corrupted bits may cancel each other out.CRCs treat blocks of input bits as coefficient-sets for polynomials. E.g., binary 10100000 implies the polynomial: 1*x^7 + 0*x^6 + 1*x^5 + 0*x^4 + 0*x^3 + used for the generator polynomial will naturally affect the CRC that is computed.Most CRC implementations seem to operate 8 bits at a time by building a table of 256 entries, representing all 256 possible 8-bit byte combinations, and input byte to select a 16- or 32-bit value from the table. This value is then used to update the CRC.Ethernet packets have a 32-bit CRC. Many disk formats include a CRC at some level. (1997-08-02)
Data_loss ::: occurs when valuable and/or sensitive information on a computer is compromised due to theft, human error, viruses, malware, or power failure. It may also occur due to physical damage or mechanical failure or equipment or an edifice. The biggest reasons for data loss include laptop theft, accidental deletion or overwriting of files, power outages and surges, spilled liquids, and the wearing out or sudden failure of hard drives. Regularly backing up files makes data recovery possible in the event of data loss. For data that hasn’t been backed up, professional recovery services might be able to restore lost data. Servers can also suffer from data loss, just like individual computers and devices can. Data Loss: Common Causes Power surges and outages hurt computers by causing operating systems to shut down suddenly without following the proper procedures. The file corruption that can result can make it impossible to reboot the computer. Liquid spills onto laptop keyboards can seep into the casing and damage the internal components, especially in the case of acidic or sugary drinks, so it’s a good idea to keep liquids away from laptops or use a spill-proof travel mug. Hard drives have moving parts that can experience mechanical failure due to wearing out, overheating, electrostatic discharge, or being dropped. They can also fail due to file corruption, improper drive formatting, or software corruption. Hard drives may fail and experience data loss suddenly, or they may show signs of slowly failing, such as crashing repeatedly, becoming increasingly slow or making unusual noises. Creating regular data backups of hard drive data helps protect against this form of data loss. For example, an individual might back up her personal files from her desktop computer to both an external hard drive and the cloud. Having the data stored in three places that face different risks minimizes the risk of total data loss. Data Loss: The Human Element A major threat of data loss for businesses comes from employees who aren’t aware of the risks they are taking. Companies need a way to control how their data is shared by monitoring and protecting business documents whenever and wherever employees are using, storing, or transmitting them, whether in email attachments, via smartphone, on laptops, on flash drives, or in cloud storage, to protect against data loss. Preventing data loss is important for companies to protect their privacy and intellectual property as well as comply with government regulations. Organizations can employ data loss prevention (DLP) features in software from providers like Google and Microsoft to protect against data loss. There are also data loss prevention suites from providers such as Clearswift, Symantec, Digital Guardian, Forcepoint, McAfee, among others.
debauchery ::: n. --> Corruption of fidelity; seduction from virtue, duty, or allegiance.
Excessive indulgence of the appetites; especially, excessive indulgence of lust; intemperance; sensuality; habitual lewdness.
Descent: Capitalized, the dark mirror of Ascension; an ideal of decay, corruption, and oblivion rather than transcendence.
Dionysia Festivals sacred to Dionysos, especially those held in Attica and Attic-Ionic settlements. The inferior Dionysia were celebrated in December in country places where the vine was grown; the greater, in Athens for six days at the spring equinox. At this festival the new plays were performed for three consecutive days before immense number of citizens and strangers. The Lenaea (festival of vats) in February-March, the Oschophoria in October-November, and the Anthesteria for three days in February-March were also part of the Athenian cycle of Dionysia. The Dionysiac or Bacchic Mysteries became peculiarly liable to corruption in later times, owing to literal interpretation of the symbolism and the substitution of psychospiritual excitement for pure spiritual inspiration.
disaster recovery "business" (DR) Planning and implementation of procedures and facilities for use when essential systems are not available for a period long enough to have a significant impact on the business, e.g. when the head office is blown up. Disasters include natural: fire, flood, lightning, hurricane; hardware: power failure, component failure, {head crash}; software failure: {bugs}, resources; vandalism: arson, bombing, {cracking}, theft; data corruption or loss: human error, media failure; communications: computer network equipment, {network storm}, telephones; security: passwords compromised, {computer virus}; legal: change in legislation; personnel: unavailability of essential staff, industrial action. Companies need to plan for disaster: before: {risk analysis}, preventive measures, training; during: how should staff and systems respond; after: recovery measures, post mortem analysis. Hardware can usually be replaced and is usually insured. Software and data needs to be backed up off site. Alternative communication systems should be arranged in case of network failure or inaccessible premises, e.g. emergency telephone number, home working, alternative data center. (2007-06-20)
Dzyan (Senzar) Closely similar to the Tibetan dzin (learning, knowledge). Although Blavatsky states that dzyan is “a corruption of the Sanskrit Dhyan and Jnana . . . Wisdom, divine knowledge” (TG 107), there is also a Chinese equivalent dan or jan-na, which in “modern Chinese and Tibetan phonetics ch’an, is the general term for the esoteric schools, and their literature. In the old books, the word Janna is defined as ‘to reform one’s self by meditation and knowledge,’ a second inner birth. Hence Dzan, Djan phonetically, the ‘Book of Dzyan’ ” (SD 1:xx). This term then is connected directly with the ancient mystery-language called Senzar, with Tibetan and Chinese mystical Buddhism mostly of the Mahayana schools, and thirdly with the Sanskrit dhyana of which indeed it was probably originally a corruption.
emendation ::: n. --> The act of altering for the better, or correcting what is erroneous or faulty; correction; improvement.
Alteration by editorial criticism, as of a text so as to give a better reading; removal of errors or corruptions from a document; as, the book might be improved by judicious emendations.
Enlightenment: When Kant, carried by the cultural enthusiasm of his time, explained "enlightenment" as man's coming of age from the state of infancy which rendered him incapable of using his reason without the aid of others, he gave only the subjective meaning of the term. Objectively, enlightenment is a cultural period distinguished by the fervent efforts of leading personalities to make reason the absolute ruler of human life, and to shed the light of knowledge upon the mind and conscience of any individual. Such attempts are not confined to a particular time, or nation, as history teaches; but the term is generally applied to the European enlightenment stretching from the early 17th to the beginning of the 19th century, especially fostered by English, Dutch, French, and German philosophers. It took its start in England from the empiricism of F. Bacon, Th. Hobbes, J. Locke, it found a religious version in the naturalism of Edw. H. Cherbury, J. Toland, M. Tindal, H. Bolingbroke, and the host of "freethinkers", while the Earl of Shaftesbury imparted to it a moral on the "light of reason". Not so constructive but radical in their sarcastic criticism of the past were the French enlighteners, showing that their philosophy got its momentum from the moral corruption at the royal court and abuse of kinglv power in France. Descartes' doctrine of the "clear and perspicuous ideas," Spinoza's critical attitude towards religion, and Leibniz-Wolff's "reasonable thinking" prepared the philosophy of P. Bayle, Ch. Montesquieu, F. M. Voltaire, and J. J. Rousseau. The French positive contribution to the subject was the "Encyclopedie ou Dictionaire raisonne des sciences, arts et metiers", 1751-72, in 28 volumes, edited by Diderot, D'Alembert, Helvetius, Holbach, J. L. Lagrane, etc. What, in England and France, remained on the stage of mere ideas and utopic dreams became reality in the new commonwealth of the U.S.A. The "fathers of the constitution" were enlightened, outstanding among them B. Franklin, Th. Jefferson, J. Adams, A. Hamilton, and Th. Paine their foremost literary propagandist.
entropic reality: Reality in corruption and decay, often as perceived and/ or created by Entropic magicks or other forces from the Underworld. (See Jhor.)
escheat ::: n. --> The falling back or reversion of lands, by some casualty or accident, to the lord of the fee, in consequence of the extinction of the blood of the tenant, which may happen by his dying without heirs, and formerly might happen by corruption of blood, that is, by reason of a felony or attainder.
The reverting of real property to the State, as original and ultimate proprietor, by reason of a failure of persons legally entitled to hold the same.
fall back "communications" A feature of a {modem} {protocol} where two modems which experience data corruption, e.g. due to line noise, can renegotiate to use a lower speed connection, possibly applying {fall forward} if the channel improves. (2004-07-30)
fall back ::: (communications) A feature of a modem protocol where two modems which experience data corruption, e.g. due to line noise, can renegotiate to use a lower speed connection, possibly applying fall forward if the channel improves.(2004-07-30)
fall forward "communications" A feature of a {modem} {protocol} where two modems which {fall back} to a lower speed because of data corruption can later return to the higher speed if the connection improves. (2004-07-30)
fall forward ::: (communications) A feature of a modem protocol where two modems which fall back to a lower speed because of data corruption can later return to the higher speed if the connection improves.(2004-07-30)
Fatah Uprising ::: Splinter group from Fatah established in 1983 by Sa'ed Musa Muragha in response to Arafat's corruption and the situation in Lebanon. This group opposes any political contract with Israel.
fecks ::: n. --> A corruption of the word faith.
filthiness ::: n. --> The state of being filthy.
That which is filthy, or makes filthy; foulness; nastiness; corruption; pollution; impurity.
filth ::: n. --> Foul matter; anything that soils or defiles; dirt; nastiness.
Anything that sullies or defiles the moral character; corruption; pollution.
fitna ::: corruption; dissension between parties; trouble; disharmony; mischief-making; disorder; rebellion; planting the seeds of trouble
flame ::: “The true soul secret in us,—subliminal, we have said, but the word is misleading, for this presence is not situated below the threshold of waking mind, but rather burns in the temple of the inmost heart behind the thick screen of an ignorant mind, life and body, not subliminal but behind the veil,—this veiled psychic entity is the flame of the Godhead always alight within us, inextinguishable even by that dense unconsciousness of any spiritual self within which obscures our outward nature. It is a flame born out of the Divine and, luminous inhabitant of the Ignorance, grows in it till it is able to turn it towards the Knowledge. It is the concealed Witness and Control, the hidden Guide, the Daemon of Socrates, the inner light or inner voice of the mystic. It is that which endures and is imperishable in us from birth to birth, untouched by death, decay or corruption, an indestructible spark of the Divine.” The Life Divine
Friends of Courage: Clandestine but (in)famous group of idealistic Technocratic dissidents dedicated to purging corruption within the Union; named for legendary rogue Secret Agent John Courage. (See Project Invictus.)
frogging ::: (University of Waterloo) 1. Partial corruption of a text file or input stream by some bug or consistent glitch, as opposed to random events like line noise or media failures. Might occur, for example, if one bit of each incoming character on a tty were stuck, so that some characters were correct and others were not.See terminak for a historical example.2. By extension, accidental display of text in a mode where the output device emits special symbols or mnemonics rather than conventional ASCII. This often assumption wrong. A hacker sufficiently familiar with ASCII bit patterns might be able to read the display anyway.[Jargon File]
frogging ({University of Waterloo}) 1. Partial corruption of a text file or input stream by some bug or consistent glitch, as opposed to random events like line noise or media failures. Might occur, for example, if one bit of each incoming character on a tty were stuck, so that some characters were correct and others were not. See {terminak} for a historical example. 2. By extension, accidental display of text in a mode where the {output device} emits special symbols or {mnemonics} rather than conventional ASCII. This often happens, for example, when using a terminal or comm program on a device like an {IBM PC} with a special "high-half" character set and with the bit-parity assumption wrong. A hacker sufficiently familiar with ASCII bit patterns might be able to read the display anyway. [{Jargon File}]
godild ::: --> A corruption of God yield, i. e., God reward or bless.
Great Betrayer, the: (metaplot) Heylel Teomim Thoabath (“The Abomination”), Solificati representative with the First Cabal; betrayed the Cabal, supposedly to reveal the Council’s innate vulnerability to corruption. The Ascension Warrior claimed to be Heylel reincarnated; truth of that claim remains unknown.
guoshi. (J. kokushi; K. kuksa 國師). In Chinese, "state preceptor," a high ecclesiastical office in East Asian Buddhist religious institutions. The first record of a "state preceptor" in China occurs during the reign of Emperor Wenxian (r. 550-559) of the Northern Qi dynasty, who is said to have appointed the monk Fachang (d.u.) as a guoshi after listening to his disquisition at court on the MAHĀPARINIRVĀnASuTRA. During the Tang dynasty, many renowned monks were appointed as guoshi, including FAZANG (643-712) as the Kangzang guoshi, CHENGGUAN (738-839) as the Qingliang guoshi, and NANYANG HUIZHONG (d. 775) as the Nanyang guoshi. In Japan, the term kokushi was used during the Nara period to refer to the highest ecclesiastical office accredited to each province (koku) by the central government. In Korea, kuksa were appointed from the Silla through early Choson dynasties and the term referred to a senior monk who served as a symbolic religious teacher and adviser to the state. The kuksa system appears to have become firmly established in Korea during the Koryo dynasty, which treated Buddhism as a virtual state religion. The first king of the Koryo dynasty, Wang Kon (T'aejo, r. 918-943), established a system of "royal preceptors" (wangsa) for his own religious edification, in distinction to the "state preceptors" who ministered to the government more broadly. The institution of ecclesiastical examinations (SŬNGKWA) during the reign of the king Kwangjong (r. 949-975) further systematized the appointments of both kuksa and wangsa. The kuksa and wangsa were compared to the parents of sentient beings and were thus placed at a status higher than even the king himself in state ceremonies. A monk could be posthumously appointed as a kuksa, and it was common during the Koryo dynasty for the king to reverentially appoint his wangsa as a kuksa following his spiritual adviser's death. Because Confucian ideologues during the late Koryo criticized the political roles played by kuksa and wangsa as examples of the corruption of Buddhism, the offices were eventually abolished during the reign of the third king of the Confucian-oriented Choson dynasty, T'aejong (r. 1400-1418).
harlock ::: n. --> Probably a corruption either of charlock or hardock.
heisenbug ::: (jargon) /hi:'zen-buhg/ (From Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics) A bug that disappears or alters its behaviour when one attempts enough that buggy code, such as that which relies on the values of uninitialised memory, behaves quite differently.)In C, nine out of ten heisenbugs result from uninitialised auto variables, fandango on core phenomena (especially lossage related to corruption of the malloc arena) or errors that smash the stack.Opposite: Bohr bug. See also mandelbug, schroedinbug.[Jargon File] (1995-02-28)
heisenbug "jargon" /hi:'zen-buhg/ (From Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics) A bug that disappears or alters its behaviour when one attempts to probe or isolate it. (This usage is not even particularly fanciful; the use of a debugger sometimes alters a program's operating environment enough that buggy code, such as that which relies on the values of uninitialised memory, behaves quite differently.) In {C}, nine out of ten heisenbugs result from uninitialised {auto variables}, {fandango on core} phenomena (especially corruption of the malloc {arena}) or errors that {smash the stack}. Opposite: {Bohr bug}. See also {mandelbug}, {schroedinbug}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-02-28)
hihan Bukkyo. (C. pipan Fojiao; K. pip'an Pulgyo 批判佛教). In Japanese, "critical Buddhism." A contemporary intellectual controversy fostered largely by the Japanese Buddhist scholars and SoToSHu ZEN priests Hakamaya Noriaki and Matsumoto Shiro and their followers. In a series of provocative essays and books, Hakamaya and Matsumoto have argued for a more engaged form of Buddhist scholarship that sought a critical pursuit of truth at the expense of the more traditional, accommodative approaches to Buddhist thought and history. "Critical" here refers to the critical analysis of Buddhist doctrines using modern historiographical and philological methodologies in order to ascertain the authentic teachings of Buddhism. "Critical" can also connote an authentic Buddhist perspective, which should be critical of intellectual misconstructions and/or societal faults. Critical Buddhists polemically dismiss many of the foundational doctrines long associated with East Asian Buddhism, and especially Japanese Zen, as corruptions of what they presume to have been the pristine, "original" teachings of the Buddha. In their interpretation, true Buddhist teachings derive from a critical perspective on the nature of reality, based on the doctrines of "dependent origination" (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA) and "nonself" (ANĀTMAN); for this reason, the style of critical philosophical analysis used in the MADHYAMAKA school represents an authentic approach to Buddhism. By contrast, more accommodative strands of Buddhism that are derived from such teachings as the "embryo of buddhahood" (TATHĀGATAGARBHA), buddha-nature (FOXING), and original enlightenment (HONGAKU) were considered heretical, because they represented the corruption of the pristine Buddhist message by Brahmanical notions of a perduring self (ĀTMAN). The Mahāyāna notion of the nonduality between such dichotomies as SAMSĀRA and NIRVĀnA, the Critical Buddhists also claim, fostered a tendency toward antinomianism or moral ambiguity that had corrupted such Buddhist schools as CHAN or Zen and encouraged those schools to accept social inequities and class-based persecution (as in Soto Zen's acquiescence to the persecution of Japanese "untouchables," or burakumin). Opponents of "Critical Buddhism" suggest that efforts to locate what is "original" in the teachings of Buddhism are inevitably doomed to failure and ignore the many local forms Buddhism has taken throughout its long history; the "Critical Buddhism" movement is therefore sometimes viewed as social criticism rather than academic scholarship.
Honen. (法然) (1133-1212). Japanese monk regarded as the founder of the JoDOSHu, or PURE LAND school. Honen was a native of Mimasaka province. After his father's violent death, Honen was entrusted to his uncle, a monk at the nearby monastery of Bodaiji. Honen later headed for HIEIZAN in 1147 to received ordination. He began his studies under the TENDAISHu (C. TIANTAI ZONG) monks Genko (d.u.) and Koen (d. 1169), but the corruption he perceived within the Tendai community at ENRYAKUJI led Honen to seek teachings elsewhere. In 1150, he visited the master Eiku (d. 1179), a disciple of the monk RYoNIN, in Kurodani on Mt. Hiei, where he remained for the next twenty years. Under Eiku's guidance, Honen studied GENSHIN's influential treatise, the oJo YoSHu and became a specialist in the practice of nenbutsu ("recollecting the Buddha's name"; see C. NIANFO). Honen is also said to have devoted himself exclusively to the practice of invoking the name of the buddha AMITĀBHA (a type of nenbutsu) after perusing the Chinese monk SHANDAO's influential commentary on the GUAN WULIANGSHOU JING, the Guan Wuliangshou jing shu. In 1175, Honen left Mt. Hiei and established himself in the district of Higashiyama Yoshimizu in the capital Kyoto. His fame grew after his participation in the ohara discussion of 1186, which explored how pure land beliefs and practices could help overcome human suffering. Honen soon attracted many followers, including such prominent figures as the regent Kujo Kanezane (1149-1207). In 1198, Honen compiled his influential treatise, SENCHAKUSHu. Due perhaps to his growing influence and his purported rejection of the Tendai teachings of original enlightenment (HONGAKU), the monks of Enryakuji began attacking Honen, banning his practice of nenbutsu in 1204. The monks of the Nara monastery of KoFUKUJI also petitioned the retired emperor Gotoba (r. 1183-1198) to ban the practice in 1205. A scandal involving two of Honen's disciples led to his exile to Shikoku in 1207 and the execution of four of his disciples. He was later pardoned and returned to Kyoto in 1211. Due to illness, he died the next year in what is now known as the Seishido in the monastery of Chion'in. Honen preached that, in the current degeneration age of the dharma (J. mappo; C. MOFA), the exclusive practice of nenbutsu was the only way through which salvation could be achieved. Due in part to Honen's advocacy, nenbutsu eventually became one of the predominant practices of Japanese Buddhism. Honen's preeminent disciple was SHINRAN (1173-1262), who further radicalized pure land practice by insisting that salvation was only possible through the grace of Amitābha, rather than through continuous nenbutsu practice.
incorruption ::: n. --> The condition or quality of being incorrupt or incorruptible; absence of, or exemption from, corruption.
incorrupt ::: a. --> Not affected with corruption or decay; unimpaired; not marred or spoiled.
Not defiled or depraved; pure; sound; untainted; above the influence of bribes; upright; honest.
incorruptibility ::: n. --> The quality of being incorruptible; incapability of corruption.
incorruptible ::: a. --> Not corruptible; incapable of corruption, decay, or dissolution; as, gold is incorruptible.
Incapable of being bribed or morally corrupted; inflexibly just and upright. ::: n. --> One of a religious sect which arose in Alexandria,
incorruptly ::: adv. --> Without corruption.
incorruptness ::: n. --> Freedom or exemption from decay or corruption.
Probity; integrity; honesty.
infamous ::: a. --> Of very bad report; having a reputation of the worst kind; held in abhorrence; guilty of something that exposes to infamy; base; notoriously vile; detestable; as, an infamous traitor; an infamous perjurer.
Causing or producing infamy; deserving detestation; scandalous to the last degree; as, an infamous act; infamous vices; infamous corruption.
Branded with infamy by conviction of a crime; as, at
I quickly discovered, duplications or corruptions of other names.
is a corruption or amalgamation of Israel and
jobbery ::: n. --> The act or practice of jobbing.
Underhand management; official corruption; as, municipal jobbery.
longitudinal parity ::: (storage, communications) An extra byte (or word) appended to a block of data in order to reveal corruption of the data. Bit n of this byte indicates bytes in the block. The parity byte is computed by XORing the data bytes in the block. Longitudinal parity allows single bit errors to be detected. (1996-03-01)
longitudinal parity "storage, communications" An extra {byte} (or word) appended to a block of data in order to reveal corruption of the data. Bit n of this byte indicates whether there was an even or odd number of "1" bits in bit position n of the bytes in the block. The parity byte is computed by {XOR}ing the data bytes in the block. Longitudinal parity allows single bit errors to be detected. (1996-03-01)
malversation ::: n. --> Evil conduct; fraudulent practices; misbehavior, corruption, or extortion in office.
Manam Chonghon. (曼庵宗憲) (1876-1957). Korean monk and educator during the Japanese occupation and postwar periods; also known as Mogyang. After losing his parents at an early age, Manam became a monk and studied under HANYoNG CHoNGHO (1870-1948). In 1900, he devoted himself to the study of SoN meditation at the monastery of Unmun Sonwon (UNMUNSA). In 1910, after Korea's annexation by Japan, Manam traveled throughout the southern regions of the peninsula and delivered lectures on Buddhism to the public until he settled down at the monastery of PAEGYANGSA in 1920 to serve as abbot. At a time when the Buddhist community was split over the issue of clerical marriage, Manam, for the first time, divided his monk-students between the celibate chongpop chung (proper-dharma congregation) and the married hobop chung (protecting-dharma congregation). Manam's actions were considered to be a formal recognition of clerical marriage and were heavily criticized by the rest of the Buddhist community led by YONGSoNG CHINJONG (1864-1940) and Namjon Kwangon (1868-1936). In 1945, the Koburhoe organization that Manam established clashed with the General Administrative Committee of the Choson Buddhist order over the issue of the laxity of Buddhist practice in Korea, with Manam arguing for a return to the strict and disciplined lifestyle of the past as a means of preventing the corruption of Buddhism. After the end of the Japanese occupation, Manam organized the Kobul Ch'ongnim gathering and initiated what later came to be called the "purification movement" (chonghwa undong) in Korean Buddhism. In 1952, he succeeded his teacher Hanyong and became head (kyojong) of the Choson Buddhist order. As head, he gave the order a new name, the "Chogye Order of Korean Buddhism" (Taehan Pulgyo Chogye Chong; see CHONGYE CHONG), and created a new entry in its constitution, formally delineating the distinction between married monks (kyohwasŭng) and celibate monks (suhaengsŭng). He attempted to initiate a new plan for the organization of monasteries that would give priority to the celibate monks, but his plan was never put into practice. When President Syngman Rhee showed his support for the purification movement in May 1954, the monks of the Chogye order held a national convention and appointed Manam, Tongsan Hyeil (1890-1965), and Ch'ongdam Sunho (1902-1971) as the new leaders of the order and initiated a nationwide Buddhist reformation movement. Manam, however, was ultimately unable to mediate the different opinions of the representatives of the Buddhist community concerning the specific details and goals of the purification movement.
may be a corruption of Araros.
Monstrum: (Plural: Monstra.) In the literature of occultism and magic, an unnatural being, created by corruption or produced by unnatural sexual acts, the putrefaction of sperms or a morbid imagination.
Nephandus, Nephandi: “Dark reflection” mages who pursue the Path of Descent; infamous for corruption, temptation, misdirection, and deception.
Node: Knots of primal energy, where Quintessence wells up and Tass manifests. Nodes often appear in places charged with massive emotional discharges and/ or natural harmony or corruption.
ods ::: interj. --> A corruption of God&
Other main works: The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, 1897; Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, 1902; Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking, 1907; A Pluralistic Universe, 1909; Some Problems of Philosophy, 1911; Essays in Radical Empiricism, 1912. Cf. R. B. Perry, Thought and Character of William. James, 2 vols., 1935. Jansenism: The teaching of Cornelius Jansen, latinized Jansenius (1585-1638), Bishop of Ypres, and his followers in France and Holland. Its most significant doctrines were the total corruption of human nature owing to original sin, man's inability to resist either concupiscence or grace implying the denial of free will, predestination, and the denial that Christ died for all men without exception. The Jansenists were characterized by an unusual harshness, severity of manners, and moral rigorism. The doctrine was condemned by the Church. -- J.J.R.
pravity ::: n. --> Deterioration; degeneracy; corruption; especially, moral crookedness; moral perversion; perverseness; depravity; as, the pravity of human nature.
presence ::: 1. The state or fact of being present; current existence or occurrence. 2. A divine, spiritual, or supernatural spirit or influence felt or conceived as present. 3. The immediate proximity of someone or something.
Sri Aurobindo: "It is intended by the word Presence to indicate the sense and perception of the Divine as a Being, felt as present in one"s existence and consciousness or in relation with it, without the necessity of any further qualification or description. Thus, of the ‘ineffable Presence" it can only be said that it is there and nothing more can or need be said about it, although at the same time one knows that all is there, personality and impersonality, Power and Light and Ananda and everything else, and that all these flow from that indescribable Presence. The word may be used sometimes in a less absolute sense, but that is always the fundamental significance, — the essential perception of the essential Presence supporting everything else.” *Letters on Yoga
"Beyond mind on spiritual and supramental levels dwells the Presence, the Truth, the Power, the Bliss that can alone deliver us from these illusions, display the Light of which our ideals are tarnished disguises and impose the harmony that shall at once transfigure and reconcile all the parts of our nature.” Essays Divine and Human
"But if we learn to live within, we infallibly awaken to this presence within us which is our more real self, a presence profound, calm, joyous and puissant of which the world is not the master — a presence which, if it is not the Lord Himself, is the radiation of the Lord within.” *The Life Divine
"The true soul secret in us, — subliminal, we have said, but the word is misleading, for this presence is not situated below the threshold of waking mind, but rather burns in the temple of the inmost heart behind the thick screen of an ignorant mind, life and body, not subliminal but behind the veil, — this veiled psychic entity is the flame of the Godhead always alight within us, inextinguishable even by that dense unconsciousness of any spiritual self within which obscures our outward nature. It is a flame born out of the Divine and, luminous inhabitant of the Ignorance, grows in it till it is able to turn it towards the Knowledge. It is the concealed Witness and Control, the hidden Guide, the Daemon of Socrates, the inner light or inner voice of the mystic. It is that which endures and is imperishable in us from birth to birth, untouched by death, decay or corruption, an indestructible spark of the Divine.” *The Life Divine
"If we need any personal and inner witness to this indivisible All-Consciousness behind the ignorance, — all Nature is its external proof, — we can get it with any completeness only in our deeper inner being or larger and higher spiritual state when we draw back behind the veil of our own surface ignorance and come into contact with the divine Idea and Will behind it. Then we see clearly enough that what we have done by ourselves in our ignorance was yet overseen and guided in its result by the invisible Omniscience; we discover a greater working behind our ignorant working and begin to glimpse its purpose in us: then only can we see and know what now we worship in faith, recognise wholly the pure and universal Presence, meet the Lord of all being and all Nature.” *The Life Divine
"The presence of the Spirit is there in every living being, on every level, in all things, and because it is there, the experience of Sachchidananda, of the pure spiritual existence and consciousness, of the delight of a divine presence, closeness, contact can be acquired through the mind or the heart or the life-sense or even through the physical consciousness; if the inner doors are flung sufficiently open, the light from the sanctuary can suffuse the nearest and the farthest chambers of the outer being.” *The Life Divine
"There is a secret divine Will, eternal and infinite, omniscient and omnipotent, that expresses itself in the universality and in each particular of all these apparently temporal and finite inconscient or half-conscient things. This is the Power or Presence meant by the Gita when it speaks of the Lord within the heart of all existences who turns all creatures as if mounted on a machine by the illusion of Nature.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
"For what Yoga searches after is not truth of thought alone or truth of mind alone, but the dynamic truth of a living and revealing spiritual experience. There must awake in us a constant indwelling and enveloping nearness, a vivid perception, a close feeling and communion, a concrete sense and contact of a true and infinite Presence always and everywhere. That Presence must remain with us as the living, pervading Reality in which we and all things exist and move and act, and we must feel it always and everywhere, concrete, visible, inhabiting all things; it must be patent to us as their true Self, tangible as their imperishable Essence, met by us closely as their inmost Spirit. To see, to feel, to sense, to contact in every way and not merely to conceive this Self and Spirit here in all existences and to feel with the same vividness all existences in this Self and Spirit, is the fundamental experience which must englobe all other knowledge.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
"One must have faith in the Master of our life and works, even if for a long time He conceals Himself, and then in His own right time He will reveal His Presence.” *Letters on Yoga
"They [the psychic being and the Divine Presence in the heart] are quite different things. The psychic being is one"s own individual soul-being. It is not the Divine, though it has come from the Divine and develops towards the Divine.” *Letters on Yoga
"For it is quietness and inwardness that enable one to feel the Presence.” *Letters on Yoga
"Beyond mind on spiritual and supramental levels dwells the Presence, the Truth, the Power, the Bliss that can alone deliver us from these illusions, display the Light of which our ideals are tarnished disguises and impose the harmony that shall at once transfigure and reconcile all the parts of our nature.” *Essays Divine and Human
The Mother: "For, in human beings, here is a presence, the most marvellous Presence on earth, and except in a few very rare cases which I need not mention here, this presence lies asleep in the heart — not in the physical heart but the psychic centre — of all beings. And when this Splendour is manifested with enough purity, it will awaken in all beings the echo of his Presence.” Words of the Mother, MCW, Vol. 15.
prial ::: n. --> A corruption of pair royal. See under Pair, n.
prithee ::: interj. --> A corruption of pray thee; as, I prithee; generally used without I.
Rennyo. (蓮如) (1415-1499). In Japanese, "Lotus Suchness"; proper name of the Japanese monk who played a crucial role in the consolidation of JoDO SHINSHu tradition. Rennyo was born at the monastery of HONGANJI in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto. He was the son of Zonnyo (1396-1457), himself a descendent of SHINRAN and the seventh abbot of Honganji. Despite some opposition from his stepmother and her son Nyojo (1412-1460), Rennyo succeeded his father as abbot of Honganji after his father's death in 1457. Rennyo began expanding his sphere of influence by proselytizing in the outskirts of Kyoto. In 1465, the monks of HIEIZAN (see ENRYAKUJI) destroyed Honganji in order to restrict the spread of Rennyo's influence in regions under TENDAI control. Rennyo was able to save the portrait of Shinran (goei) from destruction and installed it temporarily at the temple of MIIDERA. After the attack, Rennyo wandered from region to region until he settled down far away from Mt. Hiei in Hokuriku (present-day Echizen), where he acquired a large following (of mostly peasants) through active proselytizing and the writing of pastoral letters (ofumi). In 1475, Rennyo returned to Kyoto, where he began the construction of a new Honganji in the district of Yamashina the following year. Rennyo also restored the hoonko memorial service for Shinran and established the nenbutsu (C. NIANFO; see NAMU AMIDABUTSU) inscriptions as an important object of worship. In his writings, Rennyo also systematized the teachings of Shinran and criticized priestly corruption and "heretical" teachings that did not emphasize exclusive faith in the buddha AMITĀBHA and his name. Under Rennyo's tenure as abbot, the Honganji complex grew into one of the most powerful monasteries of its era, controlling a vast network of subtemples. This period is traditionally considered to represent the institutional formation of Jodo Shinshu.
romansch ::: n. --> The language of the Grisons in Switzerland, a corruption of the Latin.
sanctify ::: v. t. --> To make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy or religious use; to consecrate by appropriate rites; to hallow.
To make free from sin; to cleanse from moral corruption and pollution; to purify.
To make efficient as the means of holiness; to render productive of holiness or piety.
To impart or impute sacredness, venerableness, inviolability, title to reverence and respect, or the like, to; to
Scarab [from Latin scarabaeus cf Greek karabos a beetle, Sanskrit śarabha a locust, Egyptian kheperȧ from kheper to become, come into being anew] The Egyptian symbol of the god Khepera — the urgent spiritual impulse of creation, or regenerative revolving and reimbodiment. In modern times applied to the beetle Scarabaeus sacer or aegyptorum — the sacred scarab. Orientalists generally regard the scarab as the symbol of resurrection because the beetle rolls a ball of dung containing its eggs, which it leaves to be hatched by the sun’s rays. This is said to represent in the small what was believed to take place in the great, that the sun was moving across the heavens holding within itself the germs which in course of stellar time evolve forth and remanifest in the solar cosmos. “Khem, ‘the sower of seed,’ is shown on a stele in a picture of Resurrection after physical death, as the creator and the sower of the grain of corn, which, after corruption, springs up afresh each time into a new ear, on which a scarabaeus beetle is seen poised; and Deveria shows very justly that ‘Ptah is the inert, material form of Osiris, who will become Sokari (the eternal Ego) to be reborn, and afterwards be Harmachus,’ or Horus in his transformation, the risen god. The prayer so often found in the tumular inscriptions, ‘the wish for the resurrection in one’s living soul’ or the Higher Ego, has ever a scarabaeus at the end, standing for the personal soul. The scarabaeus is the most honoured, as the most frequent and familiar, of all Egyptian symbols” (TG 293).
secondary damage ::: When a fatal error occurs (especially a segfault) the immediate cause may be that a pointer has been trashed due to a previous fandango on core. However, analysis will reveal (directly) how the damage occurred. The data structure was clobbered, but it was secondary damage.By extension, the corruption resulting from N cascaded fandangoes on core is Nth-level damage. There is at least one case on record in which 17 hours of seventh-level damage! The hacker who accomplished this near-superhuman feat was presented with an award by his fellows.[Jargon File]
secondary damage When a fatal error occurs (especially a {segfault}) the immediate cause may be that a pointer has been trashed due to a previous {fandango on core}. However, this fandango may have been due to an *earlier* fandango, so no amount of analysis will reveal (directly) how the damage occurred. "The data structure was clobbered, but it was secondary damage." By extension, the corruption resulting from N cascaded fandangoes on core is "Nth-level damage". There is at least one case on record in which 17 hours of {grovel}ling with "adb" actually dug up the underlying bug behind an instance of seventh-level damage! The hacker who accomplished this near-superhuman feat was presented with an award by his fellows. [{Jargon File}]
Semothees [possible corruption of Greek hemitheos half-god, demigod] Applied to the Druids of the Gauls (IU 1:18); like the true dvija (twice-born), one who is born of the spirit as well as of matter, and therefore, following the mystical language of archaic times, was the offspring of the divine spiritual parent on one side, and of human parenthood on the other, like the Greek heroes and demigods.
Shaitan: The ancient deity* of the Yezidi, worshipped in Lower Mesopotamia, the source of the Sumerian Tradition that Crowley set out to restore. The name Shin tan is a form of Set and has many qabalistic meanings,some of which have been dealt with fully in the present volume. The namealso conceals the complete formula of Sexual Magick as practised by Crowley. The corruption of the name as Satan is the work of those who failed to understand the true formula and thus degraded the image.
shar ::: (tool, file format) (Shell archive, after ar and tar) Any of the many Unix programs that creates a flattened representation of one or more files, with a shar file or sharchive, can be distributed to anyone running Unix, and no special unpacking software is required.Sharchives are intriguing in that they are typically created by shell scripts; the script that produces sharchives is thus a script which produces possible; sharchives can and do make use of arbitrarily-powerful shell features and other Unix commands.Different implementations of shar vary in sophistication. Some just uuencode each input file and output commands to uudecode the result, others include extensive checking to make sure the files have been transferred without corruption and that all parts of a multi-file sharchive have been unpacked.The unshar utility strips off mail and news headers before passing the remainder of its input to sh. (1996-10-18)
shar "tool, file format" ("Shell archive", after {ar} and {tar}) Any of the many {Unix} programs that creates a {flatten}ed representation of one or more files, with the unique property that it can be unflattened (the original files extracted) merely by feeding it through a standard {Unix} {shell}. The output of shar, known as a "shar file" or "sharchive", can be distributed to anyone running {Unix}, and no special unpacking software is required. Sharchives are intriguing in that they are typically created by shell scripts; the script that produces sharchives is thus a script which produces self-unpacking scripts, which may themselves contain scripts. The disadvantage of sharchives are that they are an ideal venue for {Trojan horse} attacks and that, for recipients not running Unix, no simple un-sharchiving program is possible; sharchives can and do make use of arbitrarily-powerful shell features and other Unix commands. Different implementations of shar vary in sophistication. Some just {uuencode} each input file and output commands to {uudecode} the result, others include extensive checking to make sure the files have been transferred without corruption and that all parts of a multi-file sharchive have been unpacked. The {unshar} utility strips off mail and news headers before passing the remainder of its input to sh. (1996-10-18)
shrivel ::: v. i. --> To draw, or be drawn, into wrinkles; to shrink, and form corrugations; as, a leaf shriveles in the hot sun; the skin shrivels with age; -- often with up. ::: v. t. --> To cause to shrivel or contract; to cause to shrink onto corruptions.
Sosiosh, Soshyos (Persian) In Zoroastrianism, the deliverer of the world, who shall come on a white horse in a tornado of fire. According to the Avesta (Yast 19:89), he will be born from a maid near Lake Kasava; he will come from the region of the dawn to free the world from death and decay, from corruption and rottenness — ever living and ever thriving, the dead shall rise and immortality commence. This prophecy corresponds to that of the coming of Maitreya-Buddha, or of the Kalki-avatara of Vishnu, also repeated in the Christian Revelation of St. John.
soul ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The word ‘soul", as also the word ‘psychic", is used very vaguely and in many different senses in the English language. More often than not, in ordinary parlance, no clear distinction is made between mind and soul and often there is an even more serious confusion, for the vital being of desire — the false soul or desire-soul — is intended by the words ‘soul" and ‘psychic" and not the true soul, the psychic being.” *Letters on Yoga
"The word soul is very vaguely used in English — as it often refers to the whole non-physical consciousness including even the vital with all its desires and passions. That was why the word psychic being has to be used so as to distinguish this divine portion from the instrumental parts of the nature.” *Letters on Yoga
"The word soul has various meanings according to the context; it may mean the Purusha supporting the formation of Prakriti, which we call a being, though the proper word would be rather a becoming; it may mean, on the other hand, specifically the psychic being in an evolutionary creature like man; it may mean the spark of the Divine which has been put into Matter by the descent of the Divine into the material world and which upholds all evolving formations here.” *Letters on Yoga
"A distinction has to be made between the soul in its essence and the psychic being. Behind each and all there is the soul which is the spark of the Divine — none could exist without that. But it is quite possible to have a vital and physical being supported by such a soul essence but without a clearly evolved psychic being behind it.” *Letters on Yoga
"The soul and the psychic being are practically the same, except that even in things which have not developed a psychic being, there is still a spark of the Divine which can be called the soul. The psychic being is called in Sanskrit the Purusha in the heart or the Chaitya Purusha. (The psychic being is the soul developing in the evolution.)” *Letters on Yoga
"The soul or spark is there before the development of an organised vital and mind. The soul is something of the Divine that descends into the evolution as a divine Principle within it to support the evolution of the individual out of the Ignorance into the Light. It develops in the course of the evolution a psychic individual or soul individuality which grows from life to life, using the evolving mind, vital and body as its instruments. It is the soul that is immortal while the rest disintegrates; it passes from life to life carrying its experience in essence and the continuity of the evolution of the individual.” *Letters on Yoga
". . . for the soul is seated within and impervious to the shocks of external events. . . .” *Essays on the Gita
". . . the soul is at first but a spark and then a little flame of godhead burning in the midst of a great darkness; for the most part it is veiled in its inner sanctum and to reveal itself it has to call on the mind, the life-force and the physical consciousness and persuade them, as best they can, to express it; ordinarily, it succeeds at most in suffusing their outwardness with its inner light and modifying with its purifying fineness their dark obscurities or their coarser mixture. Even when there is a formed psychic being able to express itself with some directness in life, it is still in all but a few a smaller portion of the being — ‘no bigger in the mass of the body than the thumb of a man" was the image used by the ancient seers — and it is not always able to prevail against the obscurity or ignorant smallness of the physical consciousness, the mistaken surenesses of the mind or the arrogance and vehemence of the vital nature.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
". . . the soul is an eternal portion of the Supreme and not a fraction of Nature.” The Life Divine
"The true soul secret in us, — subliminal, we have said, but the word is misleading, for this presence is not situated below the threshold of waking mind, but rather burns in the temple of the inmost heart behind the thick screen of an ignorant mind, life and body, not subliminal but behind the veil, — this veiled psychic entity is the flame of the Godhead always alight within us, inextinguishable even by that dense unconsciousness of any spiritual self within which obscures our outward nature. It is a flame born out of the Divine and, luminous inhabitant of the Ignorance, grows in it till it is able to turn it towards the Knowledge. It is the concealed Witness and Control, the hidden Guide, the Daemon of Socrates, the inner light or inner voice of the mystic. It is that which endures and is imperishable in us from birth to birth, untouched by death, decay or corruption, an indestructible spark of the Divine.” The Life Divine
*Soul, soul"s, Soul"s, souls, soulless, soul-bridals, soul-change, soul-force, Soul-Forces, soul-ground, soul-joy, soul-nature, soul-range, soul-ray, soul-scapes, soul-scene, soul-sense, soul-severance, soul-sight, soul-slaying, soul-space,, soul-spaces, soul-strength, soul-stuff, soul-truth, soul-vision, soul-wings, world-soul, World-Soul.
Sri Aurobindo: "The true soul secret in us, — subliminal, we have said, but the word is misleading, for this presence is not situated below the threshold of waking mind, but rather burns in the temple of the inmost heart behind the thick screen of an ignorant mind, life and body, not subliminal but behind the veil, — this veiled psychic entity is the flame of the Godhead always alight within us, inextinguishable even by that dense unconsciousness of any spiritual self within which obscures our outward nature. It is a flame born out of the Divine and, luminous inhabitant of the Ignorance, grows in it till it is able to turn it towards the Knowledge. It is the concealed Witness and Control, the hidden Guide, the Daemon of Socrates, the inner light or inner voice of the mystic. It is that which endures and is imperishable in us from birth to birth, untouched by death, decay or corruption, an indestructible spark of the Divine.” *The Life Divine
St. Thomas was a teacher and a writer for some twenty years (1254-1273). Among his works are: Scriptum in IV Libros Sententiarum (1254-1256), Summa Contra Gentiles (c. 1260), Summa Theologica (1265-1272); commentaries on Boethius. (De Trinitate, c. 1257-1258), on Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite (De Divinis Nominibus, c. 1261), on the anonymous and important Liber de Causis (1268), and especially on Aristotle's works (1261-1272), Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, On the Soul, Posterior Analytics, On Interpretation, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption; Quaestiones Disputatae, which includes questions on such large subjects as De Veritate (1256-1259); De Potentia (1259-1263); De Malo (1263-1268); De Spiritualibus Creaturis, De Anima (1269-1270); small treatises or Opuscula, among which especially noteworthy are the De Ente et Essentia (1256); De Aeternitate Mundi (1270), De Unitate Intellecus (1270), De Substantiis Separatis (1272). While it is extremely difficult to grasp in its entirety the personality behind this complex theological and philosophical activity, some points are quite clear and beyond dispute. During the first five years of his activity as a thinker and a teacher, St. Thomas seems to have formulated his most fundamental ideas in their definite form, to have clarified his historical conceptions of Greek and Arabian philosophers, and to have made more precise and even corrected his doctrinal positions, (cf., e.g., the change on the question of creation between In II Sent., d.l, q.l, a.3, and the later De Potentia, q. III, a.4). This is natural enough, though we cannot pretend to explain why he should have come to think as he did. The more he grew, and that very rapidly, towards maturity, the more his thought became inextricably involved in the defense of Aristotle (beginning with c. 1260), his texts and his ideas, against the Averroists, who were then beginning to become prominent in the faculty of arts at the University of Paris; against the traditional Augustinianism of a man like St. Bonaventure; as well as against that more subtle Augustinianism which could breathe some of the spirit of Augustine, speak the language of Aristotle, but expound, with increasing faithfulness and therefore more imminent disaster, Christian ideas through the Neoplatonic techniques of Avicenna. This last group includes such different thinkers as St. Albert the Great, Henry of Ghent, the many disciples of St. Bonaventure, including, some think, Duns Scotus himself, and Meister Eckhart of Hochheim.
Suryan —a “corruption” of Raphael, according
SvayaMbhu. [alt. SvayaMbhunāth] (T. 'Phags pa shing kun). A large CAITYA complex located atop a hill at the western edge of the Kathmandu Valley, forming one of Nepal's most ancient and venerated Buddhist sites. The caitya of SvayaMbhu, whose name literally means "self-arisen" or "self-created," is closely tied to the mythic origins of the Kathmandu Valley. According to legend, in prehistoric times the Kathmandu Valley formed a lake above which the summit of SvayaMbhu hill rose. The buddha VIPAsYIN, who is said to predate sĀKYAMUNI by several eons, cast a lotus seed into the waters. A lotus blossom grew from this seed, upon which appeared a spontaneously manifested (svayaMbhu) crystalline caitya radiating five-colored rays of light. This light attracted the attention of the bodhisattva MANJUsRĪ, who was residing at WUTAISHAN in China. MaNjusrī traveled to Nepal where he miraculously drained the lake, thereby making the Kathmandu Valley an inhabitable land for the spread of Buddhism. The earliest Newar inscriptions at SvayaMbhu date to the reign of the fifth-century Buddhist king Vṛsadeva. Over the next 1,500 years, the stupa and surrounding complex were renovated and expanded numerous times by Newar and Tibetan Buddhist priests. The complex of temples at SvayaMbhu is under the guardianship of Newar Budddhist priests and it continues to play a central role in the religious lives of Newari and Tibetan Buddhists. According to some accounts, the Tibetan name (literally "Noble All Trees") stems from a legend recounting how the Buddhist sage NĀGĀRJUNA scattered his hair about SvayaMbhu hill, from which many types of trees miraculously arose. Later Tibetan commentators have argued, however, that shing kun is likely a corruption of the Newar name Shinggu in use during the eighteenth century. According to Tibetan tradition, the SvayaMbhu caitya is counted as one of Nepal's three great stupas, along with BODHNĀTH and NAMO BUDDHA.
taint ::: n. --> A thrust with a lance, which fails of its intended effect.
An injury done to a lance in an encounter, without its being broken; also, a breaking of a lance in an encounter in a dishonorable or unscientific manner.
Tincture; hue; color; tinge.
Infection; corruption; deprivation.
A blemish on reputation; stain; spot; disgrace.
The extant works of Aristotle cover almost all thc sciences known in his time. They are charactenzed by subtlety of analysis, sober and dispassionate judgment, and a wide mastery of empirical facts; collectively they constitute one of the most amazing achievements ever credited to a single mind. They may conveniently be arranged in seven groups: the Organon, or logical treatises, viz. Categories, De Interpretione, Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics, Topics, and Sophistici Elenchi; the writings on physical science, viz. Physics, De Coelo, De Generatione et Corruptione, and Meteorologica; the biological works, viz. Historia Animalium, De Partibus Animalium. De Motu and De Incessu Animalium, and De Generatione Animalium; the treatises on psychology, viz. De Anima and a collection of shorter works known as the Parva Naturalia; the Metaphysics; the treatises on ethics and politics, viz. Nicomachean Ethics, Eudemian Ethics, Politics, Constitution of Athens; and two works dealing with the literary arts, Rhetoric and Poetics. A large number of other works in these several fields are usually included in the Aristotelian corpus, though they are now generally believed not to have been written by Aristotle. It is probable also that portions of the works above listed are the work, not of Aristotle, but of his contemporaries or successors in the Lyceum.
“The true soul secret in us,—subliminal, we have said, but the word is misleading, for this presence is not situated below the threshold of waking mind, but rather burns in the temple of the inmost heart behind the thick screen of an ignorant mind, life and body, not subliminal but behind the veil,—this veiled psychic entity is the flame of the Godhead always alight within us, inextinguishable even by that dense unconsciousness of any spiritual self within which obscures our outward nature. It is a flame born out of the Divine and, luminous inhabitant of the Ignorance, grows in it till it is able to turn it towards the Knowledge. It is the concealed Witness and Control, the hidden Guide, the Daemon of Socrates, the inner light or inner voice of the mystic. It is that which endures and is imperishable in us from birth to birth, untouched by death, decay or corruption, an indestructible spark of the Divine.” The Life Divine
This is quite apart from the well-known danger of actually hostile beings whose sole purpose is to create confusion, falsehood, corruption of the sadhana and disastrous unspiritual error.
transcription ::: n. --> The act or process of transcribing, or copying; as, corruptions creep into books by repeated transcriptions.
A copy; a transcript.
An arrangement of a composition for some other instrument or voice than that for which it was originally written, as the translating of a song, a vocal or instrumental quartet, or even an orchestral work, into a piece for the piano; an adaptation; an arrangement; -- a name applied by modern composers for the piano to a
uncorruption ::: n. --> Incorruption.
veeblefetzer "jargon" /vee'b*l-fetz'*/ (Or "veeblefeetzer"?) A purposely nonsensical sounding word applied to any sort of obscure or complicated object, e.g. a piece of computer code, model railroad equipment, auto parts, etc. The more immediate origin of the word is "Mad" Magazine. In the late 1950s and early 1960s it used the word along the same lines, especially in its send-ups of big business. "North American Veeblefetzer" was the subject of satires of an annual reports, an in-house newsletter, and more. A Veeblefetzer, in their case, was a robot-like device that did something or other. The more distant source was probably a 19th century yiddish word, possibly with limited usage. In German, "Fetzer" is any contraption, while "Veeble" is a likely corruption of "Webel" -- meaning weaving. Textile mills of this period were crammed with very complicated, wildly active and very loud pieces of machinery. See also {veeblefester}. [veeblefeetzer or veeblefetzer?] (1996-03-31)
vikara ::: corruption, distortion, deformation; [in the samkhya philosophy: a production or derivative from prakrti.]
vitiation ::: n. --> The act of vitiating, or the state of being vitiated; depravation; corruption; invalidation; as, the vitiation of the blood; the vitiation of a contract.
weigh ::: n. --> A corruption of Way, used only in the phrase under weigh.
A certain quantity estimated by weight; an English measure of weight. See Wey. ::: v. t. --> To bear up; to raise; to lift into the air; to swing up; as, to weigh anchor.
KEYS (10k)
3 Saint Athanasius
3 Saint Thomas Aquinas
2 Anonymous
1 Sutra in 42 articles
1 Sri Aurobindo
1 Rodney Collin
1 Our Lady of La Salette
1 Manly P Hall
1 Hermes
1 Galatians VI. 7. 8
1 Esdras IV. 8. 33
1 Bill Hicks
1 Athanasius
1 Sri Aurobindo
1 Saint Augustine of Hippo
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
42 Anonymous
22 Thomas Jefferson
16 Suzy Kassem
15 Narendra Modi
14 Dean Koontz
12 Victor Hugo
10 Samuel Johnson
10 Friedrich Nietzsche
9 Saint Athanasius of Alexandria
9 Robert Payne
9 Jordan Peterson
9 Jordan B Peterson
9 Barack Obama
8 Katherine Boo
8 Edward Gibbon
8 Donald Trump
8 Chetan Bhagat
7 Theodore Roosevelt
7 Matthew Henry
7 Jonathan Swift
1:Healing is not only restoration to normality, but also preparation for regeneration. It is the cosmic antidote to corruption. ~ Rodney Collin, #KEYS
2:Man cannot persevere after the corruption of human nature without God's grace ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (On Job ch. 7)., #KEYS
3:The corruption of death no longer holds any power over mankind, thanks to the Word, who has come to dwell among them through his one body. ~ Saint Athanasius, #KEYS
4:Because of the Word dwelling in that body, it would remain incorruptible, and all would be freed for ever from corruption by the grace of the resurrection. ~ Saint Athanasius, #KEYS
5:What we see as error is very frequently the symbol or a disguise or a corruption or malformation of a truth. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Evolution of the Spiritual Man, #KEYS
6:Say in yourselves, "In the midst of this world of corruption, I would resemble the lotus which remains intangible by the mire in which it is born." ~ Sutra in 42 articles, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
7:Taking pity on mankind's weakness, and moved by our corruption, he could not stand aside and see death have the mastery over us; he did not want creation to perish and his Father's work in fashioning man to be in vain. ~ Saint Athanasius, #KEYS
8:The scars that remained in Christ's body belong neither to corruption nor defect, but to the greater increase of glory, inasmuch as they are the trophies of His power ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.54.4ad1), #KEYS
9:You shall no more carry in yourselves the root of evil; disease and infirmity no more shall make war against you and corruption shall flee from you for ever into oblivion. ~ Esdras IV. 8. 33, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
10:Tremble, earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves, tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption." ~ Our Lady of La Salette , #KEYS
11:Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to his flesh, shall reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. ~ Galatians VI. 7. 8, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
12:Seeing how all men were under penalty of death: He took pity on our race, and had mercy on our infirmity, and condescended to our corruption, and unable to bear that death should dominate ... He takes unto Himself a body, and that of no different sort from ours. ~ Athanasius, #KEYS
13:The scars that remained in Christ's body belong neither to corruption nor defect, but to the greater increase of glory, inasmuch as they are the trophies of His power; and a special comeliness will appear in the places scarred by the wounds ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.54.4ad1)., #KEYS
14:You O Lord art good and merciful, and Your right hand had respect unto the profoundness of my death, and removed from the bottom of my heart that abyss of corruption. And this was the result, that I willed not to do what I willed, and willed to do what you willed. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
15:Why, O men born from the earth, do you yield yourselves to death, when it is permitted to you to obtain immortality? Return to yourselves, O you who walk in error and languish in ignorance, withdraw from the light that is darkness, renounce corruption, take part in immortality. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
16:I was told when I grew up I could be anything I wanted: a fireman, a policeman, a doctor - even President, it seemed. And for the first time in the history of mankind, something new, called an astronaut. But like so many kids brought up on a steady diet of Westerns, I always wanted to be the avenging cowboy hero - that lone voice in the wilderness, fighting corruption and evil wherever I found it, and standing for freedom, truth and justice. And in my heart of hearts I still track the remnants of that dream wherever I go, in my endless ride into the setting sun. ~ Bill Hicks, #KEYS
17:To study, to contemplate, to understand - by these processes we grow, we enrich, and we ennoble ourselves. If we can learn from the experiences of others we do not need to have all these miseries brought upon our own flesh. If we are able to learn from the common experience of the world we can free ourselves from the necessity of learning what every other man from the beginning of time has had to learn the hard way. Every human being has had to learn that fear, anger, greed, overambition all end in pain, misery, and in the loss of natural growth. All have had to learn that prejudice is wrong; compromise leads to corruption - which is wrong. Everyone has to learn this, yet how does it happen that after so many thousands of years each human being has to learn again. Can we learn nothing from observing the conduct of those around us? ~ Manly P Hall, Sensory Perceptions Cannot Think, 1972, p.10), #KEYS
18:The true soul secret in us, - subliminal, we have said, but the word is misleading, for this presence is not situated below the threshold of waking mind, but rather burns in the temple of the inmost heart behind the thick screen of an ignorant mind, life and body, not subliminal but behind the veil, - this veiled psychic entity is the flame of the Godhead always alight within us, inextinguishable even by that dense unconsciousness of any spiritual self within which obscures our outward nature. It is a flame born out of the Divine and, luminous inhabitant of the Ignorance, grows in it till it is able to turn it towards the Knowledge. It is the concealed Witness and Control, the hidden Guide, the Daemon of Socrates, the inner light or inner voice of the mystic. It is that which endures and is imperishable in us from birth to birth, untouched by death, decay or corruption, an indestructible spark of the Divine. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine #KEYS
19:JOSH
hmm. its so upsetting.. it seems like the book is a perfect symbol for something terribly wrong. I constantly avoid anything Donald Trump related because I find him so repulsive its upsetting. like its too disgusting of a corruption and i just avoid it. but maybe this book is a lukewarm symbol so I can learn to move towards and fight such darknesses.. I dont know.. so upsetting.
and people buy into such double-thought inconscience? I cant even comprehend how this can be like this. I guess its like I turn away from disgust it allows people to turn away from reason through that infantile pre-rational regression or something. I mean we all want safety but..
the book itself goes against itself from the title.. like its bashing the left for wanting to divide america but thats what the book is doing by attacking them. so I guess if people cant catch the deception from the title they wont catch it in the book? ayah
ALAN
Yeah it's the whole white male fragility persecution envy trip. Donny Jnr was so triggered he had to write a whole book (I pity the ghostwriter).
And yes it is upsetting, we live in a world where the Lord of Falsehood is on the ascendant, through instruments like Trump, Koch, and Murdoch. Some people are particularly susceptible, others are immune. This is the battle for the Earth ~ M Alan Kazlev, Facebook,#KEYS
20:It is natural from the point of view of the Yoga to divide into two categories the activities of the human mind in its pursuit of knowledge. There is the supreme supra-intellectual knowledge which concentrates itself on the discovery of the One and Infinite in its transcendence or tries to penetrate by intuition, contemplation, direct inner contact into the ultimate truths behind the appearances of Nature; there is the lower science which diffuses itself in an outward knowledge of phenomena, the disguises of the One and Infinite as it appears to us in or through the more exterior forms of the world-manifestation around us. These two, an upper and a lower hemisphere, in the form of them constructed or conceived by men within the mind's ignorant limits, have even there separated themselves, as they developed, with some sharpness.... Philosophy, sometimes spiritual or at least intuitive, sometimes abstract and intellectual, sometimes intellectualising spiritual experience or supporting with a logical apparatus the discoveries of the spirit, has claimed always to take the fixation of ultimate Truth as its province. But even when it did not separate itself on rarefied metaphysical heights from the knowledge that belongs to the practical world and the pursuit of ephemeral objects, intellectual Philosophy by its habit of abstraction has seldom been a power for life. It has been sometimes powerful for high speculation, pursuing mental Truth for its own sake without any ulterior utility or object, sometimes for a subtle gymnastic of the mind in a mistily bright cloud-land of words and ideas, but it has walked or acrobatised far from the more tangible realities of existence. Ancient Philosophy in Europe was more dynamic, but only for the few; in India in its more spiritualised forms, it strongly influenced but without transforming the life of the race.... Religion did not attempt, like Philosophy, to live alone on the heights; its aim was rather to take hold of man's parts of life even more than his parts of mind and draw them Godwards; it professed to build a bridge between spiritual Truth and the vital and material human existence; it strove to subordinate and reconcile the lower to the higher, make life serviceable to God, Earth obedient to Heaven. It has to be admitted that too often this necessary effort had the opposite result of making Heaven a sanction for Earth's desires; for, continually, the religious idea has been turned into an excuse for the worship and service of the human ego. Religion, leaving constantly its little shining core of spiritual experience, has lost itself in the obscure mass of its ever extending ambiguous compromises with life: in attempting to satisfy the thinking mind, it more often succeeded in oppressing or fettering it with a mass of theological dogmas; while seeking to net the human heart, it fell itself into pits of pietistic emotionalism and sensationalism; in the act of annexing the vital nature of man to dominate it, it grew itself vitiated and fell a prey to all the fanaticism, homicidal fury, savage or harsh turn for oppression, pullulating falsehood, obstinate attachment to ignorance to which that vital nature is prone; its desire to draw the physical in man towards God betrayed it into chaining itself to ecclesiastic mechanism, hollow ceremony and lifeless ritual. The corruption of the best produced the worst by that strange chemistry of the power of life which generates evil out of good even as it can also generate good out of evil. At the same time in a vain effort at self-defence against this downward gravitation, Religion was driven to cut existence into two by a division of knowledge, works, art, life itself into two opposite categories, the spiritual and the worldly, religious and mundane, sacred and profane; but this defensive distinction itself became conventional and artificial and aggravated rather than healed the disease.... On their side Science and Art and the knowledge of Life, although at first they served or lived in the shadow of Religion, ended by emancipating themselves, became estranged or hostile, or have even recoiled with indifference, contempt or scepticism from what seem to them the cold, barren and distant or unsubstantial and illusory heights of unreality to which metaphysical Philosophy and Religion aspire. For a time the divorce has been as complete as the one-sided intolerance of the human mind could make it and threatened even to end in a complete extinction of all attempt at a higher or a more spiritual knowledge. Yet even in the earthward life a higher knowledge is indeed the one thing that is throughout needful, and without it the lower sciences and pursuits, however fruitful, however rich, free, miraculous in the abundance of their results, become easily a sacrifice offered without due order and to false gods; corrupting, hardening in the end the heart of man, limiting his mind's horizons, they confine in a stony material imprisonment or lead to a final baffling incertitude and disillusionment. A sterile agnosticism awaits us above the brilliant phosphorescence of a half-knowledge that is still the Ignorance. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Ascent of the Sacrifice - 1, #KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 2:The corruption of the best things gives rise to the worst. ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 3:I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it. ~ ashleigh-brilliant, @wisdomtrove 4:It is awful hard to get people interested in corruption unless they can get some of it. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 5:There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 6:He that accuses all mankind of corruption ought to remember that he is sure to convict only one. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 7:Under government ownership corruption can flourish just as rankly as under private ownership. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 8:Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 9:Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 10:No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 11:When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 12:If parasitism, favoritism, corruption, and greed for the unearned did not exist, a mixed economy would bring them into existence. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 13:You like orchids?... Nasty things. Their flesh is too much like the flesh of men, their perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption. ~ william-faulkner, @wisdomtrove 14:In my opinion nothing has contributed more to the corruption of the original idea of socialism as the belief that Russia is a socialist country. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 15:Nnothing tends more to the corruption of science than to suffer it to stagnate. These waters must be troubled, before they can exert their virtues. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 16:He suffers no change, corruption, division, privation or flux; none of these things can either be identified with or attributed to Him. ~ pseudo-dionysius-the-areopagite, @wisdomtrove 17:I hate ingratitude more in man than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or any taint of vice, whose strong corruption inhabits our frail blood. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 18:Goodness that comes out of hiding and assumes a public role is no longer good, but corrupt in its own terms and will carry its own corruption wherever it goes. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 19:There is something in corruption which, like a jaundiced eye, transfers the color of itself to the object it looks upon, and sees everything stained and impure. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 20:Our government is built upon the vote. But votes that are purchasable are quicksands, and a government built on them stands upon corruption and revolution. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 21:Injustice and corruption will never be transformed by keeping them hidden, but only by bringing them out into the light and confronting them with the power of love. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 22:The dull, purblind folly of the very rich men, their greed and arrogance, and the corruption in business and politics, have tended to produce a very unhealthy condition. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 23:When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any individual in a government, he becomes the center, round which every kind of corruption generates and forms. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 24:And that the Scriptures, though not everywhere Free from corruption, or entire, or clear, Are uncorrupt, sufficient, clear, entire In all things which our needful faith require. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 25:[The spirit of party] opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 26:The greatest miracle of the Bible is that the prophets of Israel could keep a religion as clean as a hounds tooth amid all the corruption and idolatry of the nations surrounding them. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 27:The humble sinner will sometimes be interpreted as one of the filthiest in the eyes of man yet immersed in the eyes of God, and this is due to the volition of honesty regarding his own corruption. ~ criss-jami, @wisdomtrove 28:The traveller who has gone to Italy to study the tactile values of Giotto, or the corruption of the Papacy, may return remembering nothing but the blue sky and the men and women who live under it. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 29:That the corruption of the best thing produces the worst, is grown into a maxim, and is commonly proved, among other instances, by the pernicious effects of superstition and enthusiasm, the corruptions of true religion. ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 30:The energy of compassion is very strong. We suffer. That is real. But we have learned not to get angry and not to allow ourselves to be carried by anger. We realize right away that that is fear. That is corruption. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 31:Easy money, sudden fortunes, increasingly powerful political machines and blatant corruption transformed much of the nation; and the Senate, as befits a democratic legislative body, accurately represented the nation. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 32:Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 33:Seemingly minor yet persistent things penetrate the mind over time making it difficult to ever realize the impact; hence, though quite unfortunate, the most dangerous forms of corruption are those that are subtle and below the radar. ~ criss-jami, @wisdomtrove 34:No professional politician is ever actually in favor of public economy. It is his implacable enemy, and he knows it. All professional politicians are dedicated wholeheartedly to waste and corruption. They are the enemies of every decent man. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 35:Man has throughout the ages been seeking something beyond himself, beyond material welfare - something we call truth or God or reality, a timeless state - something that cannot be disturbed by circumstances, by thought or by human corruption. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 36:The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and money began to play an important part in determining elections. Later on, this process of corruption spread to the law courts. And then to the army, and finally the Republic was subjected to the rule of emperors ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 37:Every man becomes the image of the God he adores. He whose worship is directed to a dead thing becomes dead. He who loves corruption rots. He who loves a shadow becomes, himself, a shadow. He who loves things that must perish lives in dread of their perishing. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 38:I'll confess that I don't watch the Olympics, but you'd have to be living under a rock to be unaware of the corruption and the expense. An amorphous organization with no transparency, unclear lines of responsibility, huge amounts of politics and a great deal of unearned power. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 39:Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality. It is impossible to find a hygienist who does not debase his theory of the healthful with a theory of the virtuous. ... The aim of medicine is surely not to make men virtuous; it is to safeguard them from the consequences of their vices. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 40:The weakling and the coward cannot be saved by honesty alone; but without honesty the brave and able man is merely a civic wild beast who should be hunted down by every lover of righteousness. No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 41:The church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode of every evil bird and the hiding place for unsuspected corruption. The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 42:Learning is a good medicine: but no medicine is powerful enough to preserve itself from taint and corruption independently of defects in the jar that it is kept in. One man sees clearly but does not see straight: consequently, he sees what is good but fails to follow it; he sees knowledge and does not use it. ~ michel-de-montaigne, @wisdomtrove 43:I look upon parliamentary government as the noblest government in the world, and certainly one most suited to England. But without the discipline of political connection, animated by the principle of private honor, I feel certain that a popular assembly would sink before the power or the corruption of a minister. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 44:The biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling or being unwanted, uncared for, deserted by everybody. The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity, the terrible indifference towards one's neighbor who lives at the roadside, the victim of exploitation, corruption, poverty, and disease. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 45:Luxury, or a refinement on the pleasures and conveniences of life, had long been supposed the source of every corruption in government, and the immediate cause of faction, sedition, civil wars, and the total loss of liberty. It was, therefore, universally regarded as a vice, and was an object of declamation to all satyrists, and severe moralists. ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 46:It is a great mistake to suppose that bribery and corruption, although they may be very convenient for gratifying the ambition or the vanity of individuals, have any great effect upon the fortunes or the power of parties. And it is a great mistake to suppose that bribery and corruption are means by which power can either be ob-tained or retained. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 47:Compromise" is so often used in a bad sense that it is difficult to remember that properly it merely describes the process of reaching an agreement. Naturally there are certain subjects on which no man can compromise. For instance, there must be no compromise under any circumstances with official corruption, and of course no man should hesitate to say as much. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 48:In my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of socialism as the belief that Russia is a socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated. And so for the last ten years, I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the socialist movement. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 49:I am willing to admit that some people might live there for years, or even a lifetime, so protected that they never sense the sweet stench of corruption that is all around them - the keen, thin scent of decay that pervades everything and accuses with a terrible accusation the superficial youthfulness, the abounding undergraduate noise, that fills those ancient buildings. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 50:When a man is saved by divine grace, he is not wholly cleansed from the corruption of his heart. When we believe in Jesus Christ all our sins are pardoned; yet the power of sin, albeit that it is weakened and kept under by the dominion of the new-born nature which God doth infuse into our souls, doth not cease, but still tarrieth in us, and will do so to our dying day. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 51:There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done ... Corporate expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 52:I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and cause me to tremble for safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in High Places will follow, and the Money Power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic destroyed. ~ abraham-lincoln, @wisdomtrove 53:A thing there was that mattered; a thing, wreathed about with chatter, defaced, obscured in her own life, let drop every day in corruption, lies, chatter. This he had preserved. Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the centre which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded, one was alone. There was an embrace in death. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 54:It must appear impossible, that theism could, from reasoning, have been the primary religion of human race, and have afterwards, by its corruption, given birth to polytheism and to all the various superstitions of the heathen world. Reason, when obvious, prevents these corruptions: When abstruse, it keeps the principles entirely from the knowledge of the vulgar, who are alone liable to corrupt any principle or opinion. ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 55:Then no rightful cause was left, and the pain of anger was turning into the shameful pain of submission. He had no right to condemn anyone - he thought - to denounce anything, to fight and die joyously, claiming the sanctity of virtue. The broken promises, the unconfessed desires, the betrayal, the deceit, the lies, the fraud - he was guilty of them all. What form of corruption could he scorn? Degrees do not matter, he thought; one does not bargain about inches of evil. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 56:There is something in natural affection which will lead it on to eternal love more easily than natural appetite could be led on. But there's also something in it which makes it easier to stop at the natural level and mistake it for the heavenly. Brass is mistaken for gold more easily than clay is. And if it finally refuses conversion its corruption will be worse than the corruption of what ye call the lower passions. It is a stronger angel, and therefor, when it falls, a fiercer devil. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 57:To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. ~ barack-obama, @wisdomtrove 58:It is unnatural that a pure stream should flow from a foul fountain its vices are but a continuation of the vices of its origin. A man of moral honor and good political principles, cannot submit to the mean drudgery and disgraceful arts, by which such elections are carried. To be a successful candidate, he must be destitute of the qualities that constitute a just legislator: and being thus disciplined to corruption it is not to be expected that the representative should be better than the man. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 59:When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 60:The goal of the & 61:Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the résumé of a Supreme Being. This is the kind of shit you'd expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently-run universe, this guy would've been out on his all-powerful ass a long time ago. And by the way, I say "this guy", because I firmly believe, looking at these results, that if there is a God, it has to be a man. ~ george-carlin, @wisdomtrove 62:We say that the cause of all things, who is Himself above all things, is neither without being nor without life, nor without reason nor without intelligence; nor is He a body nor has He form or shape, or quality or quantity or mass; He is not localised or visible or tangible; He is neither sensitive nor sensible; He is subject to no disorder or disturbance arising from material passion; He is not subject to failure of power, or to the accidents of sensible things; He needs no light; He suffers no change or corruption or division, or privation or flux; and He neither has nor is anything else that belongs to the senses. ~ pseudo-dionysius-the-areopagite, @wisdomtrove 63:Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 64:The man who attempts to live for others is a dependent. He is a parasite in motive and makes parasites of those he serves. The relationship produces nothing but mutual corruption. It is impossible in concept. The nearest approach to it in reality - the man who lives to serve others - is the slave. If physical slavery is repulsive, how much more repulsive is the concept of servility of the spirit. The conquered slave has a vestige of honor. He has the merit of having resisted and of considering his condition evil. But the man who enslaves himself voluntarily in the name of love is the basest of creatures. He degrades the dignity of man, and he degrades the conception of love. But that is the essence of altruism ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 65:Love is blind, they say; sex is impervious to reason and mocks the power of all philosophers. But, in fact, a man’s sexual choice is the result and the sum of his fundamental convictions. Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy on life. Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself. No matter what corruption he’s taught about the virtue of selflessness, sex is the most profoundly selfish of all acts, an act which he cannot perform for any motive but his own enjoyment–just try to think of performing it in a spirit of selfless charity!–an act which is not possible in self-abasement, only in self-exaltation, only in confidence of being desired and being worthy of desire. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:Increasing Corruption on Earth ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
2:Reject every form of corruption. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
3:Corruption hates what is not corrupt. ~ Paul Park, #NFDB
4:All my life I have fought corruption. ~ A K Antony, #NFDB
5:Corruption is never compulsory. ~ Sheldon Vanauken, #NFDB
6:Corruption is not a Canadian value! ~ Stephen Harper, #NFDB
7:Corruption never has been compulsory. ~ Anthony Eden, #NFDB
8:Realism is a corruption of reality. ~ Wallace Stevens, #NFDB
9:Censorship exists to protect corruption. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
10:Corruption is the gangrene of a people. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
11:Salaries are a huge area of corruption. ~ Ashraf Ghani, #NFDB
12:No corruption is possible with the diamond. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
13:Her death was a foul corruption of her beauty. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
14:Purity without balance is its own corruption. ~ V E Schwab, #NFDB
15:The duty of youth is to challenge corruption. ~ Kurt Cobain, #NFDB
16:Corruption wins not more than honesty. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
17:Elected on anti-corruption platform in 1978. ~ Newt Gingrich, #NFDB
18:Guilt was imputed and corruption was conveyed ~ Gordon Clark, #NFDB
19:I'm sure corruption in Chechnya is minimal. ~ Vladimir Putin, #NFDB
20:Distrust is an assurance against corruption ~ David L Golemon, #NFDB
21:Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
22:Let's fight against corruption for a better India ~ Rahul Gandhi, #NFDB
23:Not just charity, even corruption begins at home. ~ Hari Kumar K, #NFDB
24:Not just charity, even corruption begins at home. ~ K Hari Kumar, #NFDB
25:I embrace my own festering diseased corruption, ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
26:Corruption is a true enemy to development. ~ Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, #NFDB
27:People exaggerate Corruption in Nigeria. It is not ~ Atiku Abubakar, #NFDB
28:The corruption of the American soul is consumerism. ~ Ben Nicholson, #NFDB
29:when you have politics, you have corruption.” “Possibly. ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
30:Corruption begins with a single moment of weakness. ~ Erika Johansen, #NFDB
31:Documentary About Financial Corruption in Black Churches ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
32:The bigger the government, the greater the corruption ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
33:Power required corruption, and corruption rewarded power. ~ V E Schwab, #NFDB
34:The air of innocence remained, still begging corruption. ~ Shayla Black, #NFDB
35:The corruption of people is to behave in an inhuman way. ~ Alan Bullock, #NFDB
36:The corruption of the best things gives rise to the worst. ~ David Hume, #NFDB
37:There is a difference between corruption and desperation. ~ Daniel Cole, #NFDB
38:Those who fight corruption should be clean themselves. ~ Vladimir Putin, #NFDB
39:Will make Delhi a corruption-free , world class city. ~ Arvind Kejriwal, #NFDB
40:Like most forms of corruption, it began with men in suits. ~ Mick Herron, #NFDB
41:There is no corruption but mere stealing in Nigeria. ~ Goodluck Jonathan, #NFDB
42:Transparency in government leads to reduced corruption. ~ Julian Assange, #NFDB
43:I have always been fascinated by the corruption of power. ~ Joe Eszterhas, #NFDB
44:The permutations of English corruption in India were endless ~ Paul Scott, #NFDB
45:Censorship exists to block criticism and protect corruption. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
46:He could smell her morality, the sweet rot of corruption ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
47:In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous. ~ Tacitus, #NFDB
48:It is more important to detect corruption than fiction. ~ Charlotte Lennox, #NFDB
49:Memory all to easily accommodates the corruption of regret. ~ Dana Spiotta, #NFDB
50:No government functions without the grease of corruption. ~ Carlos Fuentes, #NFDB
51:power created two things above all else: corruption and sheep ~ Sean Platt, #NFDB
52:Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality. ~ Lord Acton, #NFDB
53:He could smell her mortality, the sweet rot of corruption. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
54:Republicans cannot be trusted to end the culture of corruption. ~ Harry Reid, #NFDB
55:Christianity, alcohol the two great means of corruption. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
56:Greed and corruption isn't in the world.It's in the people". ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
57:Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy. ~ Peter Ustinov, #NFDB
58:It is purity of spirit that will keep corruption from the flesh ~ Mark Lawrence, #NFDB
59:Personally I don't think solving corruption is such a big problem. ~ Imran Khan, #NFDB
60:Corruption is just a rude word for the autumn of a people. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
61:But laughter is weakness, corruption, the foolishness of our flesh. ~ Umberto Eco, #NFDB
62:I see corruption as a mortal enemy for young democracies. ~ Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, #NFDB
63:Nepotism is the lowest and least imaginative form of corruption. ~ Daniel Alarc n, #NFDB
64:REJECT ALL FORMS OF CORRUPTION THAT DIVERT RESOURCES FROM THE POOR ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
65:Weakness and corruption aren't in the world. They're in people. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
66:Work is the only thing I do to escape the corruption of praise. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
67:Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty. ~ Edward Gibbon, #NFDB
68:Truth will never shine from a heart filled with corruption and lies. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
69:Human beings are fallible, frightened and prone to corruption. ~ Robert K Tanenbaum, #NFDB
70:Memory all to easily accommodates the corruption of regret. ~ Dana Rosemary Scallon, #NFDB
71:But eradicating corruption is not enough to sustain a country. ~ Eduard Shevardnadze, #NFDB
72:Corruption exists because there is too much, not too little, market. ~ Ha Joon Chang, #NFDB
73:Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption ~ James Madison, #NFDB
74:No doubt, what with all that graft and corruption filling your schedule. ~ Rob Thomas, #NFDB
75:That which threatens peace is corruption. War is the greatest of evils. ~ N K Jemisin, #NFDB
76:The inherent corruption of man can often bring down the best system. ~ Alexis Denisof, #NFDB
77:We cannot build an economy where corruption is the working capital ~ Muhammadu Buhari, #NFDB
78:The corruption of man is followed by the corruption of language. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
79:The crisis of community has its source in the corruption of character. ~ Wendell Berry, #NFDB
80:There is no compromise when it comes to corruption. You have to fight it. ~ A K Antony, #NFDB
81:Hillary Clinton's life has been filled with corruption but nobody cares. ~ Jackie Mason, #NFDB
82:Politics was an illusion of service that cloaked the corruption of power. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
83:The hard to my soft. The big to my small. The corruption to my innocence. ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
84:Cancer and lightning go where they want. So does political corruption. ~ James Lee Burke, #NFDB
85:If corruption had already taken root,
then good seeds must be preserved. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
86:In our corruption we perceive beauties unrevealed to ancient times. ~ Charles Baudelaire, #NFDB
87:It`s corruption never been systemic, because a fish rots from the head ~ Joseph Wambaugh, #NFDB
88:I want either less corruption, or more chance to participate in it. ~ Ashleigh Brilliant, #NFDB
89:Jack as “something of a rare species” in a nation “steeped in corruption. ~ Duncan Clark, #NFDB
90:I will be happy with certainly when the corruption index improve. ~ Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, #NFDB
91:corruption will be the new growth industry without the papers watching. ~ Michael Connelly, #NFDB
92:I did not make any big speeches but acted upon working against corruption. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
93:If you talk about corruption, you can talk about a lot of things in life. ~ Rafael Benitez, #NFDB
94:He knew now that corruption is inherent in power, and, even worse, stupidity! ~ Jean Renoir, #NFDB
95:Corruption is one of the most common reasons I hear in views that criticize aid. ~ Bill Gates, #NFDB
96:Contracting corruption has been around since the construction of the Appian Way. ~ Matt Taibbi, #NFDB
97:Corruption often exists because there are too many market forces, not too few. ~ Ha Joon Chang, #NFDB
98:I want to rid the country of corruption and return our economic environment. ~ Nestor Kirchner, #NFDB
99:there is nothing under the moon, however fine, that is not subject to corruption. ~ C J Sansom, #NFDB
100:To oppose corruption in government is the highest obligation of patriotism. ~ G Edward Griffin, #NFDB
101:Washington's Corruption and Mendacity Is What Makes America 'Exceptional' ~ Paul Craig Roberts, #NFDB
102:We see violence to forcibly seize land, at any price, murders and corruption. ~ Claudio Hummes, #NFDB
103:A corruption-free society is not merely a dream, it is entirely achievable. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
104:The corruption of religions comes from turning them to mere words and appearances. ~ Al-Ghazali, #NFDB
105:All Earthquakes and Disasters are warnings; there’s too much corruption in the world ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
106:Based on my experience, I can say that India country can be freed of corruption. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
107:Sin is the corruption or depravation of the sinner, and it is a self-corruption; ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
108:Corruptio optimi pessima.” The corruption of the best things are the worst things. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
109:Extremely disappointed that corruption may have reached such a level in Mexico. ~ Barry McCaffrey, #NFDB
110:intent on portraying itself as infallible, and that always leads to corruption. ~ L E Modesitt Jr, #NFDB
111:Oil-for-food shows the need for reform. There was fraud, corruption, mismanagement ~ Norm Coleman, #NFDB
112:A soldier's time is passed in distress and danger, or in idleness and corruption. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
113:Both political parties have a richly vested interest in corporate corruption. ~ Arianna Huffington, #NFDB
114:Nietzsche's accomplishment is that he permits us to see corruption from the inside. ~ Robert Payne, #NFDB
115:Senator Chris Dodd unveiled his plan to reduce corruption in the Senate. He's retiring. ~ Jay Leno, #NFDB
116:... there is nothing under the moon, however fine, that is not subject to corruption. ~ C J Sansom, #NFDB
117:Still, corruption and oppression are far too common threats to the democratic society. ~ Anna Lindh, #NFDB
118:...that no matter how good their intentions, with absolute power comes corruption. ~ Gennifer Albin, #NFDB
119:The starting point of sanctification is the filthiness, corruption, or stain of sin. ~ William Ames, #NFDB
120:The use of history as therapy means the corruption of history as history. ~ Arthur M Schlesinger Jr, #NFDB
121:Corruption doesn’t take root in isolation, it embeds itself where the soil is fertile. ~ Ed McDonald, #NFDB
122:Corruption is Africa's greatest problem. Not poverty. Not lack of riches. Not racism ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
123:It may not be long before Corporate Corruption is made legal and renamed a Lobbying Fee. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
124:War is both the product of an earlier corruption, and a producer of new corruptions. ~ Lewis Mumford, #NFDB
125:We have to continue to confront the challenge of corruption within the public service. ~ Thabo Mbeki, #NFDB
126:what kind of democracy can exist side by side with so much corruption and ignorance? ~ Chinua Achebe, #NFDB
127:Corruption is Africa's greatest problem. Not poverty. Not lack of riches. Not racism. ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
128:In youth, in middle age, and now after many battles, I find nothing in me but corruption. ~ John Knox, #NFDB
129:Blest paper-credit! last and best supply! That lends corruption lighter wings to fly! ~ Alexander Pope, #NFDB
130:Power is a corruption, and any society which operates from a power base is a corrupt society. ~ Jean Ure, #NFDB
131:We must fight against negativeness - especially bureaucracy, corruption and wastefulness. ~ Nong uc Manh, #NFDB
132:When they aren’t being incompetent, city officials like to relax with a little corruption. ~ Bill Bryson, #NFDB
133:Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations. ~ Milton Friedman, #NFDB
134:I only know that he who makes a tie is lost, the seed of corruption has entered his heart ~ Joseph Conrad, #NFDB
135:Nothing, absolutely nothing, was above corruption so long as human beings were involved. ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
136:We do not need international help to stop corruption, we need strong Louisiana Leadership. ~ David Vitter, #NFDB
137:You need a high degree of corruption or a very big heart to love absolutely everything ~ Gustave Flaubert, #NFDB
138:One of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption. ~ Upton Sinclair, #NFDB
139:politics?” “A necessary evil that on rare occasions works without corruption, abuse, and waste. ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
140:It's interesting that these themes of crime and political corruption are always relevant. ~ Martin Scorsese, #NFDB
141:The way to end corruption is a progressive, policy driven state with proper implementation. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
142:Untruth corrupts the soul and the state alike, and one form of corruption feeds the other ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
143:One of the things about federal politics is that it has been remarkably free of corruption. ~ George Brandis, #NFDB
144:When I saw corruption, I was forced to find truth on my own. I couldn't swallow the hypocrisy. ~ Barry White, #NFDB
145:Whoever looks at America will see: the ship is powered by stupidity, corruption, or prejudice. ~ Johann Most, #NFDB
146:Succeed; that is the advice that falls, drop by drop, from the overhanging fruit of corruption. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
147:The corruption in reporting starts very early. It's like the police reporting on the police. ~ Julian Assange, #NFDB
148:The vices of authority are chiefly four: delays, corruption, roughness and facility. Francis Bacon ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
149:The worst thing about corruption as a system of governance, is that it works so well. ~ Gregory David Roberts, #NFDB
150:This is a matter of public health. The public was sick and tired of DeLay and his corruption. ~ Jim Hightower, #NFDB
151:Untruth corrupts the soul and the state alike, and one form of corruption feeds the other ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
152:As a poet, there is only one political duty, and that is to defend one's language from corruption. ~ W H Auden, #NFDB
153:Living with such corruption becomes a suffocating way of life that saps confi dence and initiative ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
154:Real change begins with ridding Washington of corruption, of which there's plenty going around. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
155:That might be the best any generation could achieve: to pioneer its own brand of corruption. ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
156:There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language ~ George Orwell, #NFDB
157:A country cannot live in disorder, incompetence, irresponsibility, uncertainty, and corruption. ~ Leon Degrelle, #NFDB
158:He that accuses all mankind of corruption ought to remember that he is sure to convict only one. ~ Edmund Burke, #NFDB
159:the presence of the Word with them shielded them even from natural corruption, ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
160:There is no systematic corruption in FIFA. That is nonsense. We are financially clean and clear. ~ Sepp Blatter, #NFDB
161:The government is asleep - there is a big administrative corruption everywhere in its institutions ~ Ibrahim Ali, #NFDB
162:The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
163:Every penny of the $7 billion going to Africa as per Obama will be stolen - corruption is rampant! ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
164:No pen can give an adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery. ~ Harriet Ann Jacobs, #NFDB
165:If you really want to introduce corruption into legal marijuana, make it an all cash business. ~ John Hickenlooper, #NFDB
166:Moral cowardice and intellectual corruption are the natural concomitants of unchallenged privilege. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
167:The vices of authority are chiefly four: delays, corruption, roughness and facility. Francis Bacon More ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
168:Under government ownership corruption can flourish just as rankly as under private ownership. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
169:People who are tired of K Street corruption and Wall Street greed are ready for Main Street Values. ~ Mike Huckabee, #NFDB
170:the wretched practices of the Republic endured: corruption, decadence, the lust for prestige. ~ John Jackson Miller, #NFDB
171:65. The generation of man is corruption; the corruption of man is the beginning of generation. ~ Hermes Trismegistus, #NFDB
172:The journey to the grave is already begun, the journey to corruption is, always, already, half over. ~ James Baldwin, #NFDB
173:The origin of corruption in politics is surely in the thought that you are the bearer of ultimate virtue. ~ B W Powe, #NFDB
174:Art is community's medicine for that worst disease of the mind, the corruption of consciousness ~ Robin G Collingwood, #NFDB
175:Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both. ~ John F Kennedy, #NFDB
176:Education is a vast sea of lies, waste, corruption, crackpot theorizing, and careerist log-rolling. ~ John Derbyshire, #NFDB
177:The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means. ~ Georges Bernanos, #NFDB
178:The true causes are the same ones that invade most aspects of our society—greed and corruption.” It’s ~ Brett Battles, #NFDB
179:Research shows the presence of women raises the standards of ethical behavior and lowers corruption. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
180:Ethiopia did not have the same problem [of corruption]. African leaders looked at us with envy. ~ Mengistu Haile Mariam, #NFDB
181:The knife of corruption endangered the life of New York City. The scalpel of the law is making us well again. ~ Ed Koch, #NFDB
182:A just cause should need no interpretation yet flounders when confronted by self- interest and corruption. ~ Peter Dunne, #NFDB
183:Fighting with corruption is highly, is an issue, is a problem. It's highly on the agenda in our country. ~ Dmitry Peskov, #NFDB
184:If allowed to be, the heart is self-policing, and a reasonable measure of guilt guards against corruption. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
185:I feel sick and disempowered, betrayed, angry and crushed by the corruption of all that I know is right. ~ Chris Packham, #NFDB
186:In general, corruption tends to exist whenever governments have favors to extend, or something to sell. ~ Alan Greenspan, #NFDB
187:Our epoch has been called the century of work. It is in fact the century of pain, misery and corruption. ~ Paul Lafargue, #NFDB
188:At this time of year it's easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity - the lies, the corruption, the abuse. ~ Banksy, #NFDB
189:Spirituality is allowing compassion and love to flourish. When belongness begins, corruption ends. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, #NFDB
190:We have to address individual acts of corruption. This is a necessary approach. Go after these individuals. ~ Peter Eigen, #NFDB
191:Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
192:In the Mexico we want, there is no room for corruption, for cover-ups, and least of all for impunity. ~ Enrique Pena Nieto, #NFDB
193:In the West, I guess you’d call it corruption. In North Korea, it was just standard operating procedure. ~ Masaji Ishikawa, #NFDB
194:Vogons are not above a little bribery and corruption in the same way that the sea is not above the clouds, ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
195:As long as we fail to face up to the past and deal with it accordingly, the future will smack of corruption. ~ Desmond Tutu, #NFDB
196:The time has come to tell the truth about the corruption of the government employee unions in this country. ~ Newt Gingrich, #NFDB
197:Extreme corruption steals our dignity from us as human beings and degrades us to the level of animals, ~ Jeanne Marie Laskas, #NFDB
198:He who is extravagant will quickly become poor; and poverty will enforce dependence, and invite corruption. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
199:I promise to deliver a corruption-free India... people have chosen our government to get rid of black money. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
200:Corruption is power that overflows its bounds. By definition, it rarely stays contained in a single location. ~ Nick Harkaway, #NFDB
201:The corruption of morals is a consequence of decadence (weakness of the will, need for strong stimuli). ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
202:But how is the artist to protect himself against the corruption of the age which besets him on all sides? ~ Friedrich Schiller, #NFDB
203:Sedentary culture is the goal of civilization. It means the end of its lifespan and brings about its corruption. ~ Ibn Khaldun, #NFDB
204:A world without corruption would be a strange world indeed - and a damned bad world for lawyers, let me say. ~ Robertson Davies, #NFDB
205:Corruption is a cancer that steals from the poor, eats away at governance and moral fibre and destroys trust. ~ Robert Zoellick, #NFDB
206:I remember the stink of corruption. It had a kind of sweetness to it, a sweetness that'd make you want to hurl. ~ Mark Lawrence, #NFDB
207:The worst thing about corruption as a system of governance, Didier once said, is that it works so well. ~ Gregory David Roberts, #NFDB
208:Corruption never has been compulsory; when the cities lie at the monster's feet there are left the mountains. ~ Robinson Jeffers, #NFDB
209:It was not the lack of technology, weaponry, or troops that threatened his country’s military. It was corruption. ~ Marc Cameron, #NFDB
210:Like the good ape he is, man is a social animal, characterized by cronyism, nepotism, corruption and gossip. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n, #NFDB
211:No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
212:Photography does not create eternity, as art does; it embalms time, rescuing it simply from its proper corruption. ~ Andre Bazin, #NFDB
213:Truly, as the ancients taught us, there is nothing under the moon, however fine, that is not subject to corruption. ~ C J Sansom, #NFDB
214:Wall Street is broken for sure because it succumbed to greed and corruption and pure speculation with no values. ~ Deepak Chopra, #NFDB
215:What people fail to appreciate is that the currency of corruption in elective office is, not money, but votes. ~ James L Buckley, #NFDB
216:It was the sort of corruption Alex expected to hear about happening south of the border, not in her own backyard. ~ Laura Griffin, #NFDB
217:republics required sufficient virtue in the character of their citizens to prevent corruption and eventual decay. ~ Gordon S Wood, #NFDB
218:When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
219:The greatest threat to any faith is not other faiths or beliefs but the corruption and division of its own message ~ Mark Lawrence, #NFDB
220:Ws 14:12 For the beginning of fornication is the devising of idols: and the invention of them is the corruption of life. ~ Various, #NFDB
221:For as long as I am alive, I will not rest in my desire to lead my people out of an abyss of corruption and poverty. ~ Fawzia Koofi, #NFDB
222:If ever this vast country is brought under a single government, it will be one of the most extensive corruption. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
223:inspired him to bear witness to a world which was bleeding with injustice and intolerance and petty corruption. ~ David Lagercrantz, #NFDB
224:This is how corruption begins. One small concession at a time. One thing you feel you have to do for a good reason. ~ Karen Traviss, #NFDB
225:Corruption wins not more than honesty. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
226:If we tackle corruption, no child would sleep hungry, there would be no injustice, every child would be in school. ~ Strive Masiyiwa, #NFDB
227:It is a moral achievement on the part of the doctor who ought not to let himself be repelled by sickness and corruption. ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
228:It`s an absolute abomination. Whether intentional corruption or mismanagement , it seems like FEMA is just a money pit. ~ Mark Foley, #NFDB
229:The desire to gain wealth and the fear to lose it are our chief breeders of cowardice and propagators of corruption. ~ William James, #NFDB
230:The more there is scandal and corruption in Washington, the better it is for McCain, so he`s at a high point right now. ~ Chuck Todd, #NFDB
231:Leaders say "no" to corruption. Anyone playing a role in governance, and is not ready to do this is not a leader. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
232:The pharmaceutical corporations are engaged in the systematic corruption of the medical profession, country by country ~ John le Carre, #NFDB
233:Today many of these selfish politicians are preying on the nation itself – (belching corruption and farting discontent!) ~ Faraaz Kazi, #NFDB
234:At its core, police brutality is about power and corruption. Police brutality is about the intersection of fear and guns. ~ Ijeoma Oluo, #NFDB
235:such is the corruption of nature that the bad are much more likely to debauch the good than the good to reform the bad. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
236:Socrates learned to his cost, the true nature of democracy is to encourage corruption and excess in all its forms. But the ~ Philip Kerr, #NFDB
237:The more White investigated the flow of oil money from Osage headrights, the more he found layer upon layer of corruption. ~ David Grann, #NFDB
238:From experience I can say that we can make our nation corruption free. Only promises won't help...Irade Nek Hone Chahiye. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
239:Remember with whom thou hast to do: what canst thou expect from dust but levity; or from corruption, but defilement(33)? ~ Richard Baxter, #NFDB
240:We’ve been conditioned to associate governing with self-promoting arrogance, corruption, inequality, and inefficiency. But ~ Randy Alcorn, #NFDB
241:And sometimes in the depths of corruption flowers of human sympathy and fruits of perfumed tears are to be found and gathered. ~ Kaf Nagai, #NFDB
242:It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption. ~ Montesquieu, #NFDB
243:Protesting is never a disturbance of the peace. Corruption, injustice, war and intimidation are disturbances of the peace. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
244:The affectation of some late authors to introduce and multiply cant words is the most ruinous corruption in any language. ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
245:We live in the midst of a gloomy society. Success; that is the lesson which falls drop by drop from the slope of corruption. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
246:Corruption can only come from ignorance, whether that ignorance is willful or not. James, my son, do not be afraid to know. ~ David Simpson, #NFDB
247:If there's anything to learn from the history of movies, it's that corruption leads to further corruption, not to innocence. ~ Pauline Kael, #NFDB
248:Maybe it isn’t corruption or greed that makes you cowardly. Maybe it’s not weakness, suffering, or even fear. Maybe it is love. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
249:The greatest measure of the nineteenth century was passed by corruption, aided and abetted by the purest man in America. ~ Thaddeus Stevens, #NFDB
250:All the devils in hell and tempters on earth could do us no injury if there were no corruption in our own natures. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
251:California’s cracked and potholed highways, as the once-golden state stewed in government corruption on its way to bankruptcy. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
252:Corruption in the political process varies directly with the number and value of things that politicians have to sell. This ~ Charles Murray, #NFDB
253:Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance. ~ John Henry Newman, #NFDB
254:I feel myself to be a lump of unworthiness, a mass of corruption, and a heap of sin, apart from His almighty love. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
255:If parasitism, favoritism, corruption, and greed for the unearned did not exist, a mixed economy would bring them into existence. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
256:The hydra of corruption is only scotched, not dead. An investigation kills and it and its supporters dead. Let this be had. ~ Andrew Jackson, #NFDB
257:Heaven doesn't only teach humans about virtue and divinity.
It also shows us about politics and corruption; and that's a fact. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
258:in twenty-first-century Russia you are allowed to say anything you want as long as you don’t follow the corruption trail. ~ Peter Pomerantsev, #NFDB
259:It is my hope that the pagan media and academic establishment will implode on the force of its own corruption and stagnation. ~ Samuel Bowers, #NFDB
260:Those in government are especially susceptible to the corruption of power, because government is institutionalized coercion. ~ George H Smith, #NFDB
261:I have always taken measures to fight corruption, to attract investment, to create a better context for investment in Greece. ~ Alexis Tsipras, #NFDB
262:The effect of corruption I find most underacknowledged is a contraction not of economic possibility but of our moral universe. ~ Katherine Boo, #NFDB
263:The only difference between Detroit and the Third World in terms of corruption is Detroit don't have no goats in the streets. ~ Charlie LeDuff, #NFDB
264:Though I cannot flee from the world of corruption, I can prepare tea with water from a mountain stream and put my heart to rest ~ Ueda Akinari, #NFDB
265:We know that the wages of secrecy are corruption. We know that in secrecy error, undetected, will flourish and subvert. ~ J Robert Oppenheimer, #NFDB
266:Compassionate artificial superintelligent (CAS) system will have the potential to free the humanity from corruption and other evils. ~ Amit Ray, #NFDB
267:Russia has a strategy of creating the conditions that give rise to corruption, then exploiting that corruption to its own benefit. ~ Al Franken, #NFDB
268:You corrupt very easily, he thought. But was it corruption or was it merely that you lost the naïveté that you started with? ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
269: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. ~ Robert Payne, #NFDB
270:Grief works its own perversions and betrayals; the shape of what we have lost is as subject to corruption as the mortal body... ~ Barry Unsworth, #NFDB
271:isn’t life a kind of corruption? A child is born, and the world sets in upon it. Taking things from it, stuffing things into it. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
272:It has been said that Vogons are not above a little bribery and corruption in the same way that the sea is not above the clouds, ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
273:I watched his face put on that mask of bluff, goodnatured tolerance which is the mask of corruption in this particular time (for ~ Doris Lessing, #NFDB
274:The horror of incest is not in the sexual act. but in the exploitation of children and the corruption of parental love. p4 ~ Judith Lewis Herman, #NFDB
275:The Syrian army is tired of corruption. It is tired of party nepotism. It is becoming very angry with those it blames for the war. ~ Robert Fisk, #NFDB
276:...when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost. ~ Montesquieu, #NFDB
277:When we give vent to the soul, to try what grace is there, corruption comes out; and when we search for corruption, grace appears. So ~ John Owen, #NFDB
278:2014 Lok Sabha Elections is a battle between good governance agenda of the NDA versus the misgovernance and corruption of the UPA. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
279:Already, I felt the corruption inside me clawing for more. One taste, one touch, one kiss, one fuck. One was all I was permitted. ~ Pepper Winters, #NFDB
280:Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance. ~ Saint John Henry Newman, #NFDB
281:If Eve could be swayed in a flawless environment, what is our protection in the midst of corruption? It’s none other than Scripture. ~ John Bevere, #NFDB
282:If vice and corruption prevail, liberty cannot subsist; but if virtue have the advantage, arbitrary power cannot be established. ~ Algernon Sidney, #NFDB
283:It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption. ~ Baron de Montesquieu, #NFDB
284:it is possible to create a corruption-free society by enlisting good human beings, and spreading the message of their success. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
285:The fact that the ministerial conspiracy against liberty had risen from corruption was of the utmost importance to the colonists. ~ Bernard Bailyn, #NFDB
286:The fish rots from the head.” Fish rotted all over, cell corruption being nonhierarchical and not caste-driven, but point taken. ~ Jeff VanderMeer, #NFDB
287:The most ingenious men are now agreed, that [universities] are only nurseries of prejudice, corruption, barbarism, and pedantry. ~ George Berkeley, #NFDB
288:The sanctity of womanhood is incompatible with social liberty and social claims; and for a woman emancipation means corruption. ~ Honore de Balzac, #NFDB
289:Can you imagine charging one of the most powerful people in the country with treason and those around him with fraud and corruption? ~ Jacques Pauw, #NFDB
290:(The modern chess player's cry of "Checkmate!" is a corruption of the Persian "Shakh Mat!" which translates, "The king is dead!") ~ John J Robinson, #NFDB
291:Bastian speaks to a horror of any sort of corruption, and yet, Werner wonders in the dead of night, isn't life a kind of corruption? ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
292:But you must know that if corruption is powerful enough, it’s not corruption at all—it’s law. Unspoken, unwritten, but law. ~ Robert Jackson Bennett, #NFDB
293:Corruption is one of the greatest enemies of progress in our time. It is the cancer at the heart of so many of the world's problems. ~ David Cameron, #NFDB
294:liars ultimately destroy the things they lie to protect, and corruption, ambition, and betrayal inevitably betray themselves, as well. ~ David Weber, #NFDB
295:The lust of gold succeeds the rage of conquest; The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless! The last corruption of degenerate man. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
296:Deeper state intervention in an economy means that bureaucratic waste, inefficiency and corruption are more likely to hold back growth. ~ Ian Bremmer, #NFDB
297:The second trait is our numbness to injustice. It comes from our environment. We are exposed to corruption from our childhood. Almost ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
298:The winner must promote social jusitce, remove corruption and discrmination, and stand against political, cultural and economic plots. ~ Ali Khamenei, #NFDB
299:We talk against corruption when we are powerless since we are the losers in the deal but we quickly change colour when we have power. ~ Awdhesh Singh, #NFDB
300:Already, I felt the corruption inside me clawing for more. One taste, one touch, one kiss, one fuck. One was all I was permitted. And ~ Pepper Winters, #NFDB
301:Corruption could lead to the collapse of the Party [Communist Party of China] and the downfall of the state [People's Republic of China]. ~ Xi Jinping, #NFDB
302:Everyone needs to understand that my work addresses existing problems, and one of the crucial problems in Russia today is corruption. ~ Alexei Navalny, #NFDB
303:The science only perpetuates the vicious cycle of cronyism, power-mongering, influence peddling, corruption, bureaucracy, all of that. ~ Deepak Chopra, #NFDB
304:No one wrote better about the sin of pride, the corruption of power and the redemption of love. I will miss you, Gabriel García Márquez. ~ Laila Lalami, #NFDB
305:Political corruption, social greed, and Americanized quasi-socialism can ruin even the most wonderful places. California proved that. ~ Tiffany Madison, #NFDB
306:Today, to allege corruption seems to be the pastime of most people. All kinds of allegations are leveled. I think it is self-defeating. ~ P Chidambaram, #NFDB
307:To succeed, we have to be the party of change, we have to root out corruption in our own ranks and we have to be the party of solutions. ~ Bobby Jindal, #NFDB
308:Women, in general, are not part of the corruption of the past, so they can give a new kind of leadership, a new image for mankind. ~ Coretta Scott King, #NFDB
309:ROM8.21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
310:The corruption of men who have casually risen to power has a coarse and vulgar infection in it which renders it contagious to the multitude. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
311:The one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6:8 ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
312:But was it corruption or was it merely that you lost the naïveté that you started with? Would it not be the same in anything? Who else ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
313:God will always have a church on earth; but he never said it should be infallible, or perfectly pure from corruption on this side heaven. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
314:Madison was also developing another idea: that the absence of clashing ideas and competing interests leads to overreaching and corruption. ~ Lynne Cheney, #NFDB
315:...when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost. ~ Baron de Montesquieu, #NFDB
316:would go to the length of giving the whole Congress organization a decent burial, rather than put up with the corruption that is rampant, ~ Bipan Chandra, #NFDB
317:You can't take money from the taxpayers out of the treasury to give it to pay off your political donors. That's corruption to do that. ~ Michele Bachmann, #NFDB
318:You like orchids?... Nasty things. Their flesh is too much like the flesh of men, their perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption. ~ William Faulkner, #NFDB
319:All empires fail. They overreach, spread too thin, collect one enemy too many. They’re gnawed at from within by corruption, greed, betrayal. ~ Laini Taylor, #NFDB
320:When the corruption seems to go all the way to the end of the world, the only good approach is through the front door with a gun in each hand. ~ Mira Grant, #NFDB
321:Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called—nay we call ourselves and write our name—Crusoe; and ~ Daniel Defoe, #NFDB
322:I imagine the corruption of myself running through her tracts, into her veins and recesses. I long to withdraw my sting from her innocent body. ~ Rachel Cusk, #NFDB
323:Mexico is going to need the United States to cooperate in order to rid itself of the violence and corruption that results from the drug trade. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
324:No country can police corruption in other countries when it itself is not free from corruption. You cannot clean a dirty wall with dirty hands. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
325:Stable markets, unstable world. Efficiency. Everybody hears about it. It's enough to make you want to be pro-inefficiency and pro-corruption. ~ Arundhati Roy, #NFDB
326:When we look at a conflict, it is so often rooted in injustice, prejudice, competition for resources, poverty, poor governance and corruption. ~ Desmond Tutu, #NFDB
327:Where civilization entailed the corruption of barbarian virtues and the creation of dependent people, I decided, I was opposed to civilization. ~ J M Coetzee, #NFDB
328:Everything is in a state of metamorphosis. Thou thyself art in everlasting change and in corruption to correspond; so is the whole universe. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #NFDB
329:He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. ~ Paul the Apostle, #NFDB
330:There are wars, there's pestilence, there are plagues, there is corruption in religious circles, corruption in the government, when was it not? ~ Tenzin Palmo, #NFDB
331:Corruption and leaders who feel they are not accountable to the people who ‘elected’ them to their positions are major issues afflicting the nation ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
332:Credulity is the common failing of inexperienced virtue; and he who is spontaneously suspicious may justly be charged with radical corruption. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
333:Ex-Im is the lowest of low-hanging fruit in the sprawling tree of American political corruption. And yet House Republicans cannot seem to pluck it. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
334:Naked power has its limitations, since power is a generator of corruption and corruption in its turn tends to dilute the effectiveness of power. ~ Robert Payne, #NFDB
335:In my opinion nothing has contributed more to the corruption of the original idea of socialism as the belief that Russia is a socialist country. ~ George Orwell, #NFDB
336:On all things created remaineth the half-effaced signature of God, Somewhat of fair and good, though blotted by the finger of corruption. ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson, #NFDB
337:In ancient Israel and Rome the judge had appeared as a stand-in for the divine, and corruption was a blinding of the representative of the divine. ~ Peggy Noonan, #NFDB
338:The people are fed up with corruption and embezzlement. They object to censorship. The first thing that the people of Iran want is free elections. ~ Shirin Ebadi, #NFDB
339:There seems to be less obvious corruption in city government and New York politicians, they aren't Republican or Democrat, they're New Yorkers. ~ Malachy McCourt, #NFDB
340:But for the poor of a country where corruption thieved a great deal of opportunity, corruption was one of the genuine opportunities that remained. ~ Katherine Boo, #NFDB
341:Nnothing tends more to the corruption of science than to suffer it to stagnate. These waters must be troubled, before they can exert their virtues. ~ Edmund Burke, #NFDB
342:Public office is supposed to be a public trust. This is a clear sign of the rampant corruption at the highest levels of the Republican leadership. ~ Bob Etheridge, #NFDB
343:The Bible is the only force known to history that has freed enitre nations from corruption while simultaneously giving them political freedom. ~ Vishal Mangalwadi, #NFDB
344:When we say Bharat Vijay Rally, we intend to focus on making India emerge victorious over price rise, corruption, unemployment and mis-governance. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
345:Everyone says corruption is everywhere, but for me it seems strange to say that and then not try to put the people guilty of that corruption away. ~ Alexei Navalny, #NFDB
346:I have a very steadfast tendency to parent myself, to monitor my development into the person I want to be. I've tried to keep the corruption minimal. ~ Fiona Apple, #NFDB
347:The beast for me is greed. Whether you read Dante, Swift, or any of these guys, it always boils down to the same thing: the corruption of the soul. ~ Ben Nicholson, #NFDB
348:The real issue is not corruption – that is only a symptom. What we need to work on is building democracy, in the real and honest sense of the term. ~ Rashmi Bansal, #NFDB
349:There's probably no one so easily bribed, but he lacks even the fundamental honesty of honorable corruption. He doesn't stay bribed; not for any sum. ~ Isaac Asimov, #NFDB
350:But for the poor of a country where corruption thieved a great deal of opportunity, corruption was one of the genuine opportunities that remained. As ~ Katherine Boo, #NFDB
351:Corruption at every level, city, state, federal, all has helped in making New Orleans a disaster area, the most disappearing land mass on the planet Earth. ~ Dr John, #NFDB
352:...our sex is called timid and weak; believe it no more! We tremble at a spider, but the black monster, corruption, we hug to our arms in sport! ~ Friedrich Schiller, #NFDB
353:The blood of my motherland waters a magic plant that cures all ills. That plant is art, and sometimes art needs corruption as a kind of fertilizer ~ Alfred de Musset, #NFDB
354:The truth is that I've always been fascinated with wealth in America. To me, it's been about the American dream and the corruption of that dream. ~ Leonardo DiCaprio, #NFDB
355:When a government is arrived to that degree of corruption as to be incapable of reforming itself, it would not lose much by being new moulded. ~ Baron de Montesquieu, #NFDB
356:When scrutiny is lacking, tyranny, corruption and man's baser qualities have a better chance of entering into the public business of any government. ~ Jacob K Javits, #NFDB
357:Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
358:Knowledge is power; power corrupts. Corruption brings shame and ruin. Ignorance may not be bliss, but it is perhaps preferable to a life lived in shame. ~ Lauren Kate, #NFDB
359:Corruption has its own motivations, and one has to thoroughly study that phenomenon and eliminate the foundations that allow corruption to exist. ~ Eduard Shevardnadze, #NFDB
360:Judges are but men, and are swayed like other men by vehement prejudices. This is corruption in reality, give it whatever other name you please. ~ David Dudley Field II, #NFDB
361:The one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Galatians 6:8 ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
362:A cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators, darkened the face of learning, and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste. ~ Edward Gibbon, #NFDB
363:Defend your leadership roles with your true character. Never attack your own aspirations with corruption and unfaithfulness! Keep calm and be honest! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
364:Education and professional ambition, he believes, are the only antidotes to the canker of corruption that has spread into every corner of his country’s life. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
365:For though your mind is active enough, your heart is darkened with corruption, and without a pure heart there can be no full or genuine sensibility. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
366:I have become increasingly unnerved by the depth of corruption that exists at many different levels. I'm less upset with politicians than [with] the media. ~ Jon Stewart, #NFDB
367:Pollution, corruption, economic problems—there would be enough reason to fear for developing countries even if the coming tech disruption weren’t expected. ~ Ian Bremmer, #NFDB
368:The work to eradicate corruption must begin from the top. It is spread like termite in our country. We have to work at all levels to eradicate corruption ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
369:We could form a government of national unity fighting corruption. The ordinary Afghan is sick and tired of it, because it's she or he that pays the price. ~ Ashraf Ghani, #NFDB
370:Chicago was to corruption what Pittsburgh was to steel or Hollywood to motion pictures. It refined and cultivated it, and embraced it without embarrassment. ~ Bill Bryson, #NFDB
371:It’s also not for the best that all human corruption is uncritically laid at society’s feet. That conclusion merely displaces the problem, back in time. ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
372:Say in yourselves, “In the midst of this world of corruption, I would resemble the lotus which remains intangible by the mire in which it is born.” ~ Sutra in 42 articles, #NFDB
373:I hate ingratitude more in a man than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or any taint of vice whose strong corruption inhabits our frail blood". ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
374:Over the years, many in the public have become numb to news of financial corruption, partly because too many of these stories involve banker-on-banker crime. ~ Matt Taibbi, #NFDB
375:Corruption is like a lily—brush against it, however lightly, and some of the pollen smears on you. Therefore choose your friends and your employers wisely. ~ Rita Mae Brown, #NFDB
376:Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country. ~ Karl Kraus, #NFDB
377:It’s also not for the best that all human corruption is uncritically laid at society’s feet. That conclusion merely displaces the problem, back in time. ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
378:Kings come and go, but sovereignty remains. Kings are men, and men may fall to vice and corruption, but sovereignty is pure and undefiled at its source. ~ Stephen R Lawhead, #NFDB
379:maybe Third World discontent is fomented not merely by poverty, disease, corruption and political oppression but also by mere exposure to First World standards. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
380: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. ~ Robert Payne, #NFDB
381:The deterioration of the intelligentsia is as much a symptom of disease as the corruption of the ruling class or the sleeping sickness of the proletariat. ~ Arthur Koestler, #NFDB
382:The food world is particularly prey to corruption, because so much money is made on food and so much depends on talk and especially the opinions of experts. ~ Nina Teicholz, #NFDB
383:The word "independence" is united to the accessory ideas of dignity and virtue. The word "dependence" is united to the ideas of inferiority and corruption. ~ Jeremy Bentham, #NFDB
384:corruption and capture of politics and institutions by vested interests; lack of transparency and participation by ordinary citizens in decision-making; ~ Anand Giridharadas, #NFDB
385:Corruption of politics has nothing to do with the morals, or the laxity of morals, of various political personalities. Its cause is altogether a material one. ~ Emma Goldman, #NFDB
386:FBI investigations alone will never take corruption out of politics. They take too much effort, and they attack the problem serially, one target at a time. ~ Peter Schweizer, #NFDB
387:She understood at least as well as I did what corruption and pitiless cruelty might be hidden behind the masks that some people wore. - Addison Goodheart pg 93 ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
388:That by 1774 the final crisis of the constitution, brought on by political and social corruption, had been reached was, to most informed colonists, evident. ~ Bernard Bailyn, #NFDB
389:The corruption of religious leaders, who were expected to be the source of spiritual force and regeneration, is the last step in the of decay of a community. ~ Fazlur Rahman, #NFDB
390:First of all, if prescription drugs actually healed, the whole system would collapse. Really, any large-scale man-made system is going to have corruption. ~ Michelle Stimpson, #NFDB
391:Idleness leads to relaxation, sooner or later bringing about ideological and material corruption, accompanied by lack of discipline, anarchy chaos and defeat. ~ Samora Machel, #NFDB
392:In the acceptance of depravity the sense of the past is most truly captured. What is a ruin but time easing itself of endurance? Corruption is the Age of Time. ~ Djuna Barnes, #NFDB
393:They were still all beautiful and there was still enchantment and wonder, but she had crossed a line and now the fairy tale was green with corruption and evil. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
394:When a religion or ideology becomes dominant, the lack of controls will result in widening spirals of license leading to degradation and corruption. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
395:Goodness that comes out of hiding and assumes a public role is no longer good, but corrupt in its own terms and will carry its own corruption wherever it goes. ~ Hannah Arendt, #NFDB
396:The bedrock of corruption is the attitude of selfishness. Nations are ruined when politicians think for themselves first before thinking about anyone else! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
397:The bureaucracy has grown such powerful roots in Russia, and corruption is so widespread, that people from opposition have no interest in changing anything. ~ Vladimir Sorokin, #NFDB
398:There is something in corruption which, like a jaundiced eye, transfers the color of itself to the object it looks upon, and sees everything stained and impure. ~ Thomas Paine, #NFDB
399:Fear of the enemy, so this argument went, had been good for Rome; without any significant external threat, ‘the path of virtue was abandoned for that of corruption ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
400:I was put into office by the people who believed in my idea that corruption is the root of poverty; that an end to corruption would mean an end to poverty. ~ Benigno Aquino III, #NFDB
401:Our government is built upon the vote. But votes that are purchasable are quicksands, and a government built on them stands upon corruption and revolution. ~ Henry Ward Beecher, #NFDB
402:We did not organize press conferences and talk about fighting against corruption, we acted on the ground and brought changes in the schemes to fight corruption. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
403:Books are savaged and careers destroyed by surly snots who write anonymous reviews and publishers can't be bothered to protest this institutionalized corruption. ~ Warren Murphy, #NFDB
404:The downfall of every civilization comes, not from the moral corruption of the common man, but rather from the moral complacency of common men in high places. ~ E Digby Baltzell, #NFDB
405:Then there is the worst part of Christianity, which is awful: power, corruption, manipulation... But then again, these feature are ever present in any organization. ~ Bruce Kent, #NFDB
406:My work about corruption is to get people to see it less as a moral issue (right/wrong) and more as an economic issue (economies of influence and their effect). ~ Lawrence Lessig, #NFDB
407:Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country. It's kleptocracy, it's corruption, it's a nation that's really only dependent upon oil and gas for their economy. ~ John McCain, #NFDB
408:the wholesale corruption of social relationships, even the most intimate, is an essential part of Shakespeare’s chilling exposure of authoritarian politics. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
409:What we see as error is very frequently the symbol or a disguise or a corruption or malformation of a truth. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Evolution of the Spiritual Man, #NFDB
410:Yes, I am calling for an intellectual revolution that sweeps away the corruption, absurdity and error, which prevail in morals, customs, traditions, and doctrines. ~ Ameen Rihani, #NFDB
411:As a columnist, I realize that whatever amount of corruption I expose, half my readers will block it out, although they may get a frisson of joy in the process. ~ Margaret Carlson, #NFDB
412: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. ~ Robert Payne, #NFDB
413:It was obvious—let alone the morality of it; without reducing corruption, we could never hope to become a rich country. Yes, we need new laws like the Lokpal. Yes, ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
414:When corruption is visited upon the cities of men, the mountains and the deserts await him. The cities are for money but the high-up hills are purely for the soul. ~ Louis L Amour, #NFDB
415:I hate ingratitude more in a man
than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,
or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
inhabits our frail blood". ~ William Shakespeare,#NFDB
416:Divinity is the elementary personality of a human being. When he can stand before corruption and win, that is an undivided personality. It is called divinity. ~ Harbhajan Singh Yogi, #NFDB
417:People love WikiLeaks when it is exposing corruption in their opponents. People oppose WikiLeaks when it is exposing corruption or dangerous behavior in themselves. ~ Julian Assange, #NFDB
418:Werner wonders in the dead of night, isn’t life a kind of corruption? A child is born, and the world sets in upon it. Taking things from it, stuffing things into it. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
419:When a moral man speaks, listen. But when immoral men speak, toss away their words like bad fruit. Truth will never shine from a heart filled with corruption and lies. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
420:All our, let's say, incomes are really very well, transparent to those organs who need these information and who are in charge of combating corruption in our country. ~ Dmitry Peskov, #NFDB
421:Bokassa’s coronation as Emperor of the Central African Empire in 1977 alone cost US$22 million.7 Across many African states, corruption was running at epidemic levels. ~ Dambisa Moyo, #NFDB
422:By all evidence we are in the world to do nothing; but instead of nonchalantly promenading our own corruption, we exude our sweat and grow winded upon the fetid air. ~ Emile M Cioran, #NFDB
423:Corruption and brutality are modeled and expected and rewarded. It becomes normal. And anyone who stands up to it, who tells them it’s wrong, is beaten down. Or worse. ~ Louise Penny, #NFDB
424:In England, at least, corruption only became unfashionable (and in fact only started to be called “corruption”) when there started to be other, faster ways to get rich. ~ Paul Graham, #NFDB
425:Submission to a “Christian state” can easily turn into a willful refusal to acknowledge the flaws of that regime, and to connive at official corruption and violence. ~ Philip Jenkins, #NFDB
426:The downfall of every civilization comes, not from the moral corruption of the common man, but rather from the moral complacency of common men in high places. ~ Edward Digby Baltzell, #NFDB
427:The poem celebrated love and loyalty but teetered on the brink of nihilism with its constant thread of corruption through love of power, human ambition and intellectual ~ Dan Simmons, #NFDB
428:For an adult, the world is constantly trying to clamp down on itself. Routine, responsibility, decay of institutions, corruption: this is all the world closing in. ~ Bruce Springsteen, #NFDB
429:If society is corrupt, but not the individuals within it, then where did the corruption originate? How is it propagated? It’s a one-sided, deeply ideological theory. ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
430:In that smooth fortress of glass, I caught a glimpse of my corruption gripping steel, which before I had thought of as my salvation, but now represented my obliteration. ~ J D Stroube, #NFDB
431:Brazil has a lot of issues that are similar to a lot of countries in Latin America, but the dominant issue Brazil is dealing with is poverty and political corruption. ~ Morena Baccarin, #NFDB
432:For all the tough talk about China during the presidential debates, Romney and Obama evaded any mention of China's suspect human rights record, corruption, and rule of law. ~ Ai Weiwei, #NFDB
433:Many believed that the Mafia, clientelism, and corruption represented traditional social practices that would gradually erode as the country modernized economically. ~ Francis Fukuyama, #NFDB
434:The Western rhetoric of appeasement creates a self-reinforcing loop of mental and moral corruption. Speaking the truth now would mean confessing to many months of lies ~ Garry Kasparov, #NFDB
435:Things that cannot long be kept secret: death in the family, the loss of a ring, corruption of the spirit, boredom, illicit love. Sickness. Addiction. Pregnancy. ~ Catherynne M Valente, #NFDB
436:As corruption gains a foothold, so does our ability to discern the truth become warped, resulting in an inability to diagnose the very malady against which we must guard-- ~ Phil Tucker, #NFDB
437:If society is corrupt, but not the individuals within it, then where did the corruption originate? How is it propagated? It’s a one-sided, deeply ideological theory. ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
438:In today's world of official religious fanaticism, corruption and repression, it should be easy for the United States to improve and project our democracy as an alternative. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
439:It is time for a new compact among the civilized peoples of this world to eradicate war at its most fundamental source: the corruption of young minds by violent ideology. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
440:It's the only condition I know. Bitter Love, Loneliness, contempt for corruption, blind hope. It's where I live. A permanent state of bereavement. This is nothing new. ~ Gregory Maguire, #NFDB
441:The kind of corruption the media talk about, the kind the Supreme Court was concerned about, involves the putative sale of votes in exchange for campaign contributions. ~ James L Buckley, #NFDB
442:After all, a society with such an enlightened tolerance of corruption and savagery needed to bear down hard on minor offenses to convince itself that it still had standards. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
443:All places where the French settled have corruption at their heart, a kind of soft, rotten glow, like the phosphorescence of decaying wood, that is oddly attractive. ~ Anne Rivers Siddons, #NFDB
444:In some of the countries where we operate, there is a tradition of corruption, in which the political elites work with business in the framework of unsavory relationships. ~ Lee R Raymond, #NFDB
445:That the arts are corrupt does not mean that Christians can abandon them. On the contrary, the corruption of the arts means that Christians dare not abandon them any longer. ~ Gene Veith, #NFDB
446:Therefore, until the day I die, I am going to do what I can, regardless of the cost to me, to try to stop this awful corruption that is destroying our beloved democracy. ~ John Jay Hooker, #NFDB
447:Why should it be mandatory for people to give interviews. I request state governments to remove the process of interviews for minor jobs to end corruption in getting jobs. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
448:For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad. But ~ Peter Robinson, #NFDB
449:I'm pushing for citizen equality not because of some moral idea, but because this is the essential way to crack the corruption that now makes it so Washington can't work. ~ Lawrence Lessig, #NFDB
450:Injustice and corruption will never be transformed by keeping them hidden, but only by bringing them out into the light and confronting them with the power of love. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
451:Life is a corrupting process from the time a child learns to play his mother off against his father in the politics of when to go to bed; he who fears corruption fears life. ~ Saul Alinsky, #NFDB
452:The constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruption's of time and party, its members would become despots. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
453:The plan was always to come to America, because Pakistan's a scary place. They don't have religious freedom. It's very poor, and there's a lot of violence and corruption. ~ Kumail Nanjiani, #NFDB
454:was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called - nay we call ourselves and write our name - Crusoe; and so my companions ~ Daniel Defoe, #NFDB
455:Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt. And a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
456:In popular sentiment, just as conspiracies have made Pakistan weak and vulnerable, its destined economic greatness has been thwarted by corruption, not poor policy choices. ~ Husain Haqqani, #NFDB
457:In the lead-up to the Iraq war and its later conduct, I saw, at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility; at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption. ~ Anthony Zinni, #NFDB
458:Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud. There is always something
(All The King's Men) ~ Robert Penn Warren,#NFDB
459:one man with vision—an enlightened dictator. People are scared of the word nowadays. But what kind of democracy can exist side by side with so much corruption and ignorance? ~ Chinua Achebe, #NFDB
460:People died of carelessness, of corruption, of abuse, and yet, in every round of voting, gave their enthusiastic approval to the politicians who made their life unbearable. ~ Elena Ferrante, #NFDB
461:Stop it,” the voice snapped, so close now that Remy could smell the stink of corruption on its breath, like it had just finished a heaping bowl of murder for breakfast. ~ Thomas E Sniegoski, #NFDB
462:The findings in contemporary social sciences are helping us understand that we can find other ways to educate people and act against injustice and corruption in our society. ~ Tariq Ramadan, #NFDB
463:The man in the doorway nodded, filling the frame with his large bulk and brown leather jacket. The stitching of his MC glittered with the words ‘Prez’ and ‘Pure Corruption. ~ Pepper Winters, #NFDB
464:For us Africans, literature must serve a purpose: to expose, embarrass, and fight corruption and authoritarianism. It is understandable why the African artist is utilitarian. ~ Ama Ata Aidoo, #NFDB
465:It’s government people, not rich people, who have the power to coerce and make our lives miserable. Coercive power goes a long way toward explaining political corruption. ~ Walter E Williams, #NFDB
466:The dull, purblind folly of the very rich men, their greed and arrogance, and the corruption in business and politics, have tended to produce a very unhealthy condition. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
467:When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any individual in a government, he becomes the center, round which every kind of corruption generates and forms. ~ Thomas Paine, #NFDB
468:You shall no more carry in yourselves the root of evil; disease and infirmity no more shall make war against you and corruption shall flee from you for ever into oblivion. ~ Esdras IV. 8. 33, #NFDB
469:And that the Scriptures, though not everywhere Free from corruption, or entire, or clear, Are uncorrupt, sufficient, clear, entire In all things which our needful faith require. ~ John Dryden, #NFDB
470: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. ~ Robert Payne, #NFDB
471:Do you know that the tendrils of graft and corruption have become mighty interlacing roots so that even men who would like to be honest are tripped and trapped by them? ~ Agnes Sligh Turnbull, #NFDB
472:The Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. . . . Was there ever witnessed such a bare faced corruption in any country before? ~ Andrew Jackson, #NFDB
473:[The spirit of party] opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. ~ George Washington, #NFDB
474:Knowledge is an excellent drug; but no drug has virtue enough to preserve itself from corruption and decay, if the vessel be tainted and impure wherein it is put to keep. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #NFDB
475:Sadly, corruption is so widespread that opposition parties have as many corrupt members as ruling parties. Hence, today, even if we want, we can’t vote in an honest government. ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
476:The gods, the immortals, were the inventors of death and corruption; yet with one or two notable exceptions they have lacked the courage to try their invention out on themselves. ~ J M Coetzee, #NFDB
477:The highest officers in the government had the strongest motives to corruption, and therefore could by no possibility attempt to check the same corruption in those below them… ~ Shashi Tharoor, #NFDB
478:They had forgotten the abuses, the murders, the corruption, the spying, the isolation, the fear: horror had become myth. Everybody had jobs and there wasn't so much crime. ~ Mario Vargas Llosa, #NFDB
479:Wherever you see a man who gives someone else's corruption, someone else's prejudice as a reason for not taking action himself, you see a cog in The Machine that governs us. ~ John Jay Chapman, #NFDB
480:6 weeks since the Rapture “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” Corinthians 15:50 ~ Phillip W Simpson, #NFDB
481:At length corruption, like a general flood (So long by watchful ministers withstood), Shall deluge all; and avarice, creeping on, Spread like a low-born mist, and blot the sun. ~ Alexander Pope, #NFDB
482:Corruption is a tree, whose branches are Of an immeasurable length: they spread Ev'rywhere; and the dew that drops from thence Hath infected some chairs and stools of authority. ~ John Fletcher, #NFDB
483:Mr. Putin’s primary aim is to stay in charge of the corruption banquet in order to avoid an opposition coming to power under which, at best, he’d spend the rest of his life in jail. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
484:three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
485:Be present to those who, living in the midst of a society burdened by poverty and corruption, are broken in spirit, tempted to give up, to leave school and to live on the streets. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
486:Simply that we are mirroring the trends in society, at any given time smuggling was an issue in the seventies, corruption is an issue today, and we faithfully reflect those issues. ~ Ajay Devgan, #NFDB
487:Throw in neglect and politicization of the judicial system and you see the result: soaring rates of cocaine trafficking through Venezuela and worsening corruption of institutions. ~ Rory Carroll, #NFDB
488:If the Internet is worth its salt, it has to help arrest the forces that promote inequality, monopoly, hypercommercialism, corruption, depoliticization and stagnation. ~ Robert Waterman McChesney, #NFDB
489:If you’re honest with yourself, you can still feel the terrible weight of time pressing on you; that awful, relentless, bodily corruption that is happening constantly to us all. ~ Douglas Preston, #NFDB
490:Man and the animals are merely a passage and channel for food, a tomb for other animals, a haven for the dead, giving life by the death of others, a coffer full of corruption. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #NFDB
491:man is a social animal, characterized by cronyism, nepotism, corruption, and gossip. That’s the intrinsic blueprint for our ‘ethical behavior,’” he argued. “It’s pure biology. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n, #NFDB
492:The sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church is the result of what police call "noble cause corruption," the belief that because you are dedicated to doing good, you can do no wrong. ~ Alex Gibney, #NFDB
493:There has been corruption in the Belgian civil service and at government level for decades. The Royal family do what they can to hold things together, and they don't do a bad job. ~ Nicholas Royle, #NFDB
494:Democracy in itself does not define or guarantee a free society. History has told many stories of democratic societies that have degenerated into corruption, plunder, and tyranny. ~ Richard Ebeling, #NFDB
495:For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad. ~ Christina Rossetti,#NFDB
496:It`s all part of the pattern. This is a story of scandal and corruption, investigations, refusals to take responsibility. If this government continues in office, this will continue. ~ Stephen Harper, #NFDB
497:The function of the West is to turn bodies and minds into products. It cannot understand that the rest of the world holds this to be an obscenity, a corruption of our nirvanic nature. ~ John Burdett, #NFDB
498:The greatest miracle of the Bible is that the prophets of Israel could keep a religion as clean as a hounds tooth amid all the corruption and idolatry of the nations surrounding them. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
499:To drain the swamp of corruption in Washington, D.C., I started by impose ago five-year lobbying ban on white house officials, and a lifetime ban on lobbying for a foreign government. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
500:We are all aware that corruption is pervasive. It operates at every level. The poor may carry its greatest burden, but it is an affliction that every Indian is desperate to be rid of. ~ Rahul Gandhi, #NFDB
501:In all institutions from which the cold wind of open criticism is excluded, an innocent corruption begins to grow like a mushroom - for example, in senates and learned societies ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
502:Over 70% of what are called corruption (cases), even by EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) and other anti-corruption agencies, is not corruption, but common stealing. ~ Goodluck Jonathan, #NFDB
503:Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to his flesh, shall reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. ~ Galatians VI. 7. 8, #NFDB
504:You look across this country people are fed up with Washington. This [2016] election was the American people saying, enough already with the corruption in Washington and it's both parties. ~ Ted Cruz, #NFDB
505:Corruption springs from light: 'tis one same power Creates, preserves, destroys; matter whereon It works, on e'er self-transmutative form, Common to now the living, now the dead. ~ Philip James Bailey, #NFDB
506:Obscenity, which is ever blasphemy against the divine beauty in life, is a monster for which the corruption of society forever brings forth new food, which it devours in secret. ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley, #NFDB
507:The more spiritual a man desires to be, the more bitter does his present life become to him; because he sees more clearly and perceives more sensibly the defects of human corruption. ~ Thomas a Kempis, #NFDB
508:When people lose faith in the natural goodness of the human character, the lack of trust in spiritual goodness, that is one reason why corruption has become so widespread today. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, #NFDB
509:Corruption of morals is rapid enough in any country without a bounty from government. And...the Chief Magistrate of the United States should be the last man to accelerate its progress. ~ Daniel Webster, #NFDB
510:I am the true medicine (says Wisdom), correcting and transmuting that which is no longer into that which it was before its corruption, and that which is not -into that which it ought to be. ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
511:The corruption of man is followed by the corruption of language. ... In due time, the fraud is manifest, and words lose all power to stimulate the understanding or the affections. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
512:Corruption is the enemy of development, and of good governance. It must be got rid of. Both the government and the people at large must come together to achieve this national objective. ~ Pratibha Patil, #NFDB
513:Feast of the Holy Cross Does not every man feel, that there is corruption enough within him to drive him to the commission of the greatest enormities, and eternally to destroy his soul? ~ Charles Simeon, #NFDB
514:In the former Soviet republics, there are three staples of life: vodka, chocolate, and corruption. I know someone who once survived in Uzbekistan for two weeks solely on these three items. ~ Eric Weiner, #NFDB
515:In those days before the Thunderhead, human arrogance, self-interest, and endless in-fighting determined the rule of law. Inefficient. Imperfect. Vulnerable to all forms of corruption. ~ Neal Shusterman, #NFDB
516:Sampling out corruption is a very tough job, but I say so in all seriousness that we would be failing in our duty if we do not tackle this problem seriously and with determination. ~ Lal Bahadur Shastri, #NFDB
517:Success; that is the lesson which falls drop by drop from the slope of corruption. Be it said in passing, that success is a very hideous thing. Its false resemblance to merit deceives men. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
518:Truth is a leper banished from the hearts of men and rotting away in exile. All that is left is corruption, a bad smell, some unnameable pieces of what was once a thing lucent and good. ~ Rikki Ducornet, #NFDB
519:I knew President Yeltsin well. He would never have tolerated government officials demonstratively showing off the millions they acquired through corruption, the way it's done today. ~ Mikhail Khodorkovsky, #NFDB
520:In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and improve. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
521:Bullies, oppressors and all men who do violence to the rights of others are guilty not only of their own crimes, but also of the corruption they bring into the hearts of their victims. ~ Alessandro Manzoni, #NFDB
522:long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
523:Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
524:The whole of the Targum deserves study as shewing how textual ambiguity or corruption may combine with doctrinal prepossession to modify tradition;
Chapter II, Section 2, Paragraph 1171 ~ Edwin A Abbott,#NFDB
525:Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and further, from the seduction of females ~ Jethro Kloss, #NFDB
526:I've been back less than two weeks, and already I've turned the sweetest girl on Embassy Row into a thief and a conspiracy theorist. Even for me, it is an impressively quick act of corruption. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
527:The first view is "bad apple." Bad apple is excusable. It's sort of like, something went bad with this man. But the second option is police corruption, so it's a problem with the department. ~ Oren Moverman, #NFDB
528:To those supporters who were told that I abandoned them, that is untrue. I abandoned greed, corruption, and compromise, never you, and never the artistic gifts and abilities that sustained me. ~ Lauryn Hill, #NFDB
529:Universalism is a corruption of objectivity. Whereas objectivity is achieved from particular things, universalism claims to define particularity from an abstract notion posed arbitrarily. ~ Alain de Benoist, #NFDB
530:The lawn and drive had been crowded with the faces of those who guessed at his corruption - and he had stood on those steps, concealing his incorruptible dream, as he waved them good-by. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
531:This is the disease in America. It's not just spending. It's not just taxes. It's not just corruption. It is progressivism. And it is in both Parties. It is in the Republicans and the Democrats. ~ Glenn Beck, #NFDB
532:Weakness and corruption isn't in the world," Clary snapped. "It's in people. And it always will be. The world just needs good people to balance it out. And you're planning to kill them all. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
533:I don't really think there have been transitional periods to socialism. There have been efforts, but they have usually been destroyed by a combination of external force and internal corruption. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
534:Power cannot be maintained and effectively exercised without a moral structure accepted and practiced by all because power attracts the corruptible and because corruption destroys consensus. ~ L E Modesitt Jr, #NFDB
535:If the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end. ~ Daniel Webster, #NFDB
536:Noha Hamed, twenty-four, a worker at an advertising agency in Cairo, made her views clear as she demonstrated in Tahrir Square: “We are suffering from corruption, oppression and bad education. ~ Daron Acemo lu, #NFDB
537:Our country talks a lot on corruption. Everyone advices each other over how to stay away from it. Even those people who are corrupt tend to give advice to others on how to deal with corruption. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
538:The humble sinner will sometimes be interpreted as one of the filthiest in the eyes of man yet immersed in the eyes of God, and this is due to the volition of honesty regarding his own corruption. ~ Criss Jami, #NFDB
539:I have absolutely no idea what my generation did to enrich our democracy. We dropped the ball. We entered a period of complacency and closed our eyes to the public corruption of our democracy. ~ Wynton Marsalis, #NFDB
540:There is a lot of corruption all over the world and not only when it comes to illegal wildlife trade! There are a few ways to ensure this stops: If there are no customers, there will be no trade. ~ Jane Goodall, #NFDB
541:The soul can never be corrupted with the corruption of the body, but it is like the wind which causes the sound of the organ, and which ceases to produce a good effect when a pipe is spoilt. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #NFDB
542:The traveller who has gone to Italy to study the tactile values of Giotto, or the corruption of the Papacy, may return remembering nothing but the blue sky and the men and women who live under it. ~ E M Forster, #NFDB
543:It is easy, from a safe distance, to overlook the fact that in undercities governed by corruption, where exhausted people vie on scant terrain for very little, it is blisteringly hard to be good. ~ Katherine Boo, #NFDB
544:Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Peter 1:4 ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
545:Be lavish in your promises,” Quintus advised; “men prefer a false promise to a flat refusal. . . . Contrive to get some new scandal aired against your rivals for crime, corruption, or immorality.”43 ~ Will Durant, #NFDB
546:the depth and complexity and ugliness and danger of sin in professing Christians is either minimized—since we are already justified—or psychologized as a symptom of woundedness rather than corruption. ~ John Owen, #NFDB
547:There's an enormous amount of corruption, and as one American adviser put it to me, "The police in Afghanistan are thugs. We equip them, we train them, and now they are equipped and trained thugs." ~ Jeff Merkley, #NFDB
548:We are determined to answer evil with GOOD, slavery with FREEDOM, rape with hope!
We are against slavery, rape, beheading, torture, violations of human rights, corruption and misuse of religion! ~ Widad Akreyi,#NFDB
549:Thus is the fruit of the Earth taken, its flesh torn. Thus is it given over standing, toward rot. It is the principle of corruption, the death of what is, the birth of what is to be. You are wine. ~ Richard Selzer, #NFDB
550:To exist as an interpreter of the law, you first have to follow that law yourself. Law is the glue that holds society together. It's flawed, but absolute, and corruption only hinders its progress. ~ Rebecca McNutt, #NFDB
551:Whatever has "wit enough to keep it sweet" defies corruption and outlasts all time; but the wit must be of that outward and visible order which needs no introduction or demonstration at our hands. ~ Agnes Repplier, #NFDB
552:Other than my hundreds of arrests I really don't have that much experience with the law. While the majority of people aren't corrupt, there certainly is an awful lot of corruption in this country. ~ James Patterson, #NFDB
553:Union of religious sentiments begets a surprising confidence, and ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption; all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects. ~ James Madison, #NFDB
554:But the simple availability of information about corruption tends not to produce genuine accountability because the politically active part of the population are members of clientelistic networks. ~ Francis Fukuyama, #NFDB
555:The only way to escape the personal corruption of praise is to go on working. One is tempted to stop and listen to it. The only thing is to turn away and go on working. Work. There is nothing else. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
556:Why should we think nudity is such a revolting thing in a land where there is so much violence and corruption and racism and hatred? Nudity seems like a welcome relief from all the bullshit in life. ~ Anthony Kiedis, #NFDB
557:Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people. ~ Alexander Hamilton, #NFDB
558:No matter how much evidence we uncover about this case or any others involving Mr. Clinton, millions of Americans simply will not care - they will excuse the corruption because they like Bill Clinton. ~ Bill O Reilly, #NFDB
559:People who live in an age of corruption are witty and slanderous; they know that there are other kinds of murder than by dagger or assault; they also know that whatever is well said is believed. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
560:This source of corruption, alas, is inherent in the democratic system itself, and it can only be controlled, if at all, by finding ways to encourage legislators to subordinate ambition to principle. ~ James L Buckley, #NFDB
561:Christianity ... that musty old theology, which already has its grave clothes on, and is about to be buried... A wall of Bible, brimstone, church and corruption has hitherto hemmed women into nothingness. ~ Lucy Stone, #NFDB
562:Do you know how a man makes his way here? By brilliant genius or by skilful corruption. You must either cut your way through these masses of men like a cannon ball, or steal among them like a plague. ~ Honor de Balzac, #NFDB
563:If we were perfect—if there were
no remaining corruption in our hearts—there would be no fight. There would be no obstacles to overcome. We won’t fight for joy in heaven.
But we are not there yet. ~ John Piper,#NFDB
564:I have collected all the writings of the Empire and burnt those which were of no use. ~ Qin Shi Huang as quoted in The Tyrants: 2500 Years of Absolute Power and Corruption (2006) by Clive Foss, p. 10, ISBN 1905204965 , #NFDB
565:In the most absolute tranquility or in the midst of tumultuous events, in safety or danger, in innocence or corruption, we are a crowd of others. And this crowd is certainly a blessing for literature. ~ Elena Ferrante, #NFDB
566:And within the computer's innards, a spreading cancer. A self-replicating corruption. A B-pop mutiny of bass and drum and oscillating frequency. Inane quasi poetry glorifying a pointless act of intimacy. ~ Jay Kristoff, #NFDB
567:At birth we are very much like a new hard drive - no viruses, no bad information, no crap that's been downloaded into it yet. It's what we feed into that hard drive that starts the corruption of the files. ~ Nikki Sixx, #NFDB
568:Do you know how a man makes his way here? By brilliant genius or by skilful corruption. You must either cut your way through these masses of men like a cannon ball, or steal among them like a plague. ~ Honore de Balzac, #NFDB
569:Money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we're tired of hearing promises that we know they'll never keep. ~ Ray Davies, #NFDB
570:How can one say, 'No, this isn't a part of life,' since it always is? The contaminant of sex, the redeeming corruption that de-idealizes the species and keeps us everlastingly mindful of the matter we are. ~ Philip Roth, #NFDB
571:Socrates: “The corruption of the best things are the worst things.” Or, “The best, when corrupted, become the worst.” As one of your English poets has said, “Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
572:Why does corruption in government always surprise us? Why do we expect anything else from it? Government is organized force. It takes our wealth and makes war. And we think honest men would do that work? ~ Joseph Sobran, #NFDB
573:If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher. ~ Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
574:I saw how the fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye and brain. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, #NFDB
575:Like the good ape he is, man is a social animal, characterized by cronyism, nepotism, corruption, and gossip. That's the intrinsic blueprint for our 'ethical behavior,'" he argued. "It's pure biology. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n, #NFDB
576:Like the good ape he is, man is a social animal, characterized by cronyism, nepotism, corruption, and gossip. That’s the intrinsic blueprint for our ‘ethical behavior,’” he argued. “It’s pure biology. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n, #NFDB
577:Cutting up fowl to predict the future is, if done honestly and with as little interpretation as possible, a kind of randomization. But chicken guts are hard to read and invite flights of fancy or corruption. ~ Ian Hacking, #NFDB
578:I lifted the curtain to reveal the corruption of humanity. This word, coming from my mouth, is absolved of one suspicion at least: the suspicion that it implies some moral indictment of human beings. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
579:Selfishness is one of the principal fruits of the corruption of human nature; and it is obvious that selfishness disposes us to over-rate our good qualities, and to overlook or extenuate our defects. ~ William Wilberforce, #NFDB
580:The corruption of the age is made up by the particular contribution of every individual man; some contribute treachery, others injustice, atheism, tyranny, avarice, cruelty, according to their power. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #NFDB
581:When any one person or body of men seize into their hands the power in the last resort, there is properly no longer a government, but what Aristotle and his followers call the abuse and corruption of one. ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
582:And it is to rock the soul and lead the person to immorality, corruption - to forget their prayers, to forget their God. And thus the world has partaken of the spirit of the Negro race, accepting their ways. ~ Warren Jeffs, #NFDB
583:My government is going to deal with all forms of corruption. White-collar corruption will be high on the list and we are going to plug all gaps that are being used by corrupt leaders (and) business people. ~ Jakaya Kikwete, #NFDB
584:To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
585:Marriage is the preserver of the human race. Without it, the purposes of God would be frustrated; virtue would be destroyed to give place to vice and corruption, and the earth would be void and empty. ~ Joseph Fielding Smith, #NFDB
586:There was corruption at every turn, and those who stood for honesty and integrity were more and more vulnerable, more and more isolated amongst the hordes of people who simply had no moral sense. And ~ Alexander McCall Smith, #NFDB
587:Government ought to be all outside and no inside. . . . Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety. ~ Woodrow Wilson, #NFDB
588:Marriage is the preserver of the human race. Without it, the purposes of God would be frustrated; virtue would be destroyed to give place to vice and corruption, and the earth would be void and empty. ~ Joseph Fielding Smith, #NFDB
589:Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. ~ James A Garfield, #NFDB
590:The men of the period of corruption are witty and calumnious; they know that there are yet other ways of murdering than by the dagger and ambush--they know also that all that is well said is believed in. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
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“The corruption of religious leaders, who were expected to be the source of spiritual force and regeneration, is the last step in the decay of a community. ~ Fazlur Rahman,#NFDB
592:War, poverty, corruption, hunger, misery, human suffering will not change in a monetary system. That is, there will be very little significant change. It’s going to take the redesign of our culture and values. ~ Jacque Fresco, #NFDB
593:We come out of Jewish-refugee, Holocaust stock, which means that our predecessors fled and we learned that systems of power are vulnerable to corruption and can treat the defenseless in a destructive fashion. ~ Eugene Jarecki, #NFDB
594:If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
595:People power must be combined with good governance to bring about real, deep and lasting change. This combination can achieve almost everything from eliminating corruption to ending malnutrition and illiteracy. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
596:The energy of compassion is very strong. We suffer. That is real. But we have learned not to get angry and not to allow ourselves to be carried by anger. We realize right away that that is fear. That is corruption. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
597:The grand larceny that occurred in Russia, the corruption that resulted in nine or ten people getting enormous wealth through loans-for-shares, was condoned because it allowed the reelection of Boris Yeltsin. ~ Joseph Stiglitz, #NFDB
598:Government Picking Winners and Losers = Corruption. When government tries to pick winners and losers, the inevitable consequence is corruption. Yes, corruption. If not in a legal sense, certainly in a moral sense ~ Gary Johnson, #NFDB
599:I think very highly of Expo and all is going well. We've seen big problems with [corruption] scandals [at local government level], but it is going forward, with the highest number of participants ever expected. ~ Franca Sozzani, #NFDB
600:The crimes of extreme civilization are probably worse than those of extreme barbarism, because of their refinement, the corruption they presuppose, and their superior degree of intellectuality. ~ Jules Amedee Barbey d Aurevilly, #NFDB
601:We live in a sad society. Succeed--that is the advice which falls drop by drop from the overhanging corruption. In passing, we might say that success is a hideous thing. Its false similarity to merit deceives men. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
602:Wherever there is abuse there is also corruption. Politics, philosophy, theology, science, industry, any field with the potential to affect the well-being of others can be destroyed by abuse and saved by good will. ~ Criss Jami, #NFDB
603:As every slumdweller knew, there were three main ways out of poverty: finding an entrepreneurial niche, as the Husains had found in garbage; politics and corruption, in which Asha placed her hopes; and education. ~ Katherine Boo, #NFDB
604: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. ~ Robert Payne, #NFDB
605:[E]very political system has a source of corruption growing within it, from which it is inseparable. For kingship it is . . . tyranny, for aristocracy it is oligarchy, and for democracy it is government by brute force. ~ Polybius, #NFDB
606:Franklin wanted a unicameral legislature and an executive council in lieu of a president. He also opposed a presidential veto on legislation, thinking it would lead to executive corruption “till it ends in monarchy. ~ Ron Chernow, #NFDB
607:It's not coincidence that these attacks come at the exact same moment, and all together at the same time as WikiLeaks releases documents exposing the massive international corruption of the Hillary Clinton machine. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
608:The flag of your nation - wave it! Begin to separate your nation from whatever covenant your forefathers must have had. Break the covenant of corruption/ stealing/ killing/ destruction/ idolatry - break it right now! ~ T B Joshua, #NFDB
609:In most countries, the long-term effects of kleptocracy are easy to predict: economists calculate that for every point that a nation’s corruption rises on a scale of one to ten, its economic growth drops by 1 percent. ~ Evan Osnos, #NFDB
610:Every government is perpetually degenerating towards corruption, from which it must be rescued at certain periods by the resuscitation of its first principles, and the re-establishment of its original constitution. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
611:If, as is natural, you focus on the corruption and on those threatened institutions that are trying to prevent change - even though they don't really know what they're trying to prevent - then you can get pessimistic. ~ Paul Hawken, #NFDB
612:isn’t life a kind of corruption? A child is born, and the world sets in upon it. Taking things from it, stuffing things into it. Each bite of food, each particle of light entering the eye—the body can never be pure. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
613:That public men publish falsehoods Is nothing new. That America must accept Like the historical republics corruption and empire Has been known for years. Be angry at the sun for setting If these things anger you. ~ Robinson Jeffers, #NFDB
614:Europe is in an economic crisis. Germany is the wealthiest country in Europe and it benefits the most from Europe. However, the German public doesn’t want to pay for what they see as Greek indolence and corruption. ~ George Friedman, #NFDB
615:How far should one accept the rules of the society in which one lives? To put it another way: at what point does conformity become corruption? Only by answering such questions does the conscience truly define itself. ~ Kenneth Tynan, #NFDB
616:My colleague and I are journalists. ... Not of the muckraking variety, I hasten to assure you! Corruption is a necessary and time-honored concomitant of any functioning government, which we support wholeheartedly. ~ Michael Swanwick, #NFDB
617:Some of what you see, my child, may make you affraid, revolted even, but you must remember that all life is born of corruption. The reborn can rise only from death and decay. Resurrection springs only from the tomb. ~ Karen Maitland, #NFDB
618:That the corruption of the best thing produces the worst, is grown into a maxim, and is commonly proved, among other instances, by the pernicious effects of superstition and enthusiasm, the corruptions of true religion. ~ David Hume, #NFDB
619: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. ~ Robert Payne, #NFDB
620:Under my contract with the American voter, we are proposing a series of ethics reforms on day one to end government corruption. They include a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
621:As more money flowed through Washington and as Washington's power to regulate our lives grew, opportunities and temptations for graft, influence peddling and cutting corners grew exponentially. Power breeds corruption. ~ Steve Forbes, #NFDB
622:Easy money, sudden fortunes, increasingly powerful political machines and blatant corruption transformed much of the nation; and the Senate, as befits a democratic legislative body, accurately represented the nation. ~ John F Kennedy, #NFDB
623:He wrote them in two tables of stone, that they might be preserved from corruption, and might be transmitted pure and entire to posterity, for whose use they were intended, as well as for the present generation. These ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
624:It's no secret that in Venezuela there is no division of powers and that many functionaries have put on blinders when looking at irregularities because they benefit from the revolution and its corruption. ~ Henrique Capriles Radonski, #NFDB
625:Foreign correspondents ridiculed Singapore as a “nanny state.” Lee’s response is that journalists make fun of his edicts only because Singapore offered them no big scandals, corruption cases, or grave wrongdoing to report. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
626:It’s a perfect storm for corruption. You start with people who are not that sophisticated, and suddenly they’re raking in more profits than are imaginable. They attract all manner of crooks and con men who want to help. ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
627:My books may highlight corruption, brutality and venality, but they also show that if these things come to light, there is rectification. The voiceless do have a voice; democratic mechanisms and accountability do exist. ~ Vikas Swarup, #NFDB
628:Niyamat and Valsa were from the minority who were fighting oppression, injustice, and corruption against the marginalized section of society. They were working for the same cause as Naxals. Then why were they killed? ~ Vivek Agnihotri, #NFDB
629:There's so much corruption in America; there's so much corruption around the world. It's all coming to the surface thanks to the Internet, and thanks to the younger people who are saying, 'We don't like corrupt people.' ~ Jon Anderson, #NFDB
630:I think very poorly of United Russia. United Russia is the party of corruption, the party of crooks and thieves. And it is the duty of every patriot and citizen of our country to make sure that this party is destroyed. ~ Alexei Navalny, #NFDB
631:She perceived vaguely the pitiful corruption of the adult world; how cruel and frail it was, like a worn piece of burlap, patched with stupidities and mistakes, useless and ugly, and yet they never saw its worthlessness. ~ John Cheever, #NFDB
632:The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
633:When God appoints the gospel of his Son as the universal remedy for the guilt and corruption of mankind, and we diminish that, the gospel is diminished. And you cannot diminish the gospel without being diminished yourself. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
634:Children also have artistic ability, and there is wisdom in there having it! The more helpless they are, the more instructive are the examples they furnish us; and they must be preserved free of corruption from an early age. ~ Paul Klee, #NFDB
635:Donald Trump is going to win. Donald Trump is going to win because in the end, the country is not going to reward big banks and big unions and big bureaucracies and big donors and big corruption by voting for a big liar. ~ Newt Gingrich, #NFDB
636:Fight scarcity power and corruption; correct externalities; try to maximise information; get the incentives right; engage with other countries; and most of all embrace markets, which do most of these jobs at the same time. ~ Tim Harford, #NFDB
637:Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice. ~ G K Chesterton, #NFDB
638:I had been born into a sort of democracy in which for ten years Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif kept replacing each other, none of their governments ever completing a term and always accusing each other of corruption. ~ Malala Yousafzai, #NFDB
639:In this financial year we will be spending at least $1.5 billion on foreign aid and we cannot be sure that this money will be properly spent, as corruption and mismanagement in many of the recipient countries are legend. ~ Pauline Hanson, #NFDB
640:I saw money becoming more and more important everywhere. It's one of the most abstract and important inventions by human beings. At the same time, money is capable of extraordinary corruption in every kind of relationship. ~ Costa Gavras, #NFDB
641:Man needs to be Saved from his own Wisdom as much as from his own Righteousness, for they produce one and the same corruption. Nothing saves a man from his own righteousness, but that which delivers him from his own wisdom. ~ William Law, #NFDB
642:Over the last decade, at considerable cost to me in money and effort, confronted with ridicule and intimidation, I have brought more than a dozen lawsuits challenging the corruption in the election process in Tennessee. ~ John Jay Hooker, #NFDB
643:The government spokesman announces that there is no truth in the charges of widespread corruption within the Cabinet; nobody believes him; he knows that nobody believes him, we know that he knows it, and he knows it too. ~ Terry Eagleton, #NFDB
644:When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
645:as Archbishop of Canterbury John Tillotson later noted,1 “in all probability . . . hocus pocus is nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus (“this is the body”), [a] ridiculous imitation of the priests of the Church. ~ Steven Kotler, #NFDB
646:thou wilt cease to be held by pains and pleasures, and to be a slave to the vessel, which is as much inferior as that which serves it is superior: for the one is intelligence and deity; the other is earth and corruption. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #NFDB
647:A few months earlier, when a state official named Bud Dwyer was similarly accused of corruption, he called a press conference, pulled out a gun and, as cameras rolled, blew his brains out. This led to an excellent local joke. ~ Bill Bryson, #NFDB
648:histories of the world before our own. That was a world of empires, of corruption, of war-and more freedom than I've ever known. But the people of that time are gone, their dreams in ruin, existing only in smoke and ash. ~ Victoria Aveyard, #NFDB
649:In 2004, the British envoy to Kenya, Sir Edward Clay, complained about rampant corruption in the country, commenting that Kenya’s corrupt ministers were ‘eating like gluttons’ and vomiting on the shoes of the foreign donors. ~ Dambisa Moyo, #NFDB
650:I've been not only articulating the dissatisfaction with Albany, I've been acting on it. I've been very aggressive in bringing public integrity cases and public corruption cases and bringing cases against sitting legislators ~ Andrew Cuomo, #NFDB
651:The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough. ~ Andrew Jackson, #NFDB
652:It was a love that for years had tried to hide from her the difficulties and the corruption that existed in the world, ignoring the fact that one day she would have to find this out, and would then be defenseless against them. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
653:one thing that empires are not about is the efficient use of resources and the spread of happiness; both are typically accomplished despite the economic short-circuiting—corruption and favoritism, mostly—endemic to the system. ~ Iain M Banks, #NFDB
654:[There is a] strong correlation between market freedom and lower government corruption -- not terribly surprising, since the effect of increasing regulatory power is to shift 'cheating' from the private to the public sphere. ~ Julian Sanchez, #NFDB
655:This isn't the work of our people, Delilah. It's a corruption of power. The gods are neutral, good and evil manifests in the deeds of mortals.'
'Or, just maybe-- The power is our own and the credit horribly misplaced. ~ Kurtis J Wiebe,#NFDB
656:Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice. ~ Gilbert K Chesterton, #NFDB
657:I have to blame myself for not finding any way of reaching him, but I can't feel that either Ruth or I had anything much to do with his corruption.
His personal motives were freedom and pleasure, and he misread them both. ~ Wallace Stegner,#NFDB
658:adore
à genoux quand on n'a pas pu l'enterrer sous la boue. La
corruption est en force, le talent est rare. Ainsi, la corrup-
tion est l'arme de la médiocrité qui abonde, et vous en
sentirez partout la pointe. ~ Honor de Balzac,#NFDB
659:Corruption is the bane of Nigeria. Buhari is against corruption. Buhari is not corrupt. He is very clean and disciplined. Election rigging is worse than armed robbery. Buhari wants free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria. ~ Tam David West, #NFDB
660:I missed home like the ache of hunger, something in me left empty. I’d missed it every day since we crossed out of the valley, going over the mountains. Roots—yes. There were roots in my heart, as deep as any corruption could go. ~ Naomi Novik, #NFDB
661:To the Greeks, this was not spiritual progress; it was regress. Why would anyone want to come back to the material world, the realm of evil and corruption? The whole idea was utter foolishness to the Greeks (1 Cor. 1:23 KJV). ~ Nancy R Pearcey, #NFDB
662:You will continue to read stories of crookedness and corruption - of policemen who lie and steal, doctors who reap where they do not sew, politicians on the take. Don't be misled. They are news because they are the exceptions. ~ Robert Fulghum, #NFDB
663:In even a clear heart, some righteous acts of the harder kind can stir up a sediment of guilt, but that is not a bad thing. If allowed to be, the heart is self-policing, and a reasonable measure of guilt guards against corruption. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
664:A bonus, being a writer, is that the true-life source material is fabulously bizarre. There's so much corruption, violence and free-floating depravity that the well never runs dry, whether you're a novelist, a journalist, or both. ~ Carl Hiaasen, #NFDB
665:Anarchists understand that the only valid and proven way to oppose human corruption is through voluntarism and competition – statists believe that the only way to oppose human corruption is to create a monopoly of violent power. ~ Stefan Molyneux, #NFDB
666:Seemingly minor yet persistent things penetrate the mind over time making it difficult to ever realize the impact; hence, though quite unfortunate, the most dangerous forms of corruption are those that are subtle and below the radar. ~ Criss Jami, #NFDB
667:The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. ~ Adam Smith, #NFDB
668:The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despite, or, at least, to neglect, persons of poor and mean condition is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. ~ Tony Judt, #NFDB
669:When people treat corruption as a routine part of the process, you have something far worse than wrongdoing or moral failing. You have a political cancer that breeds cynicism about democratic government and infects all of society. ~ Edward Brooke, #NFDB
670:Congress Mukt Bharat BJP ka naara nahi hai, jan jan ka sankalp hai. Be it dynasty politics, nepotism, corruption, communalism, divisions in society or poverty, getting freedom from all this is what I mean by a Congress Mukt Bharat. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
671:Kids are our future. They’ve got nothing but rose colored glasses on, and don’t have an ounce of corruption in them yet. Teach them right, and they could save the world. Treat them badly, and they can become their own worst enemy. ~ Lani Lynn Vale, #NFDB
672:Look, we know we screwed up when we were in the majority. We fell in love with power. We spent way too much money - especially on earmarks. There was too much corruption when we ran this place. We were guilty. And that's why we lost. ~ Eric Cantor, #NFDB
673:My mission is to lead the country out of a bad situation of corruption, depression and slavery. After I rid the country of these vices, I will then organize and supervise a general election of a genuinely democratic civilian government. ~ Idi Amin, #NFDB
674:Nobody wants zealotry in a police force, you know? You do want to know that the guy who's got that badge, is confident enough to judge a certain level of benign corruption. Like a man steals some food to feed his starving children. ~ Russell Crowe, #NFDB
675:The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despite, or, at least, to neglect, persons of poor and mean condition is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. ~ Adam Smith, #NFDB
676:The last thing our country needs is four more years of Barack Obama, believe me. I've seen first hand the corruption and the sickness that has taken over our politics. You've seen it and I've seen it and we're all watching together. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
677:As a matter of fact, the African Union itself estimated that every year corruption alone costs Africa $148 billion. If African leaders could cut that in half, they'll find more money than what Tony Blair is trying to raise for them. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
678:Every clique is a refuge for incompetence. It fosters corruption and disloyalty, it begets cowardice, and consequently is a burden upon and a drawback to the progress of the country. Its instincts and actions are those of the pack. ~ Soong May ling, #NFDB
679:He loved her to the point of madness, to obsession and even sacrifice. He wasn't Berdikhan, and he wouldn't make her Zafira. He'd rob her of her Gift, but she'd live. If he had to destroy Corruption, Conclave and himself, she'd live. ~ Grace Draven, #NFDB
680:Technology transforms people's lives. From mitigating poverty to simplifying processes, ending corruption to providing better services, Technology is omnipresent. It has become the single-most important instrument of human progress. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
681:The president's attempted diktat takes money from bondholders and gives it a labor union that delivers money and votes for him.... Shaking down lenders for the benefit of political donors is recycled corruption and the abuse of power. ~ Cliff Asness, #NFDB
682:Wahhabism goes and takes elements from the Islamic tradition that are most oppressive of women, and highlights and enlarges them and makes them the whole of Islam. In my view, that's a clear corruption of the Islamic tradition. ~ Khaled Abou El Fadl, #NFDB
683:And I am saying, how about the other two branches? And putting the pressure on our representatives in the Senate and the Congress, and the court system. They should be counter-acting this corruption, but they are sitting there silent. ~ Sibel Edmonds, #NFDB
684:A vibrant civil society can challenge those in power by documenting corruption or uncovering activities like the murder of political enemies. In democracies, this function is mostly performed by the media, NGOs or opposition parties. ~ Evgeny Morozov, #NFDB
685:I have chosen to fight against corruption in this country, though I have been advised not to because we are drawing closer to this year’s Tripartite Elections. I know I am fighting against people who are smarter, wealthier and advanced. ~ Joyce Banda, #NFDB
686:The delicate thing about the university is that it has a mixed character, that it is suspended between its position in the eternal world, with all its corruption and evils and cruelties, and the splendid world of our imagination. ~ Richard Hofstadter, #NFDB
687:If you played your cards right and sent enough goodies their way, you could get televisions or fridges or other perks in return. In the West, I guess you’d call it corruption. In North Korea, it was just standard operating procedure. ~ Masaji Ishikawa, #NFDB
688:I think the corruption of power is very interesting, and I think the idea that power is something that... You know, when people want power, they're a certain individual. When people acquire power by accident, they're different again. ~ David Morrissey, #NFDB
689:Then, as they began to decline, they all experienced some peculiar similarities: an inordinate emphasis on sports and entertainment, a fixation with lifestyles of the rich and famous, political corruption, and the loss of a moral compass. ~ Ben Carson, #NFDB
690:For nothing is more dangerous than to live where the public license of crime prevails; yea, there is no pestilence so destructive, as that corruption of morals, which is opposed neither by laws nor judgments, nor any other remedies. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
691:Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. ~ Lord Acton, #NFDB
692:She was going to be my downfall. She was going to be my corruption and my vice. She was going to be my addiction and my compulsion and I was still going to fall headlong into her knowing the landing was going to be rough for both of us. ~ Jay Crownover, #NFDB
693:The land is alive. It draws its life from the people who work it, just as they draw their life from the king. If corruption taints the king, the people suffer—yes, and eventually, the land will suffer as well. That is the way of it. ~ Stephen R Lawhead, #NFDB
694:There is no more important task in Washington than cleaning up the culture of corruption. Yet the president - whose White House has become the cradle of Republican corruption - is not taking responsibility for the costs of that corruption. ~ Harry Reid, #NFDB
695:What's interesting about Navalny is that he has run a - not so much a pro-democracy campaign in Russia, but an anti-corruption campaign. He seems to have access to quite a lot of information about very senior Russians, including Putin. ~ Anne Applebaum, #NFDB
696:Trusting governments to “fight terror” invites massive corruption. If we ask someone to fight imaginary demons for us and decide how much it will cost, we will soon find ourselves in a world full of demons that are very expensive to fight. ~ Adam Kokesh, #NFDB
697:In many areas, too, people are having to deal with environmental problems and, with these, threats to their livelihood and worse. At the same time, many others are struggling t get by in the face of inequality, corruption, and injustice. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
698:The changes I envisage and that I have promised to address within my first 90 days in office are; Dismantling the cabals of tribalism that are choking our country and resulting in runaway corruption and frustration for the people of Kenya. ~ Raila Odinga, #NFDB
699:a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called - nay we call ourselves and write our name - Crusoe; and so my companions always called me. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
700:Joy in spite of everything. Not just [mindless] joy, but joy in spite of everything. Recognizing the inequities and the suffering and the corruption and all that but refusing to let it rain on my parade. And I advocate this to other people.- ~ Tom Robbins, #NFDB
701:No professional politician is ever actually in favor of public economy. It is his implacable enemy, and he knows it. All professional politicians are dedicated wholeheartedly to waste and corruption. They are the enemies of every decent man. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
702:If we do nothing...and turn our backs now, in future generations, when rank corruption masquerades as libery, it will be upon our shoulders. True patriots will then ask why we who were there to witness our nation at the crossroads did nothing. ~ David Liss, #NFDB
703:If we think it is okay to cheat in exams, lie to a ticket collector in the train about our kids’ ages and pay a bit of money to avoid a big traffic fine, then at some level we clearly don’t care about eliminating corruption all that much. At ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
704:Things that cannot long be kept secret: death in the family, the loss of a ring, corruption of the spirit, boredom, illicit love. Sickness. Addiction. Pregnancy. Within the pure white wimple of her beekeeping suit, wrapped in buzzing, ~ Catherynne M Valente, #NFDB
705:I think we need to start with Philadelphia and make sure that we actually get some election reform in Philadelphia. Actually, a recent election was thrown out by a federal judge because of corruption with the voting process in Philadelphia. ~ Patrick McHenry, #NFDB
706:Mystics were about as common as two-headed unicorns. The few who existed lived apart from the world of men, remaining untainted by influence and corruption. Having a wolf as her best friend demonstrated the sort of wisdom he appreciated. ~ Michael J Sullivan, #NFDB
707:The lifeless sea was ruffled here and there by a lost zephyr, by a stippling shoal of sardines, dark ash-blue lines that snaked, broad then narrow, in slow motion across the shimmering mirageous surface, as if the water was breeding corruption. ~ John Fowles, #NFDB
708:This list doesn’t include issues of corruption, romances, cults of personality, affairs, crushes, miscommunications, vendettas, scandals, drug use, money issues, and all the other things that can sometimes show up anywhere there are people. ~ Daniel M Ingram, #NFDB
709:Why do we love making speed breakers? Maybe it’s a subliminal reflection of our system’s psyche that thrives on creating as many hurdles as possible on our way to success. More hurdles mean more corruption, more money for the law enforcers. ~ Vivek Agnihotri, #NFDB
710:So then, according to Jesus, the ‘evils’ which we think, say and do are not due primarily to our environment, nor are they bad habits picked up from bad teaching, bad company or bad example; they are due to the inward corruption of our heart. ~ John R W Stott, #NFDB
711:South Africa does not have a poverty problem. Poverty is a result of denialism of the way corruption taxes poor people, the inefficiencies that undermine poor people's opportunities and our refusal to admit that we are part of the problem. ~ Mamphela Ramphele, #NFDB
712:All these thinkers, all centrally concerned with pathology both individual and cultural, came to the same conclusion: lies warp the structure of Being. Untruth corrupts the soul and the state alike, and one form of corruption feeds the other. ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
713:As much as I disagree with Bernie Sanders - at least Bernie Sanders was a man seemingly of principle, a man who actually believed in something, was not surrounding himself with corruption and was moving in the direction that the people are moving. ~ Glenn Beck, #NFDB
714:Believers in liberal freedom should worry not whether their regime can prevail in competition with authoritarian ones, but whether they can prevail against their own forms of institutional entropy: elite capture, corruption, and inequality. ~ Michael Ignatieff, #NFDB
715:If there was special interests affecting police work, I believe that would be called corruption. So, if it has do with donating money versus a popular vote, I think we have a bigger problem in this country and somebody's gotta wake up to that. ~ Garry McCarthy, #NFDB
716:Hillary Clinton is the one you would think would have some kind of political conscience - the good Methodist, the feminist, the crusader against political corruption. But apparently, she doesn't. For her, it's all about entitlement and power. ~ Jeffrey St Clair, #NFDB
717:Money, as a sort of drug, has become a great danger to our development. There will be no progress in our country unless we win the fight against corruption. This is a question of survival for the Communist Party of Vietnam and for socialism. ~ Nguyen Minh Triet, #NFDB
718:Spread and participate in culture. Remix, reuse, use, abuse. Make sure no one controls your mind. Create new systems and technology that circumvent the corruption. Start a religion. Start your own nation, or buy one. Buy a bus. Crush it to pieces. ~ Peter Sunde, #NFDB
719:All these thinkers, all centrally concerned with pathology both individual and cultural, came to the same conclusion: lies warp the structure of Being. Untruth corrupts the soul and the state alike, and one form of corruption feeds the other. ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
720:Original sin, therefore, appears to be a hereditary, depravity and corruption of our nature, diffused through all the parts of the soul, rendering us obnoxious to the divine wrath and producing in us those works which the scripture calls 'works of. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
721:Carnegie survived and triumphed in an environment rife with cronyism and corruption. Much of the capital invested in his iron and steel companies was derived from business activities that might be today, but were not at the time, regarded as immoral ~ David Nasaw, #NFDB
722:In the final analysis, the incident is seen as originating from an emotional expression of the frustration and anger of the proud people of China who had been subject to ever increasing oppression from without and decadent corruption from within. ~ Chen Ning Yang, #NFDB
723:The people are the ultimate guardians of their own liberties. In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy . . . Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
724:the rich and powerful are always taken care of. This corruption is turning government into a tool of those who have already gathered wealth and influence. This corruption is hollowing out America’s middle class and tearing down our democracy. In ~ Elizabeth Warren, #NFDB
725:I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office. ~ Andrew Jackson, #NFDB
726:Our body is a vessel of corruption; it is meant for death and for the worms, nothing more! And yet we devote ourselves to satisfying it, rather than to enriching our soul, which is so great that we can conceive nothing greater - no, nothing, nothing! ~ John Vianney, #NFDB
727: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. ~ Robert Payne, #NFDB
728:If Jackson had learned one thing over the years it was that nothing, absolutely nothing, was above corruption so long as human beings were involved, because, in truth, most people were not above the lure of the dollar or other material entitlements. ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
729:There are indeed, in the present corruption of mankind, many incitements to forsake truth: the need of palliating our own faults and the convenience of imposing on the ignorance or credulity of others so frequently occur; so many immediate evils are ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
730:He had followed the calendar, the years, time-
Bird farted.
And it came to me, as though it were riding one moment of the gusting wind, as though bird had had it in him all the time and had passed it to me in that one moment of instant corruption. ~ James Welch,#NFDB
731:Perverted quality; Moral perversion; The innate corruption of human nature due to original sin; Both the elect and the non-elect came into the world in a state of total d. and alienation from God, and can, of themselves do nothing but sin. J.H. Blunt. ~ Arundhati Roy, #NFDB
732:The second Adam since the fall His germinal Corruption held the seed Of that congenital heresy that men fail According to their creed. Craftsman and castaway All heaven in his head, He watched his shadow pray Not for God’s love but human love instead. ~ Derek Walcott, #NFDB
733:Until we can fully grasp the extent of corruption and fraud involved in the administration of the Oil-for-Food program, and until the United Nations decides to cooperate in the investigation, no American taxpayer dollars should go to the United Nations. ~ John Ensign, #NFDB
734:I think what gives me hope is I have the sense that the people of Kenya have turned the page. They are keen to get a new political dispensation. They are keen to fight corruption and impunity, and in that sense they are leaving the political elite behind. ~ Kofi Annan, #NFDB
735:It is not enough to hear a sermon, but you must eat it down, take in what it commands, and then it will purge your heart...Take the word and digest it, squeeze the juice of it into thy heart, and it will purge thee from all contrary corruption." pg.73 ~ Thomas Goodwin, #NFDB
736:Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority. —Lord Acton ~ Charles Stross, #NFDB
737:Werner wonders in the dead of night, isn’t life a kind of corruption? A child is born, and the world sets in upon it. Taking things from it, stuffing things into it. Each bite of food, each particle of light entering the eye—the body can never be pure. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
738:Whatever the Garden had once been, now it was seething with corruption. Abundant life. It makes me laugh, in retrospect. Mr. Faust, did you know that there’s a medical term for abundant life? For cellular life bursting out of control and running wild. ~ Craig Schaefer, #NFDB
739:All religions have based morality on obedience, that is to say, on voluntary slavery. That is why they have always been more pernicious than any political organization. For the latter makes use of violence, the former - of the corruption of the will. ~ Alexander Herzen, #NFDB
740:A regime, an established order, is rarely overthrown by a revolutionary movement; usually a regime collapses of its own weakness and corruption and then a revolutionary movement enters among the ruins and takes over the powers that have become vacant. ~ Walter Lippmann, #NFDB
741:Time was to sin and to enjoy, time was to scoff at God and at the warnings of His holy church, time was to defy His majesty, to disobey His commands, to hoodwink one's fellow men, to commit sin after sin and to hide one's corruption from the sight of men. ~ James Joyce, #NFDB
742:What condition is that? I’ve been in this condition my whole life,” Liir answered. “It’s the only condition I know. Bitter love, loneliness, contempt for corruption, blind hope. It’s where I life. A permanent state of bereavement. This is nothing new. ~ Gregory Maguire, #NFDB
743:What condition is that? I’ve been in this condition my whole life,” Liir answered. “It’s the only condition I know. Bitter love, loneliness, contempt for corruption, blind hope. It’s where I live. A permanent state of bereavement. This is nothing new. ~ Gregory Maguire, #NFDB
744:Corruption would not be a problem as in other Third World countries. Lee would attack it by simplifying procedures, establishing clear and precise guidelines in business, and making living beyond one’s means corroborative evidence in court for taking bribes. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
745:For me, any fiction of nobles and swords necessarily has to be a story of corruption, injustice and savagely violent conflict - because any other treatment is going to have all the heft and realistic honesty of a bedtime fairy tale for five year olds. ~ Richard K Morgan, #NFDB
746:Midnight has many children; the offspring of Independence were not all human. Violence, corruption, poverty, generals, chaos, greed and pepperpot… I had to go into exile to learn that the children of midnight were more varied that I— even I—had dreamed. ~ Salman Rushdie, #NFDB
747:the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. ~ Nabeel Qureshi, #NFDB
748:Whatever form it has, it [matter] will be disposed to receive another form; it never leaves off moving and casting off the form which it has in order to receive another. ...It is therefore clear that all corruption, destruction, or defect comes from matter. ~ Maimonides, #NFDB
749:Kell shook his head. "No," he said. "It is Vitari. In a way, I suppose it is pure. But it is pure potential, pure, power, pure magic."
"And no humanity," said Lila. "No harmony."
Kell nodded. "Purity without balance is its own corruption. ~ V E Schwab,#NFDB
750:Magical properties were attributed to it. Its brew was sipped on the steps of sacrificial temples; its ecstasies were fierce and terrible. Is this what he fears? Corruption by pleasure, the subtle transubstantiation of the flesh into a vessel for debauch? ~ Joanne Harris, #NFDB
751:Midnight has many children; the offspring of Independence were not all human. Violence, corruption, poverty, generals, chaos, greed and pepperpots … I had to go into exile to learn that the children of midnight were more varied than I—even I—had dreamed. ~ Salman Rushdie, #NFDB
752:Native Americans also insist that “squaw” is a derogatory term. Some believe it derives from a French corruption of an Iroquois epithet for vagina, analogous to “cunt” in English. Others believe it meant “bitch” in Algonquian dialects spoken in Virginia. ~ James W Loewen, #NFDB
753:New York State is upside down and backwards; high taxes and low performance. The New York State government was at one time a national model. Now, unfortunately, it's a national disgrace. Sometimes, the corruption in Albany could even make Boss Tweed blush. ~ Andrew Cuomo, #NFDB
754:The victory of Hamas is not only based on the corruption of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas has a vision and a program, and this is the reason why the Palestinian people chose Hamas. However, there is no doubt that the corruption helped Hamas's victory. ~ Ismail Haniyeh, #NFDB
755:Corruption is taken for granted, even grudgingly admired: the guerrilla cunning of the colonised is still ingrained into us, and tax evasion and shady deals are seen as forms of the same spirit of rebellion that hid horses and seed potatoes from the British. ~ Tana French, #NFDB
756:Whosoever is found variable, and changeth manifestly without manifest cause, giveth suspicion of corruption: therefore, always, when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, and declare it, together with the reasons that move thee to change. ~ John Locke, #NFDB
757:Corruption is the primary reason societies fail to thrive; societies in which corruption is held in check prosper economically, socially, and morally. Nothing explains the success or failure of countries more than does the presence or absence of corruption. ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
758:Guilt and corruption are our two great discouragements when we stand before God. By the guilt of the sins committed by us we have become obnoxious to the justice of God; by the power of the sin that dwells in us we have become odious to the holiness of God. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
759:The nannyism is partly to distract from the corruption — and partly just another opportunity to leverage it. A good general rule is that the more a government wants to run its citizens’ lives, the worse job it will do at the most basic tasks of government. ~ Glenn Reynolds, #NFDB
760:You look at us and you see oppression; we see stability and harmony. You see corruption; we see ties of family, friendship, and mutual support. You see feudalism, we see mutual responsibility. You see the oppression of women, we see the defense of modesty. ~ Michael Gruber, #NFDB
761:I don't care if the Koch brothers or Soros spend their money to promote one candidate or another. I care about members of Congress spending 30%-70% of their time raising money from .05% of us. Change the way we fund elections and you change the corruption. ~ Lawrence Lessig, #NFDB
762:It is a well-known fact that very often, putting the period of boyhood out of the argument, the older we grow the more cynical and hardened we become; indeed, many of us are only saved by timely death from moral petrification, if not from moral corruption. ~ H Rider Haggard, #NFDB
763:The corruption will come back to haunt the Trump administration. But mostly, it'll come back to haunt the American economy, as companies decide they can make money by rent-seeking, by getting money from government rather than earning it the old-fashioned way. ~ David Brooks, #NFDB
764:There are some who think that the government is limited in how many corruption cases it can bring against Wall Street, because juries can't understand the complexity of the financial schemes involved. But in 'U.S.A. v. Carollo,' that turned out not to be true. ~ Matt Taibbi, #NFDB
765:If our current barbaric world spirals into greater corruption and brutality, our descendants may become so cruel and so morally perverse that they cross time to watch us suffer, bearing orgasmic witness to the bloodbaths from which their sick civilization grew. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
766:Let them be spattered in humiliation, be spattered in corruption; let them hear the dirge that spills from my lips, once those of a human being but no longer. The angel who deceived me, the men who treated me like an animal. you've all made me into a Phantom. ~ Mizuki Nomura, #NFDB
767:Paid product endorsements, especially by real or purported experts, constitute a steady rainfall of deception. They betray contempt for the intelligence of their customers. They introduce an insidious corruption of popular attitudes about scientific objectivity. ~ Carl Sagan, #NFDB
768:What do you mean by sound government?'
Good public order, no corruption in high places, freedom from fear and war and crime, a reasonably equitable distribution of wealth and resources, concern for the individual life.'
Then we haven't got sound government. ~ P D James,#NFDB
769:When Chinese people want liberal reforms, they are delivered. When they want more Communism and an epic fight against corruption, like now, China's government immediately reacts. It is powerful and democratic, although a very specific and complex arrangement. ~ Andre Vltchek, #NFDB
770:While transparency reduces corruption, good governance goes beyond transparency in achieving openness. Openness means involving the stakeholders in decision-making process. Transparency is the right to information while openness is the right to participation. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
771:Every man becomes the image of the God he adores. He whose worship is directed to a dead thing becomes dead. He who loves corruption rots. He who loves a shadow becomes, himself, a shadow. He who loves things that must perish lives in dread of their perishing. ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
772:That is why an expiring form of money is crucial. Power passed from generation to generation in the abstract form of wealth leads to privilege and corruption. Money must not be hoarded for its own sake but must be continually employed for a fruitful purpose. ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
773:But there’s still this combination of governmental ineptitude, shortsightedness, stinginess, corruption, and neglect that affected the Continentals before, during, and after Valley Forge that twenty-first-century Americans are not entirely unfamiliar with. While ~ Sarah Vowell, #NFDB
774:I have a prejudice against people with money. I have known so many, and none have escaped the corruption of power. In this I am a purist. I love people motivated by love and not by power. If you have money and power, and are motivated by love, you give it all away. ~ Anais Nin, #NFDB
775:The Clintons represent the highest level of corruption, but no one has the courage to mention it. Instead they talk about Rudy Giuliani. Over a lifetime of excellent service, there's never been a hint of corruption in his behavior but everybody investigates him. ~ Jackie Mason, #NFDB
776:As the corruption of our nature shews the absolute necessity of regeneration, so the absolute necessity of regeneration plainly proves the corruption of our nature; for why should a man need a second birth, if his nature were not quite marred in the first birth? ~ Thomas Boston, #NFDB
777:Though horror and revolting nausea rose up within me, and an odour of corruption choked my breath, I remained firm. I was then privileged or accursed, I dare not say which, to see that which was on the bed, lying there black like ink, transformed before my eyes. ~ Arthur Machen, #NFDB
778:Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of thoughts that I once had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad. ~ Christina Rossetti,#NFDB
779:Achievement of any kind is the crown of effort,the diadem of thought.By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought a man ascends.By the aid of animality,indolence,impurity,corruption,and confusion of thought a man descends. ~ James Allen, #NFDB
780:Corruption, embezzlement, fraud, these are all characteristics which exist everywhere. It is regrettably the way human nature functions, whether we like it or not. What successful economies do is keep it to a minimum. No one has ever eliminated any of that stuff. ~ Alan Greenspan, #NFDB
781:I really felt Mitt Romney was a - not my candidate. I didn't exactly like his policies, but I thought he was an honest guy. I didn't think that he would engage in corruption. He wasn't involved in some of the things that the administration, I felt, was involved with. ~ Glenn Beck, #NFDB
782:In vain people busy themselves with finding any good of man's own in his will. For any mixture of the power of freewill that men strive to mingle with God's grace is nothing but a corruption of grace. It is just as if one were to dilute wine with muddy, bitter water. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
783:The majestic architecture, the cultivated manners, the simplicity of life, the disregard for one's fellow man, the plagues, the rampant corruption, the unmitigated racism, and the uncontrollable violence--all the things our grandparents called 'the good old days'... ~ Chris Elliott, #NFDB
784:You could see a man talking to himself as just plain crazy, or read about the criminal on the front page of the daily paper and ponder the corruption of the human heart, without having to think about whether the criminal or lunatic said something about your own fate. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
785:As long as you remain in your private vacuum, you can pretend you are in harmony with the One. But the moment you pick up the clay, electronic or otherwise, you become a demiurge, and he who embarks on the creation of worlds is already tainted with corruption and evil. ~ Umberto Eco, #NFDB
786:I knew that I was not doing anything wrong, and I knew in my mind I was doing the right thing. I knew that the people who were going against me were not going against me for a good purpose. I knew that they were trying to justify their corruption and misgovernance. ~ Wangari Maathai, #NFDB
787:I know he is--sensitive--on some points, Detective, but you must bear in mind how hard it is for an honest man to do his work in relative obscurity, while dishonest men attain wealth and renown. That is why corruption is so pernicious. It breaks the will of good men. ~ Jed Rubenfeld, #NFDB
788:There is something going on in the sky like a decomposition, like a corruption of the air, which remains as still as ever. After all, mere clouds, which may or may not hold wind or rain. Strange that it should trouble me so. I feel as if all my sins had found me out. ~ Joseph Conrad, #NFDB
789:Do not blame people and their attitudes: the problem is not corruption or greed, the problem is the system that pushes you to be corrupt. The solution is not, "Main Street, not Wall Street," but to change the system where Main Street cannot function without Wall Street. ~ Slavoj i ek, #NFDB
790:Success achieved by the most contemptible means cannot but destroy the soul. ... It helps to cover up the inner corruption and gradually dulls one's scruples, so that those who begin with some high ambition cannot, even if they would, create anything out of themselves. ~ Emma Goldman, #NFDB
791:There is evil poured upon the earth from the overflowings of corruption-- Sickness, and poverty, and pain, and guilt, and madness, and sorrow; But, as the water from a fountain riseth and sinketh to its level, Ceaselessly toileth justice to equalize the lots of men. ~ William Hazlitt, #NFDB
792:This was the fall of 2004. The wider world was deeply fucked, and home also. Two American wars raging—bloodbaths each, bloodbath major and bloodbath minor, ugly, squirrelly hateful clandestine wars marked by betrayal, incompetence and corruption. Don't get me started. ~ Claire Messud, #NFDB
793:Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it. The two scourges feed off each other, locking their populations in a cycle of misery. Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty. ~ Peter Eigen, #NFDB
794:This circulating medium has a natural tendency to lessen by degrees the value and the use of money, and finally to render it powerless; and consequently to sweep away all the crushing masses of fraud, iniquity, cruelty, corruption and imposition that are built upon it. ~ Josiah Warren, #NFDB
795:Say "no" to corruption; it does not fit you! Say "no" to bad leadership; you don't fit there. Say "no" to immorality; it will only fake you! Be bold to say "no" if that is what will take your breakfast away; you will get a sweeter lunch pack for compensation sooner. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
796:There are many reasons to steer clear of Christianity. No question. I fully understand why people make that choice. Christianity has survived some unspeakable abominations: the Crusades, clergy sex-scandals, papal corruption, televangelist scams, and clown ministry. ~ Nadia Bolz Weber, #NFDB
797:But when you have bad governance, of course, these resources are destroyed: The forests are deforested, there is illegal logging, there is soil erosion. I got pulled deeper and deeper and saw how these issues become linked to governance, to corruption, to dictatorship. ~ Wangari Maathai, #NFDB
798:Grief and guilt. A powerful combination. Guilt like a liquid, a thin liquor, seeping everywhere, informing everything, saturating the whole-corrosive, like seawater, scented with the rich stench of ordure and corruption, and carrying with it hard, abrasive shards of grief. ~ Simon Mawer, #NFDB
799:They think you can't feel anything, because they've forgotten how. You're very, very dangerous, I get that, and you're prone to some very theatrical brooding, but don't let yourself mistake that for some kind of inner corruption. They see themselves in you and are blinded. ~ Holly Black, #NFDB
800:Why, O men born from the earth, do you yield yourselves to death, when it is permitted to you to obtain immortality? Return to yourselves, O you who walk in error and languish in ignorance, withdraw from the light that is darkness, renounce corruption, take part in immortality. ~ Hermes, #NFDB
801:I fear not," Hamilcar said gravely, shaking his head. "It seems to be the fate of all nations, that as they grow in wealth so they lose their manly virtues. With wealth comes corruption, indolence, a reluctance to make sacrifices, and a weakening of the feeling of patriotism. ~ G A Henty, #NFDB
802:Sin and death and suffering and war and poverty are not natural—they are the devastating results of our rebellion against God. We long for a return to Paradise—a perfect world, without the corruption of sin, where God walks with us and talks with us in the cool of the day. ~ Randy Alcorn, #NFDB
803:Every man becomes the image of the God he adores.
He whose worship is directed to a dead thing becomes dead.
He who loves corruption rots.
He who loves a shadow becomes, himself, a shadow.
He who loves things that must perish lives in dread of their perishing. ~ Thomas Merton,#NFDB
804:Much of what passes for corruption is not simply a matter of greed but rather the by-product of legislators or public officials who feel more obligated to family, tribe, region, or ethnic group than to the national community and therefore divert money in that direction. ~ Francis Fukuyama, #NFDB
805:My personal motto has always been: Joy in spite of everything. Not just [mindless] joy, but joy in spite of everything. Recognizing the inequities and the suffering and the corruption and all that but refusing to let it rain on my parade. And I advocate this to other people. ~ Tom Robbins, #NFDB
806:Since everyone can’t be a genius, most people follow the path of ‘skillful corruption’ to achieve success in life. Just as you can’t move in a straight line when the road itself is curvaceous, it is impossible to succeed in a society full of corrupt people by honest means. ~ Awdhesh Singh, #NFDB
807:The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.” —Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia ~ James Wesley Rawles, #NFDB
808:We are resisting the technological corruption of our humanity with technology. We’re also resisting with our thinking, our perseverance, our friendships....In the end, we will find that even the best of tools can do no more than assist us. Certainly they cannot save us ~ Michael D O Brien, #NFDB
809:When parents are grieved by their children's wickedness they should take occasion thence to lament that corruption of nature which was derived from them, and which is the root of bitterness. But here we have that which was a relief to our first parents in their affliction. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
810:I'll confess that I don't watch the Olympics, but you'd have to be living under a rock to be unaware of the corruption and the expense. An amorphous organization with no transparency, unclear lines of responsibility, huge amounts of politics and a great deal of unearned power. ~ Seth Godin, #NFDB
811:It looks perverted and wasteful to us, but then one thing that empires are not about is the efficient use of resources and the spread of happiness; both are typically accomplished despite the economic short-circuiting - corruption and favoritism, mostly- endemic to the system. ~ Iain Banks, #NFDB
812:She didn’t cry for the fate of her husband, son, and daughter, or for the great web of corruption she was now forced to navigate, or for a system in which the most wretched tried to punish the slightly less wretched by turning to a justice system so malign it sank them all. ~ Katherine Boo, #NFDB
813:The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity. ~ Frank Serpico, #NFDB
814:There is so much drivel about psychoactive meds, so much corruption, bad faith, over- and underprescription, vagueness, profiteering, ignorance, and hope, that it’s easy to forget they sometimes work, alleviating real suffering, at least for a time. This was such a time. I ~ Adam Haslett, #NFDB
815:War! It is purification, liberation, an enormous hope. . . . The victory of Germany will be a paradox, nay, a wonder: a victory of the soul over numbers. . . . The German soul is opposed to the pacifist ideal of civilization, for is not peace the element, of civil corruption? ~ Thomas Mann, #NFDB
816:And my chutneys and kasaundies are, after all, connected to my nocturnal scribblings –– by day amongst the pickle-vats, by night within these sheets, I spend my time at the great work of preserving. Memory, as well as fruit, is being saved from the corruption of the clocks. ~ Salman Rushdie, #NFDB
817:At nineteen, the silver spoon I’d been born with was ripped from my mouth…
I was heir to a throne built on lies, my crown forged with corruption.
Stripped of everything I’d been raised to consider my birthright.
Including my princess – who wasn’t mine after all. ~ Tara Leigh,#NFDB
818:I think there is a serious corruption in the idea sold through advertising that you can attain spiritual peace through lifestyle and the notion of building your happiness from the outside-in by acquiring things . . . which if you think about it, is the essence of advertising ~ Edward Norton, #NFDB
819:You have a direction, but it might be wrong. You have a plan, but it might be ill-formed. You may have been led astray by your own ignorance—and, worse, by your own unrevealed corruption. You must make friends, therefore, with what you don’t know, instead of what you know. ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
820:Sin is not only a series of actions, it is also an attitude that ignores the law of God. But it is even more than a rebellious attitude. Sin is a state of heart, a condition of our inmost being. It is a state of corruption, of vileness, yes, even of filthiness in God’s sight. ~ Jerry Bridges, #NFDB
821:There are two things in Indian history - one is the incredible optimism and potential of the place, and the other is the betrayal of that potential - for example, corruption. Those two strands intertwine through the whole of Indian history, and maybe not just Indian history. ~ Salman Rushdie, #NFDB
822:Wrongly do the Greeks suppose that aught begins or ceases to be; for nothing comes into being or is destroyed; but all is an aggregation or secretion of preexisting things; so that all becoming might more correctly be called becoming mixed, and all corruption, becoming separate. ~ Anaxagoras, #NFDB
823:. . . in no instance has a system in regard to religion been ever established, but for the purpose, as well as with the effect of its being made an instrument of intimidation, corruption, and delusion, for the support of depredation and oppression in the hands of governments. ~ Jeremy Bentham, #NFDB
824:We, Americans, have the best country on the planet. We have schools, universities, food, water, energy, peaceful neighbors, low corruption, you name it, deepest and widest capital markets. That doesn't mean we shouldn't identify problems. We don't have a divine right to success. ~ Jamie Dimon, #NFDB
825:You have a direction, but it might be wrong. You have a plan, but it might be ill-formed. You may have been led astray by your own ignorance—and, worse, by your own unrevealed corruption. You must make friends, therefore, with what you don’t know, instead of what you know. ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
826:Achievement, of whatever kind, is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought. By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought a man ascends; by the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought a man descends. ~ James Allen, #NFDB
827:But is that not corruption, Jack? You were always very much against corruption when you were young, I mean younger.’ ‘So I am still: corruption in others is anathema to me. But you would scarcely credit the depths of turpitude I should descend to myself for a thousand a year; ~ Patrick O Brian, #NFDB
828:Consider this pronouncement, inscribed on an Assyrian tablet circa 2800 B.C.: Our earth is degenerate these days . . . bribery and corruption abound, children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and the end of the world is evidently approaching. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson, #NFDB
829:I am aware that there is a world out there that functions without regard to me. There are wars and budgets and bombings and vast dimensions of wealth and greed and ambition and corruption. And yet I don't feel a part of that world, and I wouldn't know how to join if I tried. ~ Douglas Coupland, #NFDB
830:Sown In Dishonor
62
"Sown in dishonor"!
Ah! Indeed!
May this "dishonor" be?
If I were half so fine myself
I'd notice nobody!
"Sown in corruption"!
Not so fast!
Apostle is askew!
Corinthians 1. 15. narrates
A Circumstance or two!
~ Emily Dickinson,#NFDB
831:There was just too much evidence, from too many witnesses, pointing too many fingers at Ryan and his colleague for either defense team to have been able to portray it as a coincidence or a witch hunt or anything short of widespread corruption. And that's why we see this verdict. ~ Andrew Cohen, #NFDB
832:UNDIVIDED
I am for
One world undivided.
One world without fear and corruption.
One world ruled by Truth and Justice.
I am for
One peaceful world for all,
Where hate has been overcome by love,
And everyone is guided only
By their conscience. ~ Suzy Kassem,#NFDB
833:It is wise to face the possibility that the whole human race (being a small thing in the universe) is, in fact, just such a local pocket of evil—an isolated bad school or regiment inside which minimum decency passes for heroic virtue and utter corruption for pardonable imperfection. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
834:Let's see in those indictments you can't level at Sweden, they never tried to ban the constitution or undermine the settlement that they wanted. Well you can't say that of Canada. Any indication of revolt on the part of Quebec was either bought off, with a good deal of corruption. ~ Jane Jacobs, #NFDB
835:The biggest problem in this country is not corruption. The problem is that there are many qualified people who are not where they are supposed to be because they won’t lick anybody’s ass, or they don’t know which ass to lick or they don’t even know how to lick an ass. ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, #NFDB
836:The lesson has already been learned with alcohol prohibition. We tried to engineer an alcohol-free society and ended up with huge criminal enterprises, government corruption, children lured into organized crime and random violence that took the lives of countless innocent people. ~ Kurt Schmoke, #NFDB
837:To further promote anti-corruption efforts, we need to insist on the successful experiences gained through the Party's long-term anti-corruption practice. We need to actively draw on effective practices conducted by foreign countries around the world, and our own valuable heritage. ~ Xi Jinping, #NFDB
838:Since Deacon Hollingshead's arrival in town last July the Dominion had been hard at work, cleansing New York City of moral corruption. "Corruption" is a popular word with the enthusiasts of the Dominion, usually uttered as a prelude to the knife, the docket, or the noose. ~ Robert Charles Wilson, #NFDB
839:I have a very steadfast tendency to parent myself, to monitor my development into the person I want to be. I try to keep the corruption minimal. And though I advocate learning from my mistakes as much as making mistakes, I also try and make sure my mistakes do not cost other people. ~ Fiona Apple, #NFDB
840:( O1O'2920'8855 )PCASH( O1O'2920'8855 ) Independent Authority against
Corruption (IAAC], visited Korea and extended the Korea-
Mongolia MOU on anti-corruption cooperation. In the
extended MOU, both countries agreed to make more
efforts for the implementation of the MOU ~ Hannah Howell,#NFDB
841:We've got to start also holding people accountable, and we've got to reward people who succeed. But somehow in Washington today - and I'm afraid on Wall Street - greed is rewarded, excess is rewarded, and corruption - or certainly failure to carry out our responsibility is rewarded. ~ John McCain, #NFDB
842:You know Samuel Huntington himself actually entertained an analogy between the Islamic fundamentalist movement and the Protestant Reformation, saying both are reactions to the stagnation and corruption of existing institutions. They advocate a return to a purer form of their religion. ~ Dan Eaton, #NFDB
843:Does this current deterioration and corruption of language, imprecision of thought, and so forth scare you—or is it just a decadent phase?
AUDEN
It terrifies me. I try by my personal example to fight it; as I say, it’s a poet’s role to maintain the sacredness of language. ~ W H Auden,#NFDB
844:It is not enough to hear a sermon, but you must eat it down, take in what it commands, and then it will purge your heart...Take the word and digest it, squeeze the juice of it into thy heart, and it will purge thee from all contrary corruption." pg. 73- 'Mans Guiltiness Before God ~ Thomas Goodwin, #NFDB
845:Speer’s moral corruption had its seed in his emotional attachment to Hitler–he likened it to Faust’s fatal bargain with Mephistopheles. Achievement and success rooting it ever deeper over the years, he lived–almost addictively–in an increasingly vicious cycle of need and dependence. ~ Gitta Sereny, #NFDB
846:What I've done is far worse than murder - that's an act, a blow, a stab, a shot: it's over and done, but I'm carrying my corruption around with me. It's the coating of my stomach.' He threw her wrists aside like seeds towards the stony floor. 'Never pretend I haven't shown my love. ~ Graham Greene, #NFDB
847:Corruption is uniquely reprehensible in a democracy because it violates the system's first principle, which we all learned back in the sunshiny days of elementary school: that the government exist to serve the public, not particular companies or individuals or even elected officials. ~ Thomas Frank, #NFDB
848:My contract with the American voter begins with a plan to end government corruption and to take our country back from the special interests. I want the entire corrupt Washington establishment to hear and heed the words. We're going to drain the swamp of corruption in Washington, D.C. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
849:The train resembles the Soviet type and is quite comfortable, but all socialist structures I have ever encountered have toilets stemming from a single model engineered by the Orthodox Church in Tsarist Russia to ensure that man never be allowed to forget the corruption of the flesh. ~ Arthur Miller, #NFDB
850:Tom DeLay himself has never been the issue. DeLay is a symptom of a larger disease?a sick Republican culture of corruption that touches everyone who took his dirty money, voted for his corrupt leadership, or sat silently while their party has sold our government to the highest bidder. ~ Howard Dean, #NFDB
851:As in everything else, I must start with myself. That is: in all circumstances try to be decent, just, tolerant, and understanding, and at the same time try to resist corruption and deception. In other words, I must do my utmost to act in harmony with my conscience and my better self. ~ Vaclav Havel, #NFDB
852:I had this radical idea that the police should obey the law. My view was that any human system without adequate checks and balances will tend towards corruption and abuse. That's why you have meat inspectors. Not because you hate butchers, but because of an understanding of human nature. ~ Van Jones, #NFDB
853:The pattern is sadly familiar in church history: a cooling of the church’s love for Christ, then its replacement by a love for the things of the world, resulting in compromise and spiritual corruption, followed by a departure from the faith and loss of effective spiritual testimony. ~ Mark Hitchcock, #NFDB
854:Women are dirt searchers; their greatest worth is irradicating rings on collars and tables. Never mind real-estate boards' corruption and racism, here's your soapsuds. Everything she is doing is peripheral, expendable, crucial, and non-negotiable. Cleanliness is next to godliness. ~ Florynce Kennedy, #NFDB
855:But if he was here to assess and restore, he needed a better idea of how badly it had all slipped—and as some sociopath at another station had once said, “The fish rots from the head.” Fish rotted all over, cell corruption being nonhierarchical and not caste-driven, but point taken. ~ Jeff VanderMeer, #NFDB
856:Donald T. Campbell explained in a renowned 1976 paper, “The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor. ~ Nicholas Carr, #NFDB
857:In 2001 came the announcement that shocked the corporate world. Enron—the corporate poster child, the company of the future—had gone belly-up. What happened? How did such spectacular promise turn into such a spectacular disaster? Was it incompetence? Was it corruption? It was mindset. ~ Carol S Dweck, #NFDB
858:Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality. It is impossible to find a hygienist who does not debase his theory of the healthful with a theory of the virtuous. ... The aim of medicine is surely not to make men virtuous; it is to safeguard them from the consequences of their vices. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
859:American politics had two fatal flaws - flaws that led to its downfall. The first was corruption. Politicians lied with almost every breath they mustered and didn’t hesitate to slit each others throats for gain. They were whores willing to sell their vote to the highest bidder. ~ Richard Stephenson, #NFDB
860:During Prohibition, Atlantic City created the idea of the speakeasy, which turned into nightclubs and that extraordinary political complexity and corruption coming out of New Jersey at the time. The long hand that they had-and maybe still do-even had to do with presidential elections. ~ Martin Scorsese, #NFDB
861:God pity us that after years of writing, using mountains of paper and rivers of ink, exhausting flashy terminology about the biggest revival meetings in history, we are still faced with gross corruption in every nation, as well as with the most prayerless church age since Pentecost. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
862:In short, this is corruption by proxy. It is essentially a form of “political arbitrage,” where friends and family members of powerful political figures have positioned themselves to serve as conduits or middle men between those seeking influence and those who possess political power. ~ Peter Schweizer, #NFDB
863:The present Arab uprising didn't stem from Israel. The old guard is trying to keep down the young chickens. The old guard is better organized. They may win elections, but unless they have a solution to poverty, to corruption, to oppression, they will not last. I am with the young people. ~ Shimon Peres, #NFDB
864:There's always got to be room for what you might call benign corruption. Nobody blames a man who steals food to feed his starving children, but on the other hand, somebody who picks up a badge and takes an oath to serve and protect; we do expect a certain level of essential honesty. ~ Denzel Washington, #NFDB
865:In 'Tarahumara' land, there was no crime, war or theft. There was no corruption, obesity, drug addiction, greed, wife-beating, child abuse, heart disease, high blood pressure, or carbon emissions. They didn't get diabetes, or depressed, or even old: 50-year-olds outran teenagers. ~ Christopher McDougall, #NFDB
866:If it is to be taken seriously again, the Left must find its voice. There is much to be angry about: growing inequalities of wealth and opportunity; injustices of class and caste; economic exploitation at home and abroad; corruption and money and privilege occluding the arteries of democracy. ~ Tony Judt, #NFDB
867:Like most modern art, they interested her no more than did the wind-tangled rain-compacted sun-bleached trash that time accumulated in vomitous-looking masses along California’s cracked and potholed highways, as the once-golden state stewed in government corruption on its way to bankruptcy. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
868:People say that the monetary system produces incentive. This may be true in limited areas, but it also produces greed, embezzlement, corruption, pollution, jealousy, anger, crime, war, poverty, tremendous scarcity, and unnecessary human suffering. You have to look at the entire picture. ~ Jacque Fresco, #NFDB
869:Whatever form it has, it [matter] will be disposed to receive another form; it never leaves off moving and casting off the form which it has in order to receive another. ...It is therefore clear that all corruption, destruction, or defect comes from matter. ~ Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), #NFDB
870:While no solutions seem obvious, there is general agreement throughout the industry that if local newspapers go away and some entity does not rise to do what we have come to expect of them—that is, keep an eye on local government—we will experience corruption at levels we have never seen. ~ Bob Schieffer, #NFDB
871:We are born in innocence. ... Corruption comes later. The first fear is a corruption, the first reaching for something that defies us. The first nuance of difference, the first need to feel better than the different one, more loved, stronger, richer, more blessed -- these are corruptions. ~ Laura Z Hobson, #NFDB
872:let us remember that those who are made partakers of the divine nature will manifest their high and holy relationship in their intercourse with others, and make it evident by their daily walk and conversation that they have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
873:That was why We laid it down for the Children of Israel that whoever killed a human being—except as a punishment for murder or for spreading corruption in the land— shall be regarded as having killed all mankind, and that whoever saved a human life shall be regarded as having saved all mankind. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
874:The United States in many ways resembles a Third World country - far more elevated, but it has many of those structural characteristics: the extreme inequality of wealth, the deterioration of infrastructure because it only serves poor people, predatory operations, huge corruption, and so on. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
875:Ten years ago if you would have told me that Mrs. Clinton would be the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, I'd have never believed you. Her only qualifications for office are that she's Mr. Clinton's partner. And what does that mean? The two of them stand for dishonesty and corruption. ~ Jackie Mason, #NFDB
876:You’re not expecting, are you? (Jack)
No! (Syd)
Good, ‘cause there’s enough radon down there to give a fetus three heads. I don’t want to be responsible for none of that. I only believe in corruption the ones what come out of the womb and grow to at least five feet in height. (Jack) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon,#NFDB
877:Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation. ~ Atifete Jahjaga, #NFDB
878:If you saved yourself, you might also save those around you, those you loved. And since you would do anything in the world to save those you loved, you did anything in the world to save yourself. And because there was no choice, equally there was no possibility of avoiding moral corruption. — ~ Julian Barnes, #NFDB
879:I never existed at all. Heavenly fire burns away that which is evil. Jace survived Glorious because he is good. There was enough of him left to lie. But I was born to be all corruption. There is not enough left of me to survive. You see the ghost of someone who could have been, that is all. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
880:The longest-serving Republican Senator, Alaska's Ted Stevens, found guilty just a few hours ago on all charges in his corruption trial. Do you know this story? He failed to report he had some work done on his house. Yeah, here's the bad part. You know who did the work? Joe the plumber. Unlicensed. ~ Jay Leno, #NFDB
881:The system of banking have[for]ever reprobated. I contemplate it as a blot left in all our Constitutions, which, if not covered, will end in their destruction, which is already hit by the gamblers in corruption, and is sweeping away in its progress the fortunes and morals of our citizens. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
882:We see the corrupt prison system, we see the corrupt police system, we see the corruption in the government, from the top on down. You know, it's built based on lies. However, the marijuana industry itself, because it was an underground industry, showed us the way we could exist on this planet. ~ Tommy Chong, #NFDB
883:Whatever I was able to do with those experiences certainly contribute to whatever I'm able to do as a director. The corruption in that is that most of what I acted in the last 10 years was to steal film school time from these guys. Those were the people I thought I could learn from as a director. ~ Sean Penn, #NFDB
884:I saw money becoming more and more important everywhere. It's one of the most abstract and important inventions by human beings. At the same time, money is capable of extraordinary corruption in every kind of relationship. I tried to see how and why, more and more, money is becoming a religion. ~ Costa Gavras, #NFDB
885:Isn't that what the Mafia does? You give somebody something they can't talk about. Then you've got them.'
'You involve them in a mutual transgression, and you have a mutual corruption. Sure.'
So his problem is that he's insufficiently corrupt.'
'Oh, yes. Absolutely. And unsophisticated. ~ Philip Roth,#NFDB
886:Since, though I do not repent my amorous exploits, I am far from wanting my example to contribute to the corruption of the fair sex, which deserves our homage for so many reasons, I hope that my observations will foster prudence in fathers and mothers and thus at least deserve their esteem. ~ Giacomo Casanova, #NFDB
887:what is right is not always clean, and does not always feel good. In even a clear heart, some righteous acts of the harder kind can stir up a sediment of guilt, but that is not a bad thing. If allowed to be, the heart is self-policing, and a reasonable measure of guilt guards against corruption. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
888:We are children of chaos, and the deep structure of change is decay. At root, there is only corruption, and the unstemmable tide of chaos. Gone is purpose; all that is left is direction. This is the bleakness we have to accept as we peer deeply and dispassionately into the heart of the Universe. ~ Peter Atkins, #NFDB
889:Lijuan warned Raphael I’d make him a little bit mortal.'
'You have.' Quiet equanimity. 'And you worry you’ve weakened him. You have.'
Elena flinched. 'Elena.'
Shaking his head, Keir waited until she met his gaze again. 'Even an archangel needs a weakness—absolute power is a corruption. ~ Nalini Singh,#NFDB
890:Sometimes evil wins, nah, child. But it’s always fleeting. Just a temporary ripple in a sea of goodness, brought on by the carnal nature of greed ’n corruption. Sacrifice washes that ripple out in waves of love ’n light, and peace is found when justice is served, even for those who lose, ya hear? ~ Rachael Wade, #NFDB
891:How rare were the tears of a dragon. We once lived in paradise and because of the corruption of an angel disgused as a dragon, all the world was cast into darkness. Now, as humans, we shed many tears-for what was lost, for what might of been, and for the end of friendships. Goodbye my true friends. ~ Bryan Davis, #NFDB
892:It is the desperate moment when we discover that this empire, which had seemed to us the sum of all wonders, is an endless, formless ruin, that corruption’s gangrene has spread too far to be healed by our scepter, that the triumph over enemy sovereigns has made us the heirs of their long undoing. ~ Italo Calvino, #NFDB
893:Many government efforts to subvert democracy are “legal,” in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy—making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process. ~ Steven Levitsky, #NFDB
894:To reverence the impersonal creation instead of the personal God who created us is a perversion designed for escaping moral accountability to the Creator. God indicts those who worship the creation instead of its Creator (Rom 1:18-23); and warns of the corruption of morals and behavior which results. ~ Dave Hunt, #NFDB
895:Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity. The degree these two have diminished is in direct proportion to the corruption and fall of the nation. Every problem that has arisen (sic) can be directly traced back to our departure from God's Law and the disenfranchisement of White men. ~ Don Davis, #NFDB
896:And (mention, O Muhammad), when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?" He said: Surely, I know what you know not. ~ Al-Baqara 30, #NFDB
897:Anywhere he went in the town he could hear water running. Beulah had told him Yuneetah was the white man’s corruption of an Indian word for the spirit of the river. She said the Cherokees who once lived on its shores had called it Long Man, with his head in the mountains and his feet in the lowlands. ~ Amy Greene, #NFDB
898:Chicago is what a polite person would call a colorful place. It’s a den of crime and corruption. And it’s a monument to architecture and enterprise. It’s violent and dangerous, and an epicenter of music and the arts. The good, the bad, the ugly, the sublime, monsters and angels—they’re all here. The ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
899:So the only problem that you have is actually switch things in the department, changing things, controlling things, putting it maybe under federal supervision, and if you fix the department, you'll fix the problems - with police corruption, with brutality, with evidence tampering, all those things. ~ Oren Moverman, #NFDB
900:This sea is bound to be stirred up and roused and enraged, so as to cast out of it again on to the dry land the wood, and hay, and all the corruption that was brought down into it by the rivers of the passions. Let us watch nature and we shall find that after a storm at sea there comes a deep calm. ~ John Climacus, #NFDB
901:Alas, I had always loved sorrow and grief, but only for myself, for myself; for them I wept in my pity. I stretched out my arms to them in my despair, accusing, cursing, and despising myself. I told them that I had done all this, I alone, that I had brought them corruption, contagion, and lies! ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
902:Let us be clear: censorship is cowardice. ... It masks corruption. It is a school of torture: it teaches, and accustoms one to the use of force against an idea, to submit thought to an alien "other." But worst still, censorship destroys criticism, which is the essential ingredient of culture. ~ Pablo Antonio Cuadra, #NFDB
903:When people can get away with crimes just because they are wealthy or have the right connections, the scales are tipped against fairness and equality. The weight of corruption then becomes so heavy that it creates a dent that forces the world to become slanted, so much so — that justice just slips off. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
904:The consequences of inflation are malinvestment, waste, a wanton redistribution of wealth and income, the growth of speculation and gambling, immorality and corruption, disillusionment, social resentment, discontent, upheaval and riots, bankruptcy, increased government controls, and eventual collapse. ~ Henry Hazlitt, #NFDB
905:From being a dream, dams have become a very cynical corrupt enterprise; a way of letting governments lay their hands on huge sums of money; a way of centralizing resources; a way of snatching rivers away from the poor and giving them to the rich. And so in a sense they've become monuments to corruption. ~ Arundhati Roy, #NFDB
906:The preferred medications were those that forestalled corruption. We know 'as a result of more than three thousand years of experience that Myrrh and Aloes preserve corpses.' (Lange, 1689) Are not these deteriorations of the bodies of the same nature as those that accompany the diseases of the humors? ~ Michel Foucault, #NFDB
907:When people can get away with crimes just because they are wealthy or have the right connections, the scales are immediately tipped against fairness and equality. The weight of corruption then becomes so heavy that it creates a dent that forces the world to become so slanted — that justice just slips off. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
908:At the least, any god who is anybody. And it is strange that, although it takes years of effort and work and scheming for a god to get there, once there they never seem to do a lot apart from drink too much and indulge in a little mild corruption. Many systems of government follow the same broad lines. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
909:The current perception I get from the evening news is that the world is dominated by human failure, crime, catastrophe, corruption, and tragedy. We are all tuning in to see how the human mind is evolving, but the media keeps hammering home the opposite, that the human mind is mired in darkness and folly. ~ Deepak Chopra, #NFDB
910:The golden age is early infancy. Soon after this the corruption of the erotic instinct takes place. In a very short time everything falls apart. The solidarity of opposites is completely shattered. Before you’ve learned to put two words together, you are mired in an existence full of essential dichotomies. ~ Don DeLillo, #NFDB
911:The weakling and the coward cannot be saved by honesty alone; but without honesty the brave and able man is merely a civic wild beast who should be hunted down by every lover of righteousness. No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
912:When a secretary of state illegally stores her emails on a private server, deletes 33,000 of them so the authorities can't see her crime, puts our country at risk, lies about it in every different form and faces no consequence, I know that corruption has reached a level like never, ever before in America! ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
913:Not that bad? This ain't fucking MIT, this is ninth grade! Look at this shit!' he said, holding the progress report up. 'You got a fucking C in ninth grade journalism? How does that even happen? You work for the New York fucking Times? Couldn't break that big corruption story? Jesus Christ. Unbelievable. ~ Justin Halpern, #NFDB
914:On Evil: "There's too much darkness in some people, corruption that could never be cleaned out in five lifetimes of rehabilitation. Evil is real, it walks the earth. Sometimes the devil works by persuasion. Sometimes he just sets loose these sociopaths who don't have a gene for empathy or one for compassion. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
915:Our economy will not prosper as long as it is monopolised (by the government). The economy must be rid of monopoly and see competition, it must be freed of insider speculation, be transparent, all people must be aware of the statistics. If we can bring transparency to our economy, we can fight corruption. ~ Hassan Rouhani, #NFDB
916:Philosophically speaking, therefore, resurrection must mean the higher or immortal part of man rising out of ignorance, materiality, and corruption. It was for this reason that the Hermetic adepts were called twice-born, for they had received a new life in Truth. Such is the true meaning of the Scriptural verse, John 3:3:, #NFDB
917:The difference between Middle Eastern and Western economic approaches can be seen even in their distinctive forms of corruption, from which neither society is exempt. In the West, one makes money in the market, and uses it to buy or influence power. In the East, one seizes power, and uses it to make money. ~ Bernard Lewis, #NFDB
918:In my more than 60 years as a member of the American scientific community, including service as president of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society, I have never witnessed a more disturbing corruption of the peer-review process than the events that led to this IPCC report. ~ Frederick Seitz, #NFDB
919:embarrassing entanglements. “Bribery interferes with trade, investment, and development,” Hillary Clinton said at the OECD’s fiftieth-anniversary forum in 2011. “It undermines good governance and encourages greater corruption. And of course, it is morally wrong—and far too common.” On that we can all agree. ~ Peter Schweizer, #NFDB
920:He was small, thin, greedy, clever, morally void, and monstrously bent. March “took corruption for granted,37 and used it casually and openly.” He had been imprisoned for bribery and escaped to France, and by 1939 he was the richest, and dodgiest, man in Spain, nicknamed “the last pirate of the Mediterranean, ~ Ben Macintyre, #NFDB
921:In the West, and among some in the Indian elite, this word, corruption, had purely negative connotations; it was seen as blocking India’s modern, global ambitions. But for the poor of a country where corruption thieved a great deal of opportunity, corruption was one of the genuine opportunities that remained. ~ Katherine Boo, #NFDB
922:It goes to local authorities and even to members of Parliament so that individual citizens almost become people who want to sit and wait for their member of Parliament to come and solve the problem. Now that won't take you anywhere. And if you follow it, you will see that it feeds corruption in the country. ~ Wangari Maathai, #NFDB
923:The international community faces ever growing phenomena that transcend borders. I am specifically referring to terrorism, transnational organized crime, the global drug problem, corruption, traffic in persons, sexual exploitation, trafficking of children and adolescents, and smuggling of arms, among others. ~ Ollanta Humala, #NFDB
924:Time indeed changes manners and notions, and so far we must expect institutions to bend to them. But time produces also corruption of principles, and against this it is the duty of good citizens to be ever on the watch, and if the gangrene is to prevail at last, let the day be kept off as long as possible. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
925:In the United Kingdom at various stages, journalism has been the profession of gentlemen amateurs. And some of them even pride themselves on being amateurs. Their quality is not comparable with the quality of intelligence services even if most of them harbor a remarkable degree of corruption and incompetence. ~ Julian Assange, #NFDB
926:Your teacher did not want to be a teacher. He wanted to be a meter reader at the electric utility. Meter readers do not have to put up with children, work comparatively little, and what is more important, have greater opportunity for corruption and are hence both better off and held in higher regard by society. ~ Mohsin Hamid, #NFDB
927:Should look forward to a time, and that not a distant one, when corruption in this, as in the country from which we derive our origin, will have seized the heads of government, and be spread by them through the body of the people; when they will purchase the voices of the people, and make them pay the price. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
928:The Arabs could have peace tomorrow if sufficient numbers of Palestinians were not content to be used as cannon fodder in fruitless assaults on Israel, even as the surrounding Arab powers distract the Arab masses with the red herring of Israel while retarding their countries with their repression and corruption. ~ Conrad Black, #NFDB
929:What is not challenged from outside is open to corruption from within.
-This is the infinite value of a dissenting voice: that where it is not allowed to flourish, an institution- a school or an orphanage or a government or a media consensus....begins to slide toward allowing its worst energies into play. ~ Nuala O Faolain,#NFDB
930:A great nation is not saved by wars, it is saved by acts without external picturesqueness; by speaking, writing, voting reasonably; by smiting corruption swiftly; by good temper between parties; by the people knowing true men when they see them, and preferring them as leaders to rabid partisans and empty quacks. ~ William James, #NFDB
931:I am saying the same to Muslims in the global South, telling them: "Just ignore what is done." However, in the Southern countries they are not living in a comfortable society like you and me. They deal with unemployment, corruption, and surviving. For the majority of them, their religion is helping them survive. ~ Tariq Ramadan, #NFDB
932:Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, predicted that “with the advent of the Internet, prompt disclosure of expenditures” would be easier than ever. This, he suggested, would prevent corruption because “citizens can see whether elected officials are ‘in the pocket’ of so-called moneyed interests. ~ Jane Mayer, #NFDB
933:Something is wrong. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, crime, torture, corruption and the ice capades. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed. This is not what you expect to find on the resume of a supreme being. It's what you expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. ~ George Carlin, #NFDB
934:By going from the bottom-up again, we see where successes work, and you can also see where the status quo can be the biggest obstacle or roadblock to success. The kind of entrepreneurs in whom we need to invest are the kind who are willing to fight that status quo, bureaucracy, complacency, and corruption. ~ Jacqueline Novogratz, #NFDB
935:Daddy's girl. Was it a 'itty-bitty bravekins and did it suffer? Oooooo-tweet, de tweetest thing, wasn't she dest too tweet? Before her tiny fist the forces of lust and corruption rolled away; nay, the very march of destiny stopped; inevitably became inevitable, syllogism, dialectic, all rationality fell away ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
936:I know not why any one but a school boy in his declamation would whine over the Commonwealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest of mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they were rich, grew corrupt; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of themselves and of one another. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
937:they seemed to depict an America in which corruption and cruelty lounged on the couch; in which justice was a beggar and kindness a fool; in which loyalties were fashioned from paper, and self-interest was fashioned from steel. In other words, they provided an unflinching portrayal of Capitalism as it actually was. ~ Amor Towles, #NFDB
938:Alexei Navalny, the opposition politician who has led anti-corruption protests, had a blog about a credit line to a company owned by Vladimir Putin's son-in-law, $1.75 billion from Russian state funds; this is one transaction. Putin controls more money directly and indirectly than any individual in human history. ~ Garry Kasparov, #NFDB
939:Could it be that he, Stephen Dedalus, had done those things? His conscience sighed in answer. Yes, he had done them, secretly, filthily, time after time, and, hardened in sinful impenitence, he had dared to wear the mask of holinesss before the tabernacle itself while his soul within was a living mass of corruption. ~ James Joyce, #NFDB
940:For most of the universe's life is not all gummy wads and tarty tarts; is a struggle against hardship, unfairness, corruption, abuse, and adversity in all its guises, where even to survive - let alone survive with dignity - is heroic. To soldier through the days in the wake of failure is the courageous act of many. ~ Frank Beddor, #NFDB
941:Germans felt similar emotions. The war was to be, wrote Thomas Mann, “a purification, a liberation, an enormous hope. The victory of Germany will be a victory of soul over numbers. The German soul,” he explained, “is opposed to the pacifist ideal of civilization for is not peace an element of civil corruption? ~ Barbara W Tuchman, #NFDB
942:I know not why any one but a schoolboy in his declamation should whine over the Commonwealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest of mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew corrupt; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of themselves, and of one another. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
943:Learning is a good medicine: but no medicine is powerful enough to preserve itself from taint and corruption independently of defects in the jar that it is kept in. One man sees clearly but does not see straight: consequently he sees what is good but fails to follow it; he sees knowledge and does not use it. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #NFDB
944:Science, by its very foundation on Bacon, Locke, and empiricism, limits itself to probabilistic conclusions that explain observations of the physical world. Science makes no statements about the ultimate reality outside of these limitations, and teaching that it can is a corruption of its clarity of thought. ~ Shawn Lawrence Otto, #NFDB
945:But unlike Zaire, China punished many people for it; in a five-year stretch, China punished 668,000 Party members for bribery, graft, and embezzlement; it handed down 350 death sentences for corruption, and Wedeman concluded, “At a very basic level, it appears to have prevented corruption from spiraling out of control. ~ Evan Osnos, #NFDB
946:Idolatry, especially that of the body, is for Athanasius a kind of barometer, measuring the perversity into which humans have fallen, the degree to which their knowledge of God has been lost, and the extent to which the image of God in them obscured, the consequence of which is corruption and death. ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
947:One may denounce corruption in the developing world and the developed world alike, but in the age when billionaires stalk a globe on which 50 percent of its people live on less than two dollars a day, can one really be surprised that customs officers, policemen, judges, politicians, and bureaucrats are often tempted? ~ Misha Glenny, #NFDB
948:Political awareness without activism means looking at the devastation, your face turned toward the center of things. Activism can generate hope because in itself it constitutes an alternative and turns away from the corruption at the center to face the wild possibilities and the heroes at the edges or at your side. ~ Rebecca Solnit, #NFDB
949:I look upon parliamentary government as the noblest government in the world, and certainly one most suited to England. But without the discipline of political connection, animated by the principle of private honor, I feel certain that a popular assembly would sink before the power or the corruption of a minister. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
950:What are the present governments of Europe, but a scene of iniquity and oppression? What is that of England? Do not its own inhabitants say, It is a market where every man has his price, and where corruption is common traffic, at the expense of a deluded people? No wonder, then, that the French Revolution is traduced. ~ Thomas Paine, #NFDB
951:Corruption is worse than terrorism. Terrorists blow up existing infrastructure such as roads, airports and power plants. Corruption prevents such infrastructure from being created in the first place. Terrorists take innocent lives. Corrupt politicians prevent hospitals from being built, which means that innocent lives ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
952:They'll [China] probably be a fully developed nation. The road there just is not going to be that easy. You're going from a macromanaged, top-down economy to a market-managed, micromanaged type of economy, with all the potential corruption issues, SOE [state-owned enterprise] reform, and market reform that come with it. ~ Jamie Dimon, #NFDB
953:We will never know the extent of the damage movies are doing to us, but movie art, it appears, thrives on moral chaos. When the country is paralyzed, the popular culture may tell us why. After innocence, winners become losers. Movies are probably inuring us to corruption; the sellout is the hero-survivor for our times. ~ Pauline Kael, #NFDB
954:Indians do not hinder the progress of their dead by embalming or tight coffining. When the spirit has gone they give the body back to the earth. the earth welcomes the body-coaxes new life and beauty from it, hurries over what men shudder at. Lovely tender herbage bursts from the graves, swiftly, exulting over corruption. ~ Emily Carr, #NFDB
955:Sadly, there has never been a city on earth that is not saturated with human sin and corruption. Indeed, to paraphrase a Woody Allen joke, cities are just like everywhere else, only much more so. They are both better and worse, both easier and harder to live in, both more inspiring and oppressive, than other places. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
956:The IMF and the World Bank, the most opaque and secretive entities, put millions into NGOs who fight against "corruption" and for "transparency." They want the Rule of Law - as long as they make the laws. They want transparency in order to standardise a situation, so that global capital can flow without any impediment. ~ Arundhati Roy, #NFDB
957:Our foremost priority is the removal of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, disease and illiteracy. All social welfare programmes must be implemented efficiently. Agencies involved in the delivery of services should have a strong sense of duty and work in a transparent, corruption-free, time-bound and accountable manner. ~ Pratibha Patil, #NFDB
958:The voices woke Amy, and, lying in her bed, she perceived vaguely the pitiful corruption of the adult world; how crude and frail it was, like a piece of worn burlap, patched with stupidities and mistakes, useless and ugly, and yet they never saw its worthlessness, and when you pointed it out to them, they were indignant. ~ John Cheever, #NFDB
959:Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society! ~ Mary Wollstonecraft, #NFDB
960:Any system that values profit over human life is a very dangerous one indeed. Simply put, it lacks values, and such a system will eventually collapse once its true light is discovered by the masses. Though some say that capitalism is a modern system, corruption has been the source for the demise of every great civilization. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
961:Musalia [Mudavadi] was created by [Daniel Toroitich arap] Moi and given his seat after his father's death since Musalia's was one of Moi's key men and a beneficiary of the grand corruption of the day. I am aware of this but I recognize that I cannot get perfect partners, and truly my friends; there is an election to be won. ~ Raila Odinga, #NFDB
962:The most dangerous threats to our species are precisely those that are most difficult to visualize: long-term, slow to emerge, amorphous. These threats include not only warming temperatures but also mutating viruses and political corruption and tend to be invisible, dimensionless, and pervasive, like death. Like natural gas. ~ Hope Jahren, #NFDB
963:A few weeks after the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright said that ‘Pakistan has everything that gives you an international migraine. It has nuclear weapons, it has terrorism, extremists, corruption, it’s very poor and it’s in a location that’s really, really important. ~ Husain Haqqani, #NFDB
964:relationship between creatures and their creators, the love between parent and children, artists and their art, all creators and their creations. The poem celebrated love and loyalty but teetered on the brink of nihilism with its constant thread of corruption through love of power, human ambition and intellectual hubris. Martin ~ Dan Simmons, #NFDB
965:A pattern of appointing cronies and loyalists in key positions emerged at the outset of Zuma's presidency. He was mindful that he could still be brought to book for corruption in the future, and set in motion a shadow security state that would undermine the independence of the police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). ~ Jacques Pauw, #NFDB
966:Having chosen his own death, Henri Christophe would never know the corruption of his flesh, flesh fused with the very stuff of the fortress, inscribed in its architecture, integrated with its body bristling with flying buttresses. Le Bonnet del'Eveque, the whole mountains, had become the mausoleum of the first King of Haiti. ~ Alejo Carpentier, #NFDB
967:But success makes us complacent. We forget to pay attention. We take what we have for granted. We turn a blind eye. We fail to notice that things are changing, or that corruption is taking root. And everything falls apart. Is that the fault of reality—of God? Or do things fall apart because we have not paid sufficient attention ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
968:I don't believe in demons and pitchforks. But I think, if you had to define hell, you could take a good man and deny him the rites he believed in, and condemn his soul to a slow process of corruption until it was nothing but a mass of rage and hate and seething evil that his true self would have loathed. I think that would be hell. ~ K J Charles, #NFDB
969:The biggest problem in this country is not corruption. The problem is that there are many qualified people who are not where they are supposed to be because they won’t lick anybody’s ass, or they don’t know which ass to lick or they don’t even know how to lick an ass. I’m lucky to be licking the right ass.” She smiled. ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, #NFDB
970:Trump will not resign. But the allegations that are arrayed right now! The corruption is in our face. He changed his trust, supposed to have been a blind trust, which it was not, he changed it so that he could withdraw profits personally at any time from facilities that are being paid by the United States. It's corrupt. ~ Malcolm Wrightson Nance, #NFDB
971:America is a country in which 75 percent of the people believe there's widespread corruption. We have got to go back to re-establishing a sense of trust. That has to be an assignment Trump takes personally. And that has to be more than trust me because trust me never works in the long run as a model. It's just - it's not possible. ~ Newt Gingrich, #NFDB
972:But success makes us complacent. We forget to pay attention. We take what we have for granted. We turn a blind eye. We fail to notice that things are changing, or that corruption is taking root. And everything falls apart. Is that the fault of reality—of God? Or do things fall apart because we have not paid sufficient attention? ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
973:The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.” —Adam Smith, father of market economics, 1723–1790, in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) ~ David Cay Johnston, #NFDB
974:This gentleman has taken on the very fashionable theme of fighting corruption and I say again: In order to fight corruption you have to be crystal clear yourself. But there are problems here, and in this regard I unfortunately have a suspicion that this is just a way of getting votes and not a genuine desire to solve the problem. ~ Vladimir Putin, #NFDB
975:But success makes us complacent. We forget to pay attention. We take what we have for granted. We turn a blind eye. We fail to notice that things are changing, or that corruption is taking root. And everything falls apart. Is that the fault of reality—of God? Or do things fall apart because we have not paid sufficient attention ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
976:But success makes us complacent. We forget to pay attention. We take what we have for granted. We turn a blind eye. We fail to notice that things are changing, or that corruption is taking root. And everything falls apart. Is that the fault of reality—of God? Or do things fall apart because we have not paid sufficient attention? ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
977:The biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling or being unwanted, uncared for, deserted by everybody. The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity, the terrible indifference towards one's neighbor who lives at the roadside, the victim of exploitation, corruption, poverty, and disease. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
978:Imelda Marcos was trying to line up a partnership in which we did everything, put the money up, ran the shops, took all the risk, while she was supposed to get kickbacks,” said Feeney. “When the word ‘corruption’ came up, we ran.” Paying commissions to travel agents was one thing—but getting ensnared with corrupt politicians was another. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
979:From one to the next, they seemed to depict an America in which corruption and cruelty lounged on the couch; in which justice was a beggar and kindness a fool; in which loyalties were fashioned from paper, and self-interest was fashioned from steel. In other words, they provided an unflinching portrayal of Capitalism as it actually was. ~ Amor Towles, #NFDB
980:There is no enemy can hurt us but by our own hands. Satan could not hurt us, if our own corruption betrayed us not. Afflictions cannot hurt us without our own impatience. Temptations cannot hurt us, without our own yieldance. Death could not hurt us, without the sting of our own sins. Sins could not hurt us, without our own impenitence. ~ Joseph Hall, #NFDB
981:I've always seen my campaigns against corruption as political work of a purer form than what opposition leaders usually do. All they do is hold roundtables and release political statements, which is all well and good. But there are concrete things that need to get done in order to achieve the basic goal of every opposition politician. ~ Alexei Navalny, #NFDB
982:Just across the bridge is the gigantic marketplace, the insatiable consumer machine that drives the violence here. North Americans smoke the dope, snort the coke, shoot the heroin, do the meth, and then have the nerve to point south (down, of course, on the map), and wag their fingers at the “Mexican drug problem” and Mexican corruption. ~ Don Winslow, #NFDB
983:Madison and others reserved their harshest criticism for state religions obsessed with earthly wealth and power. Their argument was two-pronged: State religion was bad for the individual citizen, interfering with his most basic and personal of choices, and it was bad for religion, condemning the church to worldliness and corruption. ~ Condoleezza Rice, #NFDB
984:Online censors have stepped up their already extensive blocking or deleting of websites and postings that challenge the Communist Party’s effort to erase the public’s memory of the bloodshed in 1989, when soldiers in Beijing killed hundreds of students, workers and professionals demonstrating for greater democracy and limits on corruption. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
985:We are angry about paying the highest income taxes and property taxes in the nation and getting less and less for it. We are angry about our incompetent, dysfunctional government that pays no attention to the desires of the people. We are angry about the cesspool of corruption and conflicts of interests and self-dealing that is Albany. ~ Carl Paladino, #NFDB
986:Lokpal Bill alone is not adequate to fight corruption. We need a comprehensive anti-corruption code in this country. The UPA Government has developed a powerful anti-corruption frame work consisting of eight new Central laws...... This is not about one Bill, this is about a frame work and we want to deliver that frame work to the country ~ Rahul Gandhi, #NFDB
987:The whole Hollywood conception of Tibet as this peace-loving country denies the complex humanity of the Tibetan people. Their ideas exist in a high degree of tension with impulses toward corruption, toward violence, toward all sorts of things. The Dalai Lama himself would say that he has to fight these impulses himself on a daily basis. ~ Pankaj Mishra, #NFDB
988:What many of those who oppose the use of juries in civil trials seem to ignore is that the founders of our Nation considered the right of trial by jury in civil cases an important bulwark against tyranny and corruption, a safeguard too precious to be left to the whim of the sovereign, or, it might be added, to that of the judiciary. ~ William Rehnquist, #NFDB
989:If you'd like to meet some fully realized characters while learning some specifics of Zimbabwe's postcolonial struggles, as I did, you're likely to come away with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction. If you're willing to settle for first-rate writing and provocative meditations on memory, corruption and loss, they are all here in abundance. ~ Jabari Asim, #NFDB
990:People often don't understand the engine that drives corruption. Particularly in India, they assume government equals corruption, private companies equal efficiency. But government officials are not genetically programmed to be corrupt. Corruption is linked to power. If it is the corporations that are powerful, then they will be corrupt. ~ Arundhati Roy, #NFDB
991:It's very simple. If the American people care about a lot of things including corruption in government, then, in fact, if you use the power to appoint in order to do political business, to clear fields, to save your party money and so on, if it's not a crime - and I believe it is - it certainly is business as usual, politics of corruption. ~ Darrell Issa, #NFDB
992:Saigonese corruption was incapacitating, a malignancy that poisoned the entire system of government. Graft was the main preoccupation of those on the Saigon side, Vann learned, absorbing more time and thought than any other concern and summoning considerable ingenuity from people who were incompetent at the task they were supposed to perform. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
993:The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption which she contracted in a long residence upon Earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings. ~ Edward Gibbon, #NFDB
994:The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption, which she contracted in a long residence upon earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings. ~ Edward Gibbon, #NFDB
995:To centralize power in the name of freedom is akin to putting a crime syndicate in charge of rooting out corruption. It is the normal state of politics that the more centralized it is, the more damage it does. Fast-track authority [for government-to-government trade agreements] centralizes power and is therefore part of the problem. ~ Llewellyn Rockwell, #NFDB
996:Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty, was successfully practised; honours, gifts, and immunities were offered and accepted as the price of an episcopal vote; and the condemnation of the Alexandrian primate was artfully represented as the only measure which could restore the peace and union of the catholic church. ~ Edward Gibbon, #NFDB
997:Driven by a wish to save Tomás from a life of penury and misunderstanding, Fermin had decided that he needed to develop my friend's latent conversational and social skills. Like the good ape he is, man is a social animal, characterized by cronyism, nepotism, corruption, and gossip. That's the intrinsic blueprint for our ethical behavior. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon, #NFDB
998:In The Knights Aristophanes gave us a picture of the final state of corruption in which the vulgar rabble ends when--just as in Tibet they worship the Dalai Lama's excrement--they contemplate their own scum in its representatives; and that, in a democracy, is a degree of corruption comparable to auctioning the crown in a monarchy. ~ S ren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
999:The rules provide them with their wealth and power, and the more complex they can make them, the harder it is for people of lesser means to understand and therefore comply. That way, powerful people can always find some legal justification for persecuting those of lesser rank. Large numbers of complex rules also enables corruption to thrive. ~ David A Wells, #NFDB
1000:We're looking at the singular condition of poverty. All the other individual problems spring from that condition... doesn't matter if it's death, aid, trade, AIDS, famine, instability, governance, corruption or war. All of that is poverty. Our problem is that everybody tries to heal each of the individual aspects of poverty, not poverty itself. ~ Bob Geldof, #NFDB
1001:Only the most cynical, hopeless philosophy insists that reality could be improved through falsification. Such a philosophy judges Being and becoming alike, and deems them flawed. It denounces truth as insufficient and the honest man as deluded. It is a philosophy that both brings about and then justifies the endemic corruption of the world. ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
1002:I can say across Europe that many principles that have been taken for granted here around free speech, and around civil liberties and an independent judiciary, and fighting corruption, those are principles that, you know, not perfectly but generally, we have tried to apply not just in our own country but also with respect to our foreign policy. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
1003:I think that Chairman Xi Jinping's courage tackling corruption is an important matter in the development of Chinese society. I also look forward to him showing a bit more flexibility in dealing with cross-strait relations. I hope that he can appreciate that Taiwan is a democratic society in which the leader has to follow the will of the people. ~ Tsai Ing wen, #NFDB
1004:Luxury, or a refinement on the pleasures and conveniences of life, had long been supposed the source of every corruption in government, and the immediate cause of faction, sedition, civil wars, and the total loss of liberty. It was, therefore, universally regarded as a vice, and was an object of declamation to all satyrists, and severe moralists. ~ David Hume, #NFDB
1005:A conservative in the purest sense, he’d entered politics to defend the ruling propertied classes from the ravages of democracy and an expanding franchise. For him, the upper classes represented the best of human endeavour—birth, intelligence and culture—and they deserved to rule; inherited wealth, he believed, made a man less prone to corruption. ~ M J Carter, #NFDB
1006:Only the most cynical, hopeless philosophy insists that reality could be improved through falsification. Such a philosophy judges Being and becoming alike, and deems them flawed. It denounces truth as insufficient and the honest man as deluded. It is a philosophy that both brings about and then justifies the endemic corruption of the world. ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
1007:The corruption of freedom is in proportion to the moral deterioration of the people. For a people who have lost their sense of self-respect have no need for freedom. And the income tax, by transferring the property of earners to the State, has disintegrated the moral fiber of Americans to such a degree that they do not even recognize the fact. ~ Frank Chodorov, #NFDB
1008:Trusting as we did to the virtue of the people, the real people, not the politicians and demagogues, we passed through the most responsible and trying scenes, sustained by the bone and sinew of the nation, the laborers of the land, where alone, in these days of Bank rule, and ragocrat corruption, real virtue and love of liberty is to be found. ~ Andrew Jackson, #NFDB
1009:Corruption is worse than terrorism. Terrorists blow up existing infrastructure such as roads, airports and power plants. Corruption prevents such infrastructure from being created in the first place. Terrorists take innocent lives. Corrupt politicians prevent hospitals from being built, which means that innocent lives that could be saved are not. ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
1010:The pejorative parigüayo, Watchers agree, is a corruption of the English neologism "party watcher." The word came into common usage during the First American Occupation of the DR, which ran from 1916-1924. (You didn't know we were occupied twice in the twentieth century? Don't worry, when you have kids they won't know the U.S. occupied Iraq either.) ~ Junot D az, #NFDB
1011:The Swamp of Despond is that place set before the narrow gate where true and false pilgrims alike are assaulted by their own internal corruption and pollution. The dirt and scum that has attached itself to our hearts and minds is agitated and revealed by both the workings of a guilty conscience and the devouring avarice of the enemy of our souls.The ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
1012:When an office-holder facing a multi-count indictment says that he has decided to spend more time with his family, the proper response is a horse-laugh. When an accused politician explains that a charge of corruption is 'really' an attack on his or her race, religion, ethnic background or gender, the odds that something felonious happened jumps. ~ Jeff Greenfield, #NFDB
1013:Barack Obama has made things exponentially worse, but let's face it, when Republicans had total control over it, they didn't do what they said they were gonna do. I think also people got fatigued with the war. And the party got into a whole bunch of corruption and personal scandals that weren't compatible with the principles it claimed to stand for. ~ Tim Pawlenty, #NFDB
1014:Driven by a wish to save Tomás from a life of penury and misunderstanding, Fermin had decided that he needed to develop my friend's latent conversational and social skills.
Like the good ape he is, man is a social animal, characterized by cronyism, nepotism, corruption, and gossip. That's the intrinsic blueprint for our ethical behavior. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,#NFDB
1015:Keep your hands clean and pure from the infamous vice of corruption, a vice so infamous that it degrades even the other vices thatmay accompany it. Accept no present whatever; let your character in that respect be transparent and without the least speck, for as avarice is the vilest and dirtiest vice in private, corruption is so in public life. ~ Lord Chesterfield, #NFDB
1016:If ever this vast country is brought under a single government, it will be one of the most extensive corruption, indifferent and incapable of a wholesome care over so wide a spread of surface. This will not be borne, and you will have to choose between reform and revolution. If I know the spirit of this country, the one or the other is inevitable. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
1017:It is a great mistake to suppose that bribery and corruption, although they may be very convenient for gratifying the ambition or the vanity of individuals, have any great effect upon the fortunes or the power of parties. And it is a great mistake to suppose that bribery and corruption are means by which power can either be ob-tained or retained. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
1018:It reminds me that in spite of our lofty ideals and the many safeguards to protect the Scythedom from corruption and depravity, we must always be vigilant, because power comes infected with the only disease left to us: the virus called human nature. I fear for us all if scythes begin to love what they do.
—From the gleaning journal of H.S. Curie ~ Neal Shusterman,#NFDB
1019:For "as great a blessing as government is," the Rev. Peter Whitney explained, "like other blessings, it may become a scourge, a curse, and severe punishment to a people." What made it so, what turned power into a malignent force, was not its own nature so much as the nature of man—his susceptibility to corruption and his lust for self-aggrandizement. ~ Bernard Bailyn, #NFDB
1020:I you ask me about the monks, I speak from experience, not prejudice, and though I have no doubt that some foundations are well governed, my experience has been of waste and corruption. May I suggest to Your Majesty that, if you wish to see a parade of the seven deadly sins, you do not organise a masque at court but call without notice at a monastery? ~ Hilary Mantel, #NFDB
1021:The leadership knows that you cannot solve the issues of China's future with the means of the past. The demographic consequences of the one-child policy, the build-up of the welfare state, the jobs for 7 million university graduates every year, the immense corruption: Even some Western governments would have to scramble to find solutions to such problems. ~ Ai Weiwei, #NFDB
1022:The Swamp of Despond is that place set before the narrow gate where true and false pilgrims alike are assaulted by their own internal corruption and pollution. The dirt and scum that has attached itself to our hearts and minds is agitated and revealed by both the workings of a guilty conscience and the devouring avarice of the enemy of our souls.
The ~ John Bunyan,#NFDB
1023:This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. ~ Adam Smith, #NFDB
1024:Ebola haunted Zaire because of corruption and political repression. The virus had no secret powers, nor was it unusually contagious. For centuries Ebola had lurked in the jungles of central Africa. Its emergence into human populations required the special assistance of humanity's greatest vices : greed, corruption, arrogance, tyranny, and callousness. ~ Laurie Garrett, #NFDB
1025:You may have to declare your forgiveness a hundred times the first day and the second day, but the third day will be less and each day after, until one day you will realize that you have forgiven completely. And then one day you will pray for his wholeness and give him over to me so that my love will burn from his life every vestige of corruption. ~ William Paul Young, #NFDB
1026:Walter Lippmann, the father of modern journalism, put it more eloquently: “All that the sharpest critics of democracy have alleged is true, if there is no steady supply of trustworthy and relevant news. Incompetence and aimlessness, corruption and disloyalty, panic and ultimate disaster must come to any people which is denied an assured access to the facts. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1027:Fashion was the only law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the citizens of Antioch. The arts of luxury were honoured; the serious and manly virtues were the subject of ridicule; and the contempt for female modesty and reverent age announced the universal corruption of the capital of the East. ~ Edward Gibbon, #NFDB
1028:Ultimately, the source of our problems lies at the level of the individual. If people lack moral values and integrity, no system of laws and regulations will be adequate. So long as people give priority to material values, then injustice, corruption, inequity, intolerance, and greed—all the outward manifestations of neglect of inner values—will persist. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
1029:We live in the midst of a gloomy society. Success; that is the lesson which falls drop by drop from the slope of corruption.
Be it said in passing, that success is a very hideous thing. Its false resemblance to merit deceives men. For the masses, success has almost the same profile as supremacy. Success, that Menaechmus of talent, has one dupe,--history. ~ Victor Hugo,#NFDB
1030:...know, that so far to distrust' the judgement and the honesty of one who hath but a common repute in Learning and never yet offended, as not to count him fit to print his mind without a tutor and examiner lest he should drop a schism or something of corruption, is the greatest displeasure and indignity to a free and knowing spirit that can be put upon him. ~ John Milton, #NFDB
1031:State censorship presents itself as a bulwark between society and forces of subversion or moral corruption. To dismiss this account of its own motives by the state as insincere would be a mistake: it is a feature of the paranoid logic of the censoring mentality that virtue ... must be innocent, and therefore, unless protected, vulnerable to the wiles of vice. ~ J M Coetzee, #NFDB
1032:For years, liberals have demonstrated a near religious devotion to the cause of 'cleaning up elections' with campaign finance reform, the wondrous panacea that would finally rescue our great country from corruption in politics. ... How anyone could believe that corrupt politicians could or would legislate away their own corruption is completely beyond me. ~ Anthony Gregory, #NFDB
1033:The situation in Georgia is determined by the breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia. While we must acknowledge the reforms initiated by Mikheil Saakashvili that drastically lowered the level of corruption and authoritarian structures in the Georgian state, under the above-mentioned circumstances, the ruling elite must keep a firm grip on the country. ~ Garry Kasparov, #NFDB
1034:Among the people is he whose speech about the worldly life impresses you, and he calls God to witness what is in his heart, while he is the most hostile of adversaries. When he gains power, he strives to spread corruption on earth, destroying properties and lives. God does not like corruption. And when he is told, “Beware of God,” his pride leads him to more sin. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1035:And the day soon cometh that your mortal must put on immortality, and these bodies which are now moldering in corruption must soon become incorruptible bodies; and then ye must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, to be judged according to your works; and if it so be that ye are righteous, then are ye blessed with your fathers who have gone before you. ~ Joseph Smith Jr, #NFDB
1036:In 2007, then-Senator Clinton excoriated the Bush administration for “secret White House e-mail accounts,” saying that they represented “a stunning record of secrecy and corruption, of cronyism run amok.” Mrs. Clinton’s own secrecy and obvious conflicts of interest show that she has added hypocrisy to her (and her husband’s) history of above-the-law self-dealing. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1037:KROLL REPORT ON CORRUPTION IN KENYA This report, more than 100 pages long, details allegations of corruption by former Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi, his family and associates. It was commissioned by Mwai Kibaki after he replaced Moi as president in 2002, but never released. These extracts give examples of the nature, tone and severity of the allegations. ~ Julian Assange, #NFDB
1038:The Christian ethic is based on an antithesis between what is and what ought to be. We view the world as fallen; an analysis of fallen human behavior describes what is
normal to the abnormal situation of human corruption. God calls us out of the indicative by His imperative. Ours is a call to nonconformity-to a transforming ethic that shatters the status quo. ~ R C Sproul,#NFDB
1039:A true development, then, may be described as one which is conservative of the course of antecedent developments being really those antecedents and something besides them: it is an addition which illustrates, not obscures, corroborates, not corrects, the body of thought from which it proceeds; and this is its characteristic as contrasted with a corruption. ~ John Henry Newman, #NFDB
1040:Here's what we [Americans] need: a 30 second you tube video of some guy at a party constantly checking out everyone else at the party, while he pretends to be speaking to the other person. We're the other person. The guy are the politicians. And the distraction is the corruption: We need a Congress that can afford to talk to us. For at least one drink or so. ~ Lawrence Lessig, #NFDB
1041:Nature has a relish for knowing secrets and hearing news. It wishes to appear abroad and to have sense experiences. It wishes to be known and to do things for which it will be praised and admired. But grace does not care to hear news or curious matters, because all this arises from the old corruption of man, since there is nothing new, nothing lasting on earth. ~ Thomas Kempis, #NFDB
1042:But the impact of national identity on state strength is not limited to its coercive power. Much of what passes for corruption is not simply a matter of greed but rather the by-product of legislators or public officials who feel more obligated to family, tribe, region, or ethnic group than to the national community and therefore divert money in that direction. ~ Francis Fukuyama, #NFDB
1043:Capitalism, the ogre of those protesting Wall Street, has suffered a public relations crisis in the wake of the global economic collapse. But any remedy to the systemic corruption that led to the collapse should not displace recognition that capitalism creates wealth. Capitalism, and no other economic system, has raised millions from poverty around the world. ~ Kathleen Parker, #NFDB
1044:Do you think AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) will win?’ The question dripped with hope, as if an AAP victory would bring a revolution that could change his fortunes. AAP was the new pro-poor party led by anti-corruption crusaders. The unrealistic hopes he pinned on a party of amateurs was telling. In the bleakness of his situation, it was hope alone that had kept Patel going. ~ Josy Joseph, #NFDB
1045:We start out in identical perfection: bright, reflective, full of sun. The accident of our lives bruises us into dirty individuality. We meet with grief. Our character dulls and tarnishes. We meet with guilt. We know, we know: the price of living is corruption. There isn’t as much light as there once was. In the grave we lapse back into undifferentiated sameness ~ Gregory Maguire, #NFDB
1046:Compromise" is so often used in a bad sense that it is difficult to remember that properly it merely describes the process of reaching an agreement. Naturally there are certain subjects on which no man can compromise. For instance, there must be no compromise under any circumstances with official corruption, and of course no man should hesitate to say as much. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
1047:The great enemy of grace is the strict accounting of our sin and corruption that when added up totals such a staggering debt that no person without faith in the sure promises of God would ever dare calculate that anything good awaits him and would further be convinced that all that does lie ahead is a complete foreclosure of his soul and all its contents.
Pliable, ~ John Bunyan,#NFDB
1048:A true development, then, may be described as one which is conservative of the course of antecedent developments being really those antecedents and something besides them: it is an addition which illustrates, not obscures, corroborates, not corrects, the body of thought from which it proceeds; and this is its characteristic as contrasted with a corruption. ~ Saint John Henry Newman, #NFDB
1049:Complaints about the demise of society and the “youth of today” also tend to be timeless. Consider this pronouncement, inscribed on an Assyrian tablet circa 2800 B.C.: Our earth is degenerate these days . . . bribery and corruption abound, children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and the end of the world is evidently approaching. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson, #NFDB
1050:But he wasn’t going for the sake of corruption or the kingdom. His tower was broken, he’d drunk Spindle-water, and he’d held my hand. So now he was going to run away as quick as he could, and find himself some new stone walls to hide behind. He’d keep himself locked away for ten years this time, until he withered his own roots, and didn’t feel the lack of them anymore. ~ Naomi Novik, #NFDB
1051:In traditional forms of the doctrine of original sin, human beings are said to have inherited two moral liabilities from their first ancestors, Adam and Eve. One is guilt: we are said to share in the guilt of the first sin that our ancestors committed. The other is corruption, a perversion of motivation that is itself evil and makes people likelier to do wrong deeds. ~ Immanuel Kant, #NFDB
1052:It made their minds brittle and caught them in a dream that fractured them. We didn’t see. I didn’t see. The corruption spread unnoticed, and then it shattered. They killed each other over nothing. Over the colors of their shirts or their eyes, whether they drank before they ate or ate before they drank. Whether they ate beef or fowl. Anything became a pretext for murder. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1053:Notwithstanding the trouble, notwithstanding the argument, notwithstanding the increasingly heavy hand of government, notwithstanding the spirit of arrogance we so often display, notwithstanding the growing tide of pornography and permissiveness, notwithstanding occasional corruption in public office and betrayal of sacred trust-I marvel at the miracle of America. ~ Gordon B Hinckley, #NFDB
1054:There's no solutions to prevent corruption because it's the same thing as putting soldiers in an occupation in a foreign territory - there's too much that's gonna go wrong. There's too much human behavior that's going to get in the way. So you're gonna have to start thinking about it in a different direction, and the different direction is: what is wrong with society? ~ Oren Moverman, #NFDB
1055:To all the millions of discontented Hitler in a whirlwind campaign offered what seemed to them, in their misery, some measure of hope. He would make Germany strong again, refuse to pay reparations, repudiate the Versailles Treaty, stamp out corruption, bring the money barons to heel (especially if they were Jews) and see to it that every German had a job and bread. ~ William L Shirer, #NFDB
1056:In my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of socialism as the belief that Russia is a socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated. And so for the last ten years, I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the socialist movement. ~ George Orwell, #NFDB
1057:For the primary goal of the American Revolution which transferred American life and introduced a new era in human history, was not the overthrow or even the alteration of the existing social order but the preservation of political liberty threatened by the apparent corruption of the constitution, and the establishment in principle of the existing conditions of liberty. ~ Bernard Bailyn, #NFDB
1058:Sandel, and the political philosophy he taught, offered Chinese young people a vocabulary that they found useful and challenging but not subversive, a framework in which to talk about inequality, corruption, and fairness without sounding political. It was a way to talk about morality without having to mention the “just sisters” defense or the ambitions on display in Macau. ~ Evan Osnos, #NFDB
1059:The Bishops of the Philippines have asked that this year be set aside as the ‘Year of the Poor.’ I hope that this prophetic summons will challenge everyone, at all levels of society, to reject every form of corruption which diverts resources from the poor, and to make concerted efforts to ensure the inclusion of every man and woman and child in the life of the community. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1060:The prosperity of a people is proportionate to the number of hands and minds usefully employed. To the community, sedition is a fever, corruption is a gangrene, and idleness is an atrophy. Whatever body or society wastes more than it acquires, must gradually decay, and every being that continues to be fed, and eases to labor, takes away something from the public stock. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
1061:He had spent a lifetime cleansing his mind of poison. He had searched his heart, found the corruption, and removed it. He had torn away the lies—lies he’d been told and had believed, and lies he had devised and used against himself. This was his mastery—the purification of the mind and the recovery of authenticity. This scene symbolized the mastery of death, the awakening. ~ Miguel Ruiz, #NFDB
1062:I am willing to admit that some people might live there for years, or even a lifetime, so protected that they never sense the sweet stench of corruption that is all around them - the keen, thin scent of decay that pervades everything and accuses with a terrible accusation the superficial youthfulness, the abounding undergraduate noise, that fills those ancient buildings. ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
1063:That the authority of the nation-state itself depended largely on the economic independence and political neutrality of its civil servants becomes obvious in our time; the decline of nations has invariably started with the corruption of its permanent administration and the general conviction that civil servants are in the pay, not of the state, but of the owning classes. ~ Hannah Arendt, #NFDB
1064:The mistake we make with many people - not just Russia - is that we believe we have the model, and there is a sort of a condescension in our dialogue with other societies, which was especially painful in several administrations to Russia. I think in Russia, the Yeltsin period is not considered a period of great achievement, but a period of corruption and humiliation. ~ Henry A Kissinger, #NFDB
1065:The nation blest above all nations is she in whom the civic genius of the people does the saving day by day, by acts without external picturesqueness; by speaking, writing, voting reasonably; by smiting corruption swiftly; by good temper between parties; by the people knowing true men when they see them, and preferring them as leaders to rabid partisans and empty quacks. ~ William James, #NFDB
1066:The first Tea Party protest was scheduled for Inauguration Day. So what were they upset about? Which part of the job he was doing before he even did it were they upset about? Secondly, if they claim to be upset with government corruption, government takeover, crazy spending, where were they from 2000 to 2008? Right? And why weren't they protesting the stolen elections? ~ Janeane Garofalo, #NFDB
1067:There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done ... Corporate expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
1068:When a man is saved by divine grace, he is not wholly cleansed from the corruption of his heart. When we believe in Jesus Christ all our sins are pardoned; yet the power of sin, albeit that it is weakened and kept under by the dominion of the new-born nature which God doth infuse into our souls, doth not cease, but still tarrieth in us, and will do so to our dying day. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1069:When we take something and don’t pay the price for it, we are punished by the world for fraud, crime or corruption. Such punishment gives us pain in proportion to what we have taken illegitimately from the world. However, when we voluntarily refuse to take anything from the world while sharing what we have with it, we get praise and honour in return, and that gives us joy. ~ Awdhesh Singh, #NFDB
1070:Saigon was an addicted city, and we were the drug: the corruption of children, the mutilation of young men, the prostitution of women, the humiliation of the old, the division of the family, the division of the country-it had all been done in our name. . . . The French city . . . had represented the opium stage of the addiction. With the Americans had begun the heroin phase. ~ James Fenton, #NFDB
1071:...there are no coffins in Malacandra, no sextons, churchyards, or undertakers. The valley is solemn at their departure, but I see no signs of passionate grief. They do not doubt their immortality, and friends of the same generation are not torn apart. You leave the world, as you entered it, with "men of your own year." Death is not preceded by dread nor followed by corruption. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1072:I am big supporter of the idea of a global anti-corruption movement - but one that begins by recognizing that the architecture of corruption is different in different countries. The corruption we suffer is not the same as the corruption that debilitates Africa. But it is both corruption, and both need to be eliminated if the faith in democracy is not going to be destroyed. ~ Lawrence Lessig, #NFDB
1073:Thinking it selfish to dwell on her own sufferings, when in the midst of wretches, who had not only lost all that endears life, but their very selves, her imagination was occupied with melancholy earnestness to trace the mazes of misery, through which so many wretches must have passed to this gloomy receptacle of disjointed souls, to the grand source of human corruption. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft, #NFDB
1074:Israel will never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be built only on justice. We condemn the violence of suicide bombers, and we condemn the corruption of young minds taught hatred; but we also condemn the violence of military incursions in the occupied lands, and the inhumanity that won't let ambulances reach the injured. ~ Desmond Tutu, #NFDB
1075:Physiologically adult humans are not meant to spend an additional 10 years in a school system; their brains map that onto "I have been assigned low tribal status". And so, of course, they plot rebellion—accuse the existing tribal overlords of corruption—plot perhaps to split off their own little tribe in the savanna, not realizing that this is impossible in the Modern World. ~ Eliezer Yudkowsky, #NFDB
1076:Simple … humans must learn to live without government,” Bragador said. “Government, organized force, is the repository of evil. It is the source of corruption, the enemy of civilization and the problem with the world. As long as there is a place where concentrated power resides, it will attract evil people like dung attracts flies. The only solution is to remove the pile of dung. ~ David A Wells, #NFDB
1077:I came to the state twenty years ago from the South, the gothic South. I’ve heard it called that, haven’t you, Mister Morgan? ‘Thought I was gettin’ away from all that. You know, the Tennessee Williams’ decadence, the Huey Long corruption, the brewin’ and simmerin’ violence. I actually found that I kind of missed it. Then, I found out it was all here, too, but without the charm. ~ Jackson Burnett, #NFDB
1078:What I see now is that even with the Islamists, who have been portraying themselves as the alternative to corruption and dictatorship and in defence of more transparency, there is one respect in which they have now changed completely. Since the beginning of the 1920's, Islamism was very close in positioning in some respects to 'liberation theology'. But that is no longer the case. ~ Tariq Ramadan, #NFDB
1079:In considering what the religions teach, it is essential to remember that the outside world is as a reflection of the soul of man [...] The state of the outer world does not merely correspond to the general state of men’s souls; it also in a sense depends on that state, since man himself is the pontiff of the outer world. Thus the corruption of man must necessarily affect the whole. ~ Martin Lings, #NFDB
1080:Physiologically adult humans are not meant to spend an additional 10 years in a school system; their brains map that onto "I have been assigned low tribal status". And so, of course, they plot rebellion - accuse the existing tribal overlords of corruption plot, perhaps to split off their own little tribe in the savanna, not realizing that this is impossible in the Modern World. ~ Eliezer Yudkowsky, #NFDB
1081:This sin cleaves to us as a leprosy. This original pollution makes us guilty before the Lord; and even though we would never commit actual sin, it merits hell. The meditation of this would be a means to pull down our pride. -- Nay, even those who have grace have cause to walk humbly be- cause they have more corruption in them than grace: their dark side is broader than their light. ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
1082:To Nine’s way of thinking, the problems surrounding the exploitation of coltan in the DRC epitomized the problems the entire African continent faced in capitalizing on the huge untapped wealth that lay beneath its surface. Corruption, political unrest and outside interference from non-African countries ensured the continent that should be the world’s wealthiest remained the poorest. ~ Lance Morcan, #NFDB
1083:I would miss the kindness of good people who were compassionate when so many were pitiless, who made their way through so much corruption without being corrupted themselves, who eschewed envy in a world of envy, who eschewed greed in a world of greed, who valued truth and could not be drowned in a sea of lies, for they shone and, by the light they cast, they had warmed me all my life. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
1084:What I should like to find is a crime the effects of which would be perpetual, even when I myself do not act, so that there would not be a single moment of my life even when I were asleep, when I was not the cause of some chaos, a chaos of such proportions that it would provoke a general corruption or a distubance so formal that even after my death its effects would still be felt. ~ Marquis de Sade, #NFDB
1085:Neither your life nor my life, nor the future of this country, will be affected in the slightest by whether Linda Tripp is naughty or nice. But if any president is able to commit crimes with impunity by using the vast powers and perquisites of his office to cover up, then we will have a danger of corruption and abuse of power that can only grow with the passing years and generations. ~ Thomas Sowell, #NFDB
1086:The pope [Francis] takes his vocabulary from his pastoral experience, not from the rhetorical tool kit of liberation theology, with its Marxist yammering about "center" and "periphery." The "peripheries," for Francis, are all those who have fallen through the cracks of late-modernity and post-modernity - in his native Argentina, because of colossal corruption, political and financial. ~ George Weigel, #NFDB
1087:Electra Heart is the antithesis of everything I stand for. And the point of introducing her and building a concept around her is that she stands for the corrupt side of American ideology, and basically that's the corruption of yourself. My worst fear - that's anyone's worst fear - is to lose myself and become an empty person. And that happens a lot when you're very ambitious. ~ Marina and the Diamonds, #NFDB
1088:Tacitus appears to have been as great an enthusiast as Petrarch for the revival of the republic and universal empire. He has exerted the vengeance of history upon the emperors, but has veiled the conspiracies against them, and the incorrigible corruption of the people which probably provoked their most atrocious cruelties. Tyranny can scarcely be practised upon a virtuous and wise people. ~ John Adams, #NFDB
1089:The more we can encourage entrepreneurship, particularly for young people, the more they have hope. That requires some reforms in these [African] governments: rooting out corruption, increased transparency and how government operates, making sure that regulations are not designed just to advantage elites, but are allowing people who have a good idea to get out there and get things done. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
1090:The mental practice that underlies the anti-effort attitude is the act of evasion, of blanking out some fact of reality which one dislikes. This act constitutes the essence of irrationality and, therefore, of evil. Evasion is the Objectivist equivalent of a mortal sin. It is the only such sin that we recognize, because it is what makes possible every other form of moral corruption. 27 ~ Leonard Peikoff, #NFDB
1091:Whereas the rulers of Germany in 1914 and her allies who provoked World War I were—to use the term in its most generous sense—at least “gentlemen,” the leaders of the Axis powers in 1941 were thugs. They were, most of them, amoral murderers and brutish torturers who gained power through assassination and corruption, and more than sixty years after the fact this remains a stubborn truth. ~ Winston Groom, #NFDB
1092:People already think the court is there to become the final word on controversial political questions. So everybody looks to the Supreme Court as the final word on abortion or immigration or what have you. It's not what it's for. It's never intended to be such. It's just another institution that has been corrupted and it's facing total corruption depending on the outcome of this election. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
1093:You have embarked, made the voyage, and come to shore; get out. If indeed to another life, there is no want of gods, not even there. But if to a state without sensation, you will cease to be held by pains and pleasures, and to be a slave to the vessel, which is as much inferior as that which serves it is superior: for the one is intelligence and deity; the other is earth and corruption. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #NFDB
1094:Books seem to me to be pestilent things, and infect all that trade in them...with something very perverse and brutal. Printers, binders, sellers, and others that make a trade and gain out of them have universally so odd a turn and corruption of mind that they have a way of dealing peculiar to themselves, and not conformed to the good of society and that general fairness which cements mankind. ~ John Locke, #NFDB
1095:Fighting corruption is not restricted to naming and shaming a few corrupt officials. If we think it is okay to cheat in exams, lie to a ticket collector in the train about our kids’ ages and pay a bit of money to avoid a big traffic fine, then at some level we clearly don’t care about eliminating corruption all that much. At best, we hate the politician who gets to steal (while we don’t!). ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
1096:The only public position Arthur had held before becoming vice president of the United States was as collector of the New York Customs House, a job that Conkling had secured for him and which paid more than $50,000 a year—as much as the president’s salary, and five times as much as the vice president’s. Even then, he had been forced out of office amid widespread allegations of corruption. ~ Candice Millard, #NFDB
1097:Well, I do write on political and social issues and the idea that one shouldn't - or the idea that we should censor ourselves - doesn't really work for me because it would be doing the government's job for them. And I'm not interested in doing that. I think what we need very much in Pakistan is to be able to discuss the corruption and the violence that really colours most of our life here. ~ Fatima Bhutto, #NFDB
1098:A leader should always be open to criticism, not silencing dissent. Any leader who does not tolerate criticism from the public is afraid of their dirty hands to be revealed under heavy light. And such a leader is dangerous, because they only feel secure in the darkness. Only a leader who is free from corruption welcomes scrutiny; for scrutiny allows a good leader to be an even greater leader. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
1099:Books seem to me to be pestilent things, and infect all that trade in them … with something very perverse and brutal. Printers, binders, sellers, and others that make a trade and gain out of them have universally so odd a turn and corruption of mind, that they have a way of dealing peculiar to themselves, and not conformed to the good of society, and that general fairness that cements mankind. ~ John Locke, #NFDB
1100:The West is supporting, even financing the right-wing media, it is financing 'the opposition', encourages capital flight of billions of dollars, works closely with the local 'elites' to create 'deficits', 'uncertainty' and despair. It creates corruption scandals, and it even supports fake 'left' anti-government movements. And of course it is training and corrupting some key military cadres. ~ Andre Vltchek, #NFDB
1101:At no time and in no circumstances should a Communist place his personal interests first; he should subordinate them to the interests of the nation and of the masses. Hence, selfishness, slacking, corruption, seeking the limelight, and so on, are most contemptible, while selflessness, working with all one's energy, whole-hearted devotion to public duty, and quiet hard work will command respect. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
1102:Chester Arthur came from New York political corruption, but when the assassination of James Garfield elevated Arthur to president, he told his cronies never to darken the White House door. Unwilling to sully the office he unexpectedly occupied, Arthur began professionalizing the federal workforce, reducing patronage by persuading Congress to enact the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. ~ David Cay Johnston, #NFDB
1103:LOVE: Deception of the flesh and damage to the spirit. Disease of the soul, atrophy of the brain, weakening of the heart, corruption of the senses, poetic lies from which one gets ferociously inebriated two or three times a day in order to consume this precious but stupid life more quickly. And yet I would prefer to die of love. Its the only swindler, after Judas, that can kill with a kiss. ~ Renzo Novatore, #NFDB
1104:We create these boom-bust cycles by manipulating the money supply and the interest rates and directing it where it went in. And that is what happened with housing: pushed into housing combination of easy money plus all the regulations, and we created this boom-bust cycle, and corruption, because corruption goes with it, because you don't have the same discipline. So we've got to stop all that. ~ Charles Koch, #NFDB
1105:He did believe that the magistrate had entered the almshouse searching for a son. How it must agonize Woodward now, to think he might lose another one to the corruption of circumstance. But as much as Matthew felt for the magistrate, he would not—could not—turn away from Rachel. He might be a substitute for a son, yes … but he was also a man, and he must do what he thought to be the correct thing. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1106:I should like to find a crime with perpetual repercussions, which would continue even after I had ceased to act, so there would not be a single instant of my life, not even when I was asleep, when I would not be causing some sort of disorder, a disorder so extensive as to involve general corruption, or so absolute a disturbance that its effect would be prolonged even when my life had ceased. ~ Marquis de Sade, #NFDB
1107:We read so much about incompetence and corruption in all sorts of places. I'm not just thinking of the United Kingdom and the United States. Almost everywhere there seems to me to be an increase in incompetence and general dishonesty. This is what I mean about democracy - you feel that you've got the ability to arrange things and influence matters and it's not quite so easy as that, I'm afraid. ~ Colin Dexter, #NFDB
1108:Corruption is knowing when something is not being done, knowing when the American people are being left unprotected and when you make a decision not to do something to protect the American people And you effectively allow 9/11 to occur. That is the ultimate form of government corruption-dereliction of duty. That's subject in the military to prosecution, to court martial. Frankly, if not treason. ~ Robert Wright, #NFDB
1109:Plato argued that good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will always find a way around law. By pretending that procedure will get rid of corruption, we have succeeded only in humiliating honest people and provided a cover of darkness and complexity for the bad people. There is a scandal here, but it's not the result of venal bureaucrats.
(1994) p. 99 ~ Philip K Howard,#NFDB
1110:Humility is the situation of the earth. It's there silent and accepting everything and in a miraculous way making out of all the refuse new richness...transforming corruption itself into a power of life and a new possibility of creativeness, open to the sunshine, open to the rain, ready to receive any seed we sow and capable of bringing thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold out of every seed. ~ Anthony of Sourozh, #NFDB
1111:I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
1112:It is scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated. ~ Edward Gibbon, #NFDB
1113:Kejriwal has shown that by hard work, it is possible for a common man to rise in politics without the backing of an established party. I hope the AAP has learnt lessons from their previous stint and do not resort to showmanship and dharna politics and instead do constructive work. Now, the next target for the AAP is Punjab. People are fed up of high taxes, unemployment, drugs and corruption in Punjab. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1114:It was scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated. ~ Edward Gibbon, #NFDB
1115:Wherever you look there’s meanness and corruption. This room, this bottle of grape wine, these fruits in the basket, are all products of profit and loss. A fellow can’t live without giving his passive acceptance to meanness. Somebody wears his tail to a frazzle for every mouthful we eat and every stitch we wear—and nobody seems to know. Everybody is blind, dumb, and blunt-headed—stupid and mean. ~ Carson McCullers, #NFDB
1116:I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
1117:I would never join the Tea Partiers, because I don't have a problem with the color of Obama's skin. I don't have a problem with immigrants. You know what I mean? I do have genuine problems with policy and government corruption. Sure I do. And I speak very candidly about that, regardless of who's in office. But since the Tea Partiers are ridiculous, why would I urge anyone to participate with them? ~ Janeane Garofalo, #NFDB
1118:No, but why is Croft that way?
Oh there are The Answers. He is that way because of the-corruption-of-the-society. He is that way because he is having problems of adjustment. It is because he is a Texan. It is because he has renounced God. He is that way because he was born that way, or because the Devil has claimed him for one of his own, or because the only woman he ever loved was untrue to him. ~ Norman Mailer,#NFDB
1119:Should I pity so and so?" I asked. I gave his name but he delights so in giving it himself that I feel there is no need to give it for him.
"No. He's vicious. He's a corrupter and he's truly vicious."
"But he's supposed to be a good writer."
"He's not," she said. "He's just a showman and he corrupts for the pleasure of corruption and he leads people into other vicious practices as well. ~ Ernest Hemingway,#NFDB
1120:From the earliest ages of history to the present day there never have been thirteen millions of people associated in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these United States. You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad... It is from within, among yourselves - from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for power. ~ Andrew Jackson, #NFDB
1121:A thing there was that mattered; a thing, wreathed about with chatter, defaced, obscured in her own life, let drop every day in corruption, lies, chatter. This he had preserved. Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the centre which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded, one was alone. There was an embrace in death. ~ Virginia Woolf, #NFDB
1122:My conscience does not render a positive verdict in God’s courtroom when I look inside myself. The only reason I can sleep well at night is that even though my heart is filled with corruption and even though I am not doing my best to please him, I have in heaven at the Father’s right hand the beloved Son, who has not only done his best for himself but has fulfilled all righteousness for me in my place. ~ Michael Horton, #NFDB
1123:Now, because men of our contemporary age are caught up in the ascetic view of a life-denying religious system, but in spite of this cannot deny the primal laws of nature, a distorted morality had to be developed, which spreads hypocritical appearances over hidden actions. This has brought to a head all those outward forms of modern life, whose vacuousness and corruption are now beginning to disgust us. ~ Guido von List, #NFDB
1124:A pagan, a person of profound corruption, may do acts externally conforming to the demands of the law. The internal motivation, however, is that of selfish interest or what the theologians call "enlightened self-interest," a motive that is not in harmony with the Great Commandment. Our external deeds may measure up to the external demands of the law, while at the same time our hearts are far removed from God. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1125:Chastity is the lily of virtues, and makes men almost equal to Angels. Everything is beautiful in accordance with its purity. Now the purity of man is chastity, which is called honesty, and the observance of it, honor and also integrity; and its contrary is called corruption; in short, it has this peculiar excellence above the other virtues, that it preserves both soul and body fair and unspotted. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #NFDB
1126:The Islamic world is not only suffering from the American occupation of Palestine and Iraq, it's also suffering from the unbelievable corruption in Afghanistan by Afghans themselves and also in Iraq - I'm just giving these 2 examples of countries which are under direct occupation; I do not mean at all to negate the terrible events that led to this or what's going on with the foreign occupation there. ~ Seyyed Hossein Nasr, #NFDB
1127:That's one thing I like about Hollywood. The writer is there revealed in his ultimate corruption. He asks no praise, because his praise comes to him in the form of a salary check. In Hollywood the average writer is not young, not honest, not brave, and a bit overdressed. But he is darn good company, which book writers as a rule are not. He is better than what he writes. Most book writers are not as good. ~ Raymond Chandler, #NFDB
1128:We who are given the fullness of true Christianity are obliged to be working on ourselves, to be watching the signs of the times, and to be extremely joyful, as St. Paul is constantly saying: 'Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say: Rejoice!' (Phil. 4:4). We rejoice because we have something which all the death and corruption of this world cannot take away, that is, the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ. ~ Seraphim Rose, #NFDB
1129:and as they had at the beginning come into being out of non-existence, so were they now on the way to returning, through corruption, to non-existence again. The presence and love of the Word had called them into being; inevitably, therefore when they lost the knowledge of God, they lost existence with it; for it is God alone Who exists, evil is non-being, the negation and antithesis of good. ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
1130:I should warn you, though, that even good intentions could lead to unintended consequences. As you gain more awareness and control, you should not lose focus of your end goal. Otherwise, it can lead to over-confidence and even corruption. [...] That's why it's important to stay connected with those close to you who share your principle values. They can help ground you and stay focused, even from a great distance. ~ Roy Huff, #NFDB
1131:I'd been a child during the 1960s when women burned their bras and hundreds of thousands gathered in protests against the Vietnam War. As a climber, I've felt connected to a similar nonconformist culture, one opposed to society's increasing materialism, pollution and corruption. Our approach to the rock—clean, traditional climbing, with the least dependence on equipment—was an extension of this ethical viewpoint. ~ Lynn Hill, #NFDB
1132:They were going to the center of it all, the home of the Vichies and the source of the betrayal that had paralyzed the world after the Fall. They were going to the font of the nation’s corruption, a place stained by sin and steeped in treachery. They were going to a den of lies, packed with cowardly parasites who survived by whoring their allegiances to the highest bidder. They were going to Washington, D.C. ~ Kevin Kneupper, #NFDB
1133:What an unbearable creature he must have been in those days—and yet in those days he had been comparatively innocent. That was another mystery: it sometimes seemed to him that venial sins—impatience, an unimportant lie, pride, a neglected opportunity—cut you off from grace more completely than the worst sins of all. Then, in his innocence, he had felt no love for anyone; now in his corruption he had learnt... ~ Graham Greene, #NFDB
1134:The disastrous result of this is seen in human societies where sexual passion knows no restraint, where homosexual perversions are celebrated, and where each individual’s conscience is terminally warped and full of corruption. Though man continually and blatantly rebels against Him, God patiently withholds the outpouring of His holy wrath against sin (Romans 1:18,24-32). Yet judgment is certainly coming. ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
1135:What an unbearable creature he must have been in those days--and yet in those days he had been comparatively innocent. That was another mystery: it sometimes seemed to him that venial sins--impatience, an unimportant lie, pride, a neglected opportunity--cut you off from grace more completely than the worst sins of all. Then, in his innocence, he had felt no love for anyone; now in his corruption he had learnt. ~ Graham Greene, #NFDB
1136:The lawyers' contribution to the civilizing of humanity is evidenced in the capacity of lawyers to argue furiously in the courtroom, then sit down as friends over a drink or dinner. This habit is often interpreted by the layman as a mark of their ultimate corruption. In my opinion, it is their greatest moral achievement: It is a characteristic of humane tolerance that is most desperately needed at the present time. ~ John Silber, #NFDB
1137:Customs Internal Affairs knew everything I knew about Thornburgh, Bush, Noriega, Jose Busto, Jimmy Buffet, the Caribbean branch of CIA drug ops, the arming of Nicaragua’s Contras, and the destabilization of the Middle East through the arming of Afghanistan and Iraq. Mark and I knew we had strong support, and friends as dedicated as we are to dismantling the criminal corruption that was eroding the soul of America. ~ Cathy O Brien, #NFDB
1138:The “music of decline” had sounded, as in that wonderful Chinese fable; like a thrumming bass on the organ its reverberations faded slowly out over decades; its throbbing could be heard in the corruption of the schools, periodicals, and universities, in melancholia and insanity among those artists and critics who could still be taken seriously; it raged as untrammeled and amateurish overproduction in all the arts. ~ Hermann Hesse, #NFDB
1139:the nature of animal consciousness is such that the world we can be conscious of is only a world of surfaces and signs, a world generalized, made common—that everything that becomes conscious thereby becomes flat, thin, relatively stupid, general, a sign, a herd signal; that all coming to conscious involves a vast and thoroughgoing corruption, falsification, superficialization, and generalization. Heightened ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
1140:Who will govern the governors? There is only one force in the nation that can be depended upon to keep the government pure and the governors honest, and that is the people themselves. They alone, if well informed, are capable of preventing the corruption of power, and of restoring the nation to its rightful course if it should go astray. They alone are the safest depository of the ultimate powers of government. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
1141:When I saw him look at me with lust, I dropped my eyes but, in glancing away from him, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. And I saw myself, suddenly, as he saw me, my pale face, the way the muscles in my neck stuck out like thin wire. I saw how much that cruel necklace became me. And, for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away. ~ Angela Carter, #NFDB
1142:It must appear impossible, that theism could, from reasoning, have been the primary religion of human race, and have afterwards, by its corruption, given birth to polytheism and to all the various superstitions of the heathen world. Reason, when obvious, prevents these corruptions: When abstruse, it keeps the principles entirely from the knowledge of the vulgar, who are alone liable to corrupt any principle or opinion. ~ David Hume, #NFDB
1143:I cite a good example, say, of agriculture, .. In agriculture we need to move with speed to bring to full utilization the land that is now in our possession. We need to curb aspects of corruption that are endemic in the economy. We need to be transparent in everything that we do. We need to be consistent in implementing the policies we would have agreed. And not implement policies one day and reverse them the other day. ~ Gideon Gono, #NFDB
1144:We've got oligarchs. There are certain people that benefit in the Russian sphere if you will. The oligarchs who basically feed Putin, they've got to be hurt without hurting the people. The people are hurting bad enough in Russia, and they're very skeptical of what's going on and all of the corruption goes on in Russia. Russia is not our ally. Russia is not our friend. And to treat Putin as an ally and a friend is wrong. ~ Joe Manchin, #NFDB
1145:Many bureaucracies have petty authoritarians within them, generating unnecessary rules and procedures simply to express and cement power. Such people produce powerful undercurrents of resentment around them which, if expressed, would limit their expression of pathological power. It is in this manner that the willingness of the individual to stand up for him or herself protects everyone from the corruption of society. ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
1146:Not every wealthy man might choose a public life, but anyone who chose public life must be a wealthy man. Corruption, coercion and predation ensured the determined could acquire fortunes. Augustus, while still a teenager, had amassed enough money to support a private army. Ambitious men gathered the support of peers and bestowed patronage on numerous clients. Patronage, indeed, was at the heart of the whole system. ~ Elizabeth Speller, #NFDB
1147:A saint addicted to abnegation is a dangerous neighbor; he is very likely to infect you with an incurable poverty, a stiffening of the articulations necessary to advancement, and, in fact, more renunciation than you would like; and men flee from this contagious virtue. Hence the isolation of Monseigneur Bienvenu. We live in a sad society. Succeed--that is the advice which falls drop by drop from the overhanging corruption. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
1148:Many bureaucracies have petty authoritarians within them, generating unnecessary rules and procedures simply to express and cement power. Such people produce powerful undercurrents of resentment around them which, if expressed, would limit their expression of pathological power. It is in this manner that the willingness of the individual to stand up for him or herself protects everyone from the corruption of society. ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
1149:For those keeping track, the only rights we have are these: to seek the survival of our individual bodies, to create more bodies like our own, and to know that everyone's body will perish through a process of corruption or mortal trauma. (This is presuming that one has been brought to term and has survived to a certain age, neither being a natural birthright. Rigorously considered, our only natural birthright is to die.) ~ Thomas Ligotti, #NFDB
1150:There was nothing he could say or do. I was helpless as well. I was furious that this thug had taken advantage of him like that, but I knew the police would never listen. There was just no way around the corruption. My father never truly recovered from that brutal beating. As he grew weaker, I kept picturing him as he had once been back in Japan. The Tiger. Brawny beyond belief. By 1994, he couldn’t stand up on his own, ~ Masaji Ishikawa, #NFDB
1151:Many evils spring from power,” he said. “Even from the power to do good. All power corrupts, and the intention to do good has little influence on the corruption. Either my words will last after me and be believed by men, or else they won’t. Yet if one thing were required to kill them certainly, it is that my words should be spread after my death by the power of money. No teaching could survive a campaign of paid advertising. ~ Nevil Shute, #NFDB
1152:Most of Seakirk's inhabitants were indifferent to the spectacle of corruption in high places and low, the gambling, the gang wars, the teen-age drinking. They were used to the sight of their roads crumbling, their ancient water mains bursting, their power plants breaking down, their decrepit old buildings falling apart, while the bosses built bigger homes, longer swimming pools and warmer stables. People were used to it. ~ Robert Sheckley, #NFDB
1153:I'm specifically referring to this certain feeling of sadness, fear, and helplessness that descended on me at the Mexico City protest a day or two after the Narvarte murders. Many of us have grown familiar with that feeling. Every few weeks or so it seems we're hit with some new crime or some new corruption scandal that isn't quite the same as a massacre, but that spawns a feeling of futility and despair in its own way. ~ Francisco Goldman, #NFDB
1154:These young women are of great interest for medicine and moralists—small defenseless creatures who, because of feuding heirs, are sent here at ages as young as seven or eight years old, under the guise of ‘parental correction,’ spending their childhoods surrounded by corruption, prostitution, and disease, until, when they are released at eighteen, twenty years old, they no longer have the will to live or return home.” Today, ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1155:Alas, politics itself has more and more become a discrete business. Its appeal is B-to-B—business-to-business. The real swamp is the swamp of insular, inbred, incestuous interests. This isn’t corruption so much as overspecialization. It’s a wonk’s life. Politics has gone one way, the culture another. The left-right junkies might pretend otherwise, but the great middle doesn’t put political concerns at the top of their minds. ~ Michael Wolff, #NFDB
1156:That's a heavy word, but picking up a newspaper every day, how can you not despair at what's happening in the world, and how we're represented as human beings? The disappointments and corruption are dismaying at every level. And the biggest source of evil is of course religion... Everyone are tearing each other apart in the name of their personal god. And the irony is, by definition, they're probably worshipping the same god. ~ Ridley Scott, #NFDB
1157:The Christian religion, [Pascal] claims, teaches two truths: that there is a God who men are capable of knowing, and that there is an element of corruption in men that renders them unworthy of God. Knowledge of God without knowledge of man's wretchedness begets pride, and knowledge of man's wretchedness without knowledge of God begets despair, but knowledge of Jesus Christ furnishes man knowledge of both simultaneously. ~ William Lane Craig, #NFDB
1158:The neglected heart will soon be a heart overrun with worldly thoughts. The neglected life will soon become a moral chaos. The church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode of every evil bird and the hiding place for unsuspected corruption. The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray. ~ A W Tozer, #NFDB
1159:Virtually every politician portrayed in film or on television over the last decade has been venal, corrupt, opportunistic, cynical, if not worse. Whether these dramatized images are accurate or exagerated matters little. The corporatist system wins either way: directly through corruption and indirectly through the damage done to the citizen's respect for the representative system.
(III - From Corporatism to Democracy) ~ John Ralston Saul,#NFDB
1160:When your raison d’être stops being How can we hold to the principles of limited government and economic freedom? and becomes How can we hold on to this majority for one more cycle? then you’ve become the very thing that you’re supposed to be against. That corruption of the spirit opens the floodgates to actual corruption, and before long you have Congressman Cunningham giving his price list to lobbyists for “services rendered. ~ Jeff Flake, #NFDB
1161:NEVER HAVE I EVER … • lied at Confession, • made out with my friend’s sister, • blackmailed a teacher, • smoked a joint, • lost my virginity. The way they played it at Evangeline, people who had done what you had not done had to tell their story and pass you their drink to gulp. The purer your past, the faster you got drunk. It was a corruption of the innocent, a confession in reverse. No one knew how the tradition got started. ~ Lauren Kate, #NFDB
1162:Overborrowing or overlending? Lenders encourage indebtedness because it is profitable. Developing country governments are sometimes even pressured to overborrow ... Even without corruption, it is easy to be influenced by Western businessmen and financiers ... Countries that aren't sure that borrowing is worth the rist are told how important it is to establis a credit rating: borrow even if you really don't need the money. ~ Joseph E Stiglitz, #NFDB
1163:Righteousness brings happiness. Wickedness never does. If there were no God, no plan, no law, and no divine order, there would be no reason wickedness would not bring happiness. But it never does. The history of civilization is a testament that hedonism, perversion, brutality, corruption, and wickedness sow seeds of misery, sorrow, and destruction. It is not a quirk of evolution. It is evidence of a divinely appointed plan.12 ~ John Bytheway, #NFDB
1164:Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Truth, not lies. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
1165:Tell him I write of worms and corruption, because I like worms and corruption. Tell him I believe in the fundamental wickedness and worthlessness of man, & in the rot in life. Tell him I am all for cancers. And tell him, too, that I loathe poetry. I'd prefer to be an anatomist or the keeper of a morgue any day. Tell him I live exclusively on toenails and rumours. I sleep in a coffin too, and a wormy shroud is my summer suit. ~ Dylan Thomas, #NFDB
1166:The nature of the state is one thing, but there are other major challenges - what it will take to tackle the issues of social corruption, for example, social justice, and the economic system - and what are the future challenges when it comes to equality between the citizens, in particular in the field of the job market and equal opportunity for men and for women? This is at the centre of the question that is the Arab Awakening. ~ Tariq Ramadan, #NFDB
1167:Thus, seeking consensus by finding the right methods has been tried and has not yet worked. After twenty five hundred years, the claim that consensus is going to appear once we get the right methods is implausible. We are more inclined to think disagreement is a permanent fixture. In fact, it seems that widespread philosophical consensus is more likely to come from irrationality and intellectual corruption than from honest inquiry. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1168:We who are given the fullness of true Christianity are obliged to be working on ourselves, to be watching the signs of the times, and to be extremely joyful, as St. Paul is constantly saying: 'Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say: Rejoice!' (Phil. 4:4). We rejoice because we have something which all the death and corruption of this world cannot take away, that is, the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ.”
― Seraphim Rose ~ Seraphim Rose,#NFDB
1169:Corruption and envy and lust for power. Cruelty and coldness. A vicious probing curiousity. Pure, poisonous, toxic malice. You have never from your earliest years shown a shred of compassion for sympathy or kindness without calculating how it would return to your advantage. You have tortured and killed without regret or hesitation; you have betrayed and intrigued and gloried in your treachery. You are a cess-pit of moral filth. ~ Philip Pullman, #NFDB
1170:Impeachment is our system's last resort for someone who treats himself or herself as above the law, the most relevant thing is whether this president, by his recent course of action, on top of his violations of the foreign corruption or emoluments clause, this president has shone that he cannot be trusted to remain within the law and our constitution's last resort for situations of that kind is to get the person out of office. ~ James R Clapper, #NFDB
1171:Men seized of the urge to have a knowledge of God and to be pure in mind devote all their gathered energies to this one task. While they still live in the corruption of the flesh they give themselves to that service in which they will persevere when the corruption has been laid aside. And already they come in sight of what the Lord and Savior held out when He said, 'Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God' (Mt. 5:8). ~ John Cassian, #NFDB
1172:Venice, ruled by a Council of Ten for 500 years, has a history of secretive government by a cosy nexus of political and business interests. Some Venetians are asking how much has changed after the latest corruption scandal to hit la Serenissima. The city’s centre-left mayor, Giorgio Orsoni, resigned yesterday over a bribery scandal linked to the €5bn Mose flood barrier project that has also embarrassed the government of Matteo Renzi. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1173:There are few genuine conservatives within the U.S. political system, and it is a sign of the intellectual corruption of the age that the honorable term 'conservatism' can be appropriated to disguise the advocacy of a powerful, lawless, aggressive and violent state, a welfare state for the rich dedicated to a lunatic form of Keynesian economic intervention that enhances state and private power while mortgaging the country's future. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
1174:I am a man of the old world, a seed that was transplanted by the wind, a seed which failed to blossom in the mushroom oasis of America. I belong on the heavy tree of the past. My allegiance, physical and spiritual, it is with the men of Europe, those who were once Franks, Gauls, Vikings, Huns, Tatars, what not. The climate for my body and soul is here where there is quickness and corruption. I am proud not to belong in this century. ~ Henry Miller, #NFDB
1175:repentance recall men from what is according to their nature; all that it does is to make them cease from sinning. Had it been a case of a trespass only, and not of a subsequent corruption, repentance would have been well enough; but when once transgression had begun men came under the power of the corruption proper to their nature and were bereft of the grace which belonged to them as creatures in the Image of God. ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
1176:In fact, if you read what Kant has to say about feeling, desire and emotion, you see that he is not at all hostile to these. He is suspicious of them insofar as they represent the corruption of social life (here he follows Rousseau), but he also thinks a variety of feelings (including respect and love of humanity) arise directly from reason - there is, in other words, no daylight between the heart and the head regarding such feelings. ~ Allen W Wood, #NFDB
1177:The more a psychologist—a born, an unavoidable psychologist and soul-diviner—turns his attention to the more select cases and individuals, the greater is his danger of being suffocated by sympathy: he NEEDS sternness and cheerfulness more than any other man. For the corruption, the ruination of higher men, of the more unusually constituted souls, is in fact, the rule: it is dreadful to have such a rule always before one's eyes. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
1178:45 Now, behold, I have spoken unto you concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal, that they can no more see corruption. ~ Joseph Smith Jr, #NFDB
1179:On election days, the burdens of poverty and corruption and of a creaky economic system are put aside, and India celebrates. Many voters dress especially for the occasion... None quite voice the thought, but those who came in a steady stream to vote seemed to be saying that India may have fallen far behind its neighbors in the struggle for prosperity, but as long as it can choose its governments, it can hope for better in the future. ~ Shashi Tharoor, #NFDB
1180:This short history should have something to satisfy every taste and perversion: action, treachery, fratricide and regicide, corruption, and bloodshed. It contains thirteen murders, the victims being mostly of one family. It lists the ways in which a man or an Empire may be surrounded and destroyed; and contains a veritable catalog of subversions and finely wrought treacheries—which the reader may be able to make use of in his own life. ~ R A Lafferty, #NFDB
1181:asked me, “what were the usual causes or motives that made one country go to war with another?” I answered “they were innumerable; but I should only mention a few of the chief. Sometimes the ambition of princes, who never think they have land or people enough to govern; sometimes the corruption of ministers, who engage their master in a war, in order to stifle or divert the clamour of the subjects against their evil administration. ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
1182:The Obama administration's agenda of maximizing dependency involves political favoritism cloaked in the raiment of "economic planning" and "social justice" that somehow produce results superior to what markets produce when freedom allows merit to manifest itself, and incompetence to fail. The administration's central activity - the political allocation of wealth and opportunity - is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption. ~ George Will, #NFDB
1183:Discontented people might talk of corruption in the Commons, closeness in the Commons, and the necessity of reforming the Commons, said Mr. Spenlow solemnly, in conclusion; but when the price of wheat per bushel had been highest, the Commons had been busiest; and a man might lay his hand upon his heart, and say this to the whole world, - 'Touch the Commons, and down comes the country!' I listened to all this with attention; and though, ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
1184:The founders also knew that every government system risks corruption, and they wanted to make sure Americans would be able to defend themselves should the nation’s leaders become tyrannical. To that end, they ratified the Second Amendment, guaranteeing the right of Americans to bear arms. An armed populace is a powerful deterrent to tyrants both domestically and internationally, and we must defend this liberty as part of our common defense. ~ Ben Carson, #NFDB
1185:There is a culture of corruption in many parts of the Mexican media, of course. It seems that there are fewer and fewer media outlets that permit authentic free expressions. But Mexico also has extraordinary journalists who, despite the dangers they face, have also been leading the way in this battle, who've really played a role in keeping the cause of justice alive in the Ayotzinapa case. And no matter what, they'll keep doing that. ~ Francisco Goldman, #NFDB
1186:It is a doctrine, as I believe, taught us in Holy Writ, that when a man is saved by divine grace, he is not wholly cleansed from the corruption of his heart. When we believe in Jesus Christ all our sins are pardoned; yet the power of sin, albeit that it is weakened and kept under by the dominion of the new-born nature which God doth infuse into our souls, doth not cease, but still tarrieth in us, and will do so to our dying day. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
1187:The clean-sweeping Commissioners, who had been animated with wonderful zeal by the nature and novelty of their work, probably felt that they had been betrayed, but it may be doubted whether any one else was disconcerted by the result of the trial, unless it might be some poor innocents here and there about the country who had been induced to believe that bribery and corruption were in truth to be banished from the purlieus of Westminster ~ Anthony Trollope, #NFDB
1188:and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
1189:What you seem so unwilling to accept, even now, is this: that the ideals which supported the old Republic had no correspondence to the fact of the old Republic; that the glorious word concealed the deed of horror; that the appearance of tradition and order cloaked the reality of corruption and chaos; that the call to liberty and freedom closed the minds, even of those who called, to the facts of privation, suppression, and sanctioned murder. ~ John Williams, #NFDB
1190:Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state,' therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
1191:The challenge was not the lack of answers, but the lack of freedom to ask them within a world bent on controlling minds. Minds that were free to think were dangerous, for they questioned what others blindly accepted, regardless of authenticity or legitimacy. They rocked the boat of corruption, voicing questions that were buried in the hearts of people everywhere and terrifying those who worked restlessly to keep those very questions suppressed. ~ Mick Mooney, #NFDB
1192:We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our Liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections. If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good. ~ John Adams, #NFDB
1193:Certainly the European overlords did little enough to prepare Africa for self-government but Democracy would find it hard in any case to put down roots in a tribalist and patrimonial culture that long before the west invaded Africa had sacralized the personal authority of chieftains and ordained the submission of the rest. What the west would call corruption is regarded through much of Africa as no more than the prerogative of power. ~ Arthur M Schlesinger Jr, #NFDB
1194:The New York real estate deals were dirty, the Atlantic City ventures were dirty, the Trump airline was dirty, Mar-a-Lago, the golf courses, and the hotels all dirty. No reasonable candidate could have survived a recounting of even one of these deals. But somehow a genial amount of corruption had been figured into the Trump candidacy- that, after all, was the platform he was running on. I'll do for you what a tough businessman does for himself. ~ Michael Wolff, #NFDB
1195: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. ~ Samuel Adams, #NFDB
1196:Since my election to Congress, I've always been interested in human rights. I really do believe that's America's strength. Yes, we have a strong military; yes, we have a strong economy. But what really makes America the unique nation it is, is that we speak up about human rights, and anti-corruption, and good governance, and democratic institutions. That's what America is known for. That's what inspires people around the world with U.S. leadership. ~ Ben Cardin, #NFDB
1197:The world has got more democracies than ever, and human rights are high on almost every country's agenda. Still, corruption and oppression are far too common threats to the democratic society. And we have seen a dramatic increase, the last 10-15 years, of ethnical conflicts and humanitarian crises with human rights violations as important elements., but also more of corruption. Human rights are praised more than ever - and violated as much as ever. ~ Anna Lindh, #NFDB
1198:When we peek behind the grinning mask of comic cynicism, we find a frustrated idealist. The comic sensibility wants the world to be perfect, but when it looks around, it finds greed, corruption, lunacy. The result is an angry and depressed artist. If you doubt that, ask one over for dinner. Every host in Hollywood has made that mistake: "Let's invite some comedy writers to the party! That'll brighten things up." Sure...till the paramedics arrive. ~ Robert McKee, #NFDB
1199:Abraham Lincoln, said, just before his assassination: "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. ~ Jack London, #NFDB
1200:In the history of education, the most striking phenomenon is that schools of learning, which at one epoch are alive with a ferment of genius, in a succeeding generation exhibit merely pedantry and routine. The reason is, that they are overladen with inert ideas. Education with inert ideas is not only useless: it is, above all things, harmful—Corruptio optimi, pessima [the corruption of the best is the worst]. ~ Alfred North Whitehead, The Aims of Education (1929), #NFDB
1201:Navalny is a blogger-turned-activist, but he finds stuff and he puts together these very, very clever, very high production value videos which underline the corruption at the top of the system, and there are millions of people who watch them. Some people think he must have some kind of protection inside the system because he hasn't yet been completely put out of commission; he's allowed to go on. He himself has said he wants to run for president. ~ Anne Applebaum, #NFDB
1202:A novel’s architecture, the lovely slope of predicament, the tendrils of surface detail, the calculated curving upward into inevitability, yet allowing spells of incorrigibility, and then the ending, a corruption of cause and effect and the gathering together of all the characters into a framed operatic circle of consolation and ecstasy, backlit with fibre-optic gold, just for a moment on the second-to-last page, just for an atomic particle of time. ~ Carol Shields, #NFDB
1203:... a sad Italian history of corruption by local leaders and exploitation by foreign dominators, all of which has generally led Italians to draw the seemingly accurate conclusion that nobody and nothing in this world can be trusted. Because the world is so corrupted, misspoken, unstable, exaggerated and unfair, one should trust only what one can experience with one's own senses, and this makes the senses stronger in Italy than anywhere in Europe. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, #NFDB
1204:Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at such a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents, must, from the circumstance of distance, be unable to administer and overlook all the details necessary for the good government of the citizens; and the same circumstance, by rendering detection impossible to their constituents, will invite public agents to corruption, plunder and waste. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
1205:destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use. HAUTEVILLE HOUSE, 1862. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
1206:It is easy, from a safe distance, to overlook the fact that in under-cities governed by corruption, where exhausted people vie on scant terrain for very little, it is blisteringly hard to be good. The astonishment is that some people are good, and that many people try to be—all those invisible individuals who every day find themselves faced with dilemmas not unlike the one Abdul confronted, stone slab in hand, one July afternoon when his life exploded. ~ Katherine Boo, #NFDB
1207:We hit slavery through a great civil war. Did we destroy it? No, we only changed it into hatred between sections of the country: in the South, into political corruption and chicanery, the degradation of the blacks through peonage, unjust laws, unfair and cruel treatment; and the degradation of the whites by their resorting to these practices, the paralyzation of the public conscience, and the ever over-hanging dread of what the future may bring. ~ James Weldon Johnson, #NFDB
1208:Her flesh was powdery and voluptuously weary, as if tenderized by all the different beds and arms in which she had lain. Her face was as soft as the pulpy flash of an overripe banana, her breasts like two tiny bunches of grapes. She exuded a certain seedy charm, a poetry of premature corruption and decay. She breathed the air as if it burned her palate, baking her small, hot, whorish mouth. It was as if she were sucking a sweet or slurping champagne. ~ Dezs Kosztol nyi, #NFDB
1209:When we talk about corruption, there's corruption on both sides of the border. That's what I think is interesting. I'm from Mexico, so when I see a Mexican portrayed in the American market on TV or films, you better do it right because you won't fool me. I'm sure no one really cares on this side of the border, if they get it right or not, but all the way from Mexico, to another 120 countries where the show goes, they will be able to tell the difference. ~ Demian Bichir, #NFDB
1210:I condemn Christianity; I bring against the Christian Church the most terrible of all accusations that an accuser has ever had in his mouth. It is, to me, the greatest of all imaginable corruptions; it seeks to work the ultimate corruption, the worse possible corruption. The Christian Church has left nothing untouched by its depravity; it has turned every value into worthlessness, and every truth into a lie, and every integrity into baseness of soul. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
1211:Bob Torricelli, Democrat member of the Senate, was basically about to be thrown out of office on corruption charges, and he went to the floor of the Senate to deny everything. And we juxtaposed his denials with an attorney from someone in an action against Torricelli who was listing all of the gifts and all the bribes that Torricelli had been given and offered in exchange for policy considerations on the Senate floor. So he's on the Senate floor denying it. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
1212:By the sun and its brightness
And [by] the moon when it follows it
And [by] the day when it displays it
And [by] the night when it covers it
And [by] the sky and He who constructed it
And [by] the earth and He who spread it
And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it
And inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness,
He has succeeded who purifies it,
And he has failed who instills it [with corruption]. ~ Anonymous,#NFDB
1213:Each individual step seems minor—none appears to truly threaten democracy. Indeed, government moves to subvert democracy frequently enjoy a veneer of legality: They are approved by parliament or ruled constitutional by the supreme court. Many of them are adopted under the guise of pursuing some legitimate—even laudable—public objective, such as combating corruption, “cleaning up” elections, improving the quality of democracy, or enhancing national security. ~ Steven Levitsky, #NFDB
1214:It's pretty obvious there's a lot of corruption in the world right now. That takes many forms. There's economic, political, religious, social corruption. Just the manipulation that takes place with all the information that people are given, and even just the way the world is presented as this concrete block, this concrete idea that there's not really an alternative at this point in the world. You can't really go off and live your own life off in your own world. ~ Mark McGwire, #NFDB
1215:Saigon remained, the repository and the arena, it breathed history, expelled it like toxin, Shit Piss and Corruption. Paved swamp, hot mushy winds that never cleaned anything away, heavy thermal seal over diesel fuel, mildew, garbage, excrement, atmosphere. A five-block walk in that could take it out of you, you'd get back to the hotel with your head feeling like one of those chocolate apples, tap it sharply in the right spot and it falls apart in sections.
~ Michael Herr,#NFDB
1216:{T}here are millions of books published every year exposing the world's corruption, and the corruption of the world only increases. Each book, in its own way, has teeth but nothing to bite into. No clear way to attack. There are also millions of books pushing for things to remain the same, or teaching you how to make money at the expense of others. Everything balances out, but the balance is so deeply imperfect, always tilting further and further towards the worst. ~ Jacob Wren, #NFDB
1217:Three kings protested to me, that in their whole reigns they never did once prefer any person of merit, unless by mistake, or treachery of some minister in whom they confided; neither would they do it if they were to live again: and they showed, with great strength of reason, that the royal throne could not be supported without corruption, because that positive, confident, restive temper, which virtue infused into a man, was a perpetual clog to public business. ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
1218:You know, it's pretty easy reading this book to see why I was angry and confused for all those years. I lived my life being told different stories: some true, some lies and I still don't know which is which. Children are born innocent. At birth we are very much like a new hard drive - no viruses, no bad information, no crap that's been downloaded into it yet. It's what we feed into that hard drive, or in my case "head drive" that starts the corruption of the files. ~ Nikki Sixx, #NFDB
1219:Two things that every human being absolutely must come to understand are the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. These topics are difficult for people to face. And they go together: if we understand who God is, and catch a glimpse of His majesty, purity, and holiness, then we are instantly aware of the extent of our own corruption. When that happens, we fly to grace—because we recognize that there’s no way that we could ever stand before God apart from grace. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1220:With regard to Banks, they have taken too deep and too wide a root in social transactions, to be got rid of altogether, if that were desirable. They have a hold on public opinion, which alone would make it expedient to aim rather at the improvement, than the suppression of them. As now generally constituted, their advantages whatever they be, are outweighed by the excesses of their paper emissions, and the partialities and corruption with which they are administered. ~ James Madison, #NFDB
1221:Then no rightful cause was left, and the pain of anger was turning into the shameful pain of submission. He had no right to condemn anyone - he thought - to denounce anything, to fight and die joyously, claiming the sanctity of virtue. The broken promises, the unconfessed desires, the betrayal, the deceit, the lies, the fraud - he was guilty of them all. What form of corruption could he scorn? Degrees do not matter, he thought; one does not bargain about inches of evil. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
1222:Deplorable situations were becoming commonplace in America these days4, jolting many people from their comfort zones. The rich were getting richer, the poor were getting poorer, and formerly middle class citizens were plummeting toward third world poverty level. Justice was bought and sold while government corruption reigned supreme. Crime escalated out of control while the CIA’s booming cocaine, crack, and heroin industries 5 turned our street corners into a blood bath. ~ Cathy O Brien, #NFDB
1223:I do not have to tell you there has been a disappointing retreat of progress in recent times, whatever it is we call progress, especially disappointing because of the little we have had since the Emancipation. There’s something cursed, it seems to me, about a country where men have owned men as property. The stink of that corruption never escapes the soul, and it is the stink of future evil. Still, the original decrees have not been withdrawn and are therefore the law. ~ Bernard Malamud, #NFDB
1224:Surely it would have been better never to have been created at all than, having been created, to be neglected and perish; and, besides that, such indifference to the ruin of His own work before His very eyes would argue not goodness in God but limitation, and that far more than if He had never created men at all. It was impossible, therefore, that God should leave man to be carried off by corruption, because it would be unfitting and unworthy of Himself. ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
1225:Rather, “the trouble is caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they were old and outworn machinery.” To uphold endangered “fundamental principles,” she called for a “special kind of courage … which makes us stand up for everything we know is right, everything that is true and honest. We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics so that we can show the world that we are not afraid of the future. ~ Sally Bedell Smith, #NFDB
1226:Some blame the drug companies. I don't. They are corporations. Their managers are ordered by law to make money for the corporation. They push a certain patent policy not because of ideals,but because it is the policy that makes them the most money. And it only makes them the most money because of a certain corruption within our political system-a corruption the drug companies are certainly not responsible for. The corruption is our own politicians' failure of integrity. ~ Lawrence Lessig, #NFDB
1227:The people learned that they could grumble without being disloyal, because the ministers were not beloved kings above reproach, but only rather stupid people like themselves, probably even more stupid. The ministers discovered that office had undoubted advantages, but they knew they would not be reelected unless they governed well, so mostly they tried their best. Each kept watch that none of the others got away with more than he did, and this kept corruption within limits. ~ Dave Duncan, #NFDB
1228:There's all kind of evidence that there is enormous corruption in the distribution of that money. For example, they gave about $100 to $150 dollars to each of the teachers. They gave about $500 dollars to those who were getting married. Through this process, they obviously collected a lot of votes, but these monies could not solve the structural problems that these people face. But the only result, the only consequence, was that a big sum from the budget was wasted this way. ~ Akbar Ganji, #NFDB
1229:[Dr. Constain James] refuted so well the aberrations of Darwinism.... [A system] which is repugnant at once to history, to the tradition of all people, to exact science, to observed facts, and even to reason itself, would seem to need no refutation. But the corruption of this age, the machinations of the perverse, the danger of the simple, demand that such fancies, altogether absurd though they are, should - since they borrow the mask of science - be refuted by true science. ~ Pope Pius IX, #NFDB
1230:I’m consciously shedding the assumption that a skeptical point of view is the most intellectually credible. Intellect does not function in opposition to mystery; tolerance is not more pragmatic than love; and cynicism is not more reasonable than hope. Unlike almost every worthwhile thing in life, cynicism is easy. It’s never proven wrong by the corruption or the catastrophe. It’s not generative. It judges things as they are, but does not lift a finger to try to shift them. ~ Krista Tippett, #NFDB
1231:Only when you fuck is everything that you dislike in life and everything by which you are defeated in life purely, if momentarily, revenged. Only then are you most cleanly alive and most cleanly yourself. It’s not the sex that’s the corruption – it’s the rest. Sex isn’t just friction and shallow fun. Sex is also the revenge on death. Don’t forget death. Don’t ever forget it. Yes, sex too is limited in its power. I know very well how limited. But tell me, what power is greater? ~ Philip Roth, #NFDB
1232:It is true that so far as wealth gives time for ideal ends and exercise to ideal energies, wealth is better than poverty and ought to be chosen. But wealth does this in only a portion of the actual cases. Elsewhere the desire to gain wealth and the fear to lose it are our chief breeders of cowardice and propagators of corruption. There must be thousands of conjunctures in which a wealth-bound man must be a slave, whilst a man for whom poverty has no terrors becomes a freeman. ~ William James, #NFDB
1233:These groups began agitating against corruption through reports and publicity about the backgrounds of candidates published in sympathetic newspapers; they sought to professionalize government by making it nonpartisan. Ironically, while this group spoke in the name of democracy, it actually represented the upper crust of Chicago society, an overwhelmingly Protestant group that looked down on the way that Lorimer was empowering the city’s new Catholic and Jewish immigrants. ~ Francis Fukuyama, #NFDB
1234:People don't realize that when Iranians marched against the shah, their goal was not to have a religious government take over. Everybody marched against the shah. There were communists and feminists and student groups. It's very much like what's going on in the U.S. now, with people following Trump. It's not that they want Trump. They want a radical change, is really what people are saying. With the shah, people were just so sick of the corruption they said just get rid of him. ~ Firoozeh Dumas, #NFDB
1235:When God redeems us, He releases us from the guilt and power of sin, and restores us to our full humanity, so that we can once again carry out the tasks for which we were created. Because of Christ's redemption on the cross, our work takes on a new aspect as well- it becomes a means of sharing in His redemptive purposes. In cultivating creation, we not only recover our original purpose, but also bring a redemptive force to reverse the evil and corruption introduced by the fall. ~ Nancy R Pearcey, #NFDB
1236:7I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. 8I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. 9Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. 10For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 11You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1237:As you learn to fight, you learn to defend yourself from physical harm. You acquire a powerful self-preserving skill set, and a specific attitude. This attitude carries across to other aspects of your life. So that you can defend yourself from other less tangible but far more dangerous things that can break you—not just your body, but your spirit. Things such as deception, corruption, disparagement, coercion, false accusation and persecution. Subtle evil things that undermine you. ~ Vera Nazarian, #NFDB
1238:In Egypt the neoliberal programs have meant statistical growth, like right before the Arab Spring, Egypt was a kind of poster child for the World Bank and the IMF [International Monetary Fund:] the marvelous economic management and great reform. The only problem was for most of the population it was a kind of like a blow in the solar plexus: wages going down, benefits being eliminated, subsidized food gone and meanwhile, high concentration of wealth and a huge amount of corruption. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
1239:There is something in natural affection which will lead it on to eternal love more easily than natural appetite could be led on. But there's also something in it which makes it easier to stop at the natural level and mistake it for the heavenly. Brass is mistaken for gold more easily than clay is. And if it finally refuses conversion its corruption will be worse than the corruption of what ye call the lower passions. It is a stronger angel, and therefor, when it falls, a fiercer devil. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1240:To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
1241:Radicals often suspect beauty of corruption. Uptight fuckers though they sometimes are, they're right in one thing: art alone cannot change the world. Pens can't take on swords, let alone Predator drones. But as disappointment and violence spread, the antidote is a generosity that the best art can still inspire.
Art is hope against cynicism, creation against entropy. To make art is an act of both love and defiance. Though I'm a cynic, I believe these things are all we have. ~ Molly Crabapple,#NFDB
1242:Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe; justice, not injustice, is the soul and substance of life; and righteousness, not corruption, is the moulding and moving force in the spiritual government of the world. This being so, man has but to right himself to find that the universe is right; and during the process of putting himself right he will find that as he alters his thoughts towards things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him. The ~ James Allen, #NFDB
1243:The conference also has a moral duty to examine the corruption of science that can be caused by massive amounts of money. The United States has disbursed tens of billions of dollars to climate scientists who would not have received those funds had their research shown climate change to be beneficial or even modest in its effects. Are these scientists being tempted by money? And are the very, very few climate scientists whose research is supported by industry somehow less virtuous? ~ Patrick Michaels, #NFDB
1244:To all the millions of discontented Hitler in a whirlwind campaign offered what seemed to them, in their misery, some measure of hope. He would make Germany strong again, refuse to pay reparations, repudiate the Versailles Treaty, stamp out corruption, bring the money barons to heel (especially if they were Jews) and see to it that every German had a job and bread. To hopeless, hungry men seeking not only relief but new faith and new gods, the appeal was not without effect. Though ~ William L Shirer, #NFDB
1245:We must also restore the understanding achieved by Keynes and Minsky, and under the New Deal, of unstable speculation and financial fraud, later effaced by the doctrine of efficient markets. A new economics must rest on a biophysical and institutional framework, recognizing that fixed capital and embedded technology are essential for efficient productive operations, but that resource costs can render any fixed system fragile, and that corruption can destroy any human institution. ~ James K Galbraith, #NFDB
1246:But as bold as it was, Hu Shuli’s voice no longer stood out as distinctively as it had when she launched her first magazine twelve years earlier, simply because so many other voices now contended alongside hers. The corporate misdeeds and corruption that had been the main targets of her work were now revealed, day by day, by ordinary people who had no tools but an Internet connection. Tycoons who once gave exclusive interviews to Hu Shuli were now taking to the Web to express themselves. ~ Evan Osnos, #NFDB
1247:Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
1248:Now, I appeal to the consciences of those that persecute, torment, destroy, and kill other men upon pretence of religion, whether they do it out of friendship and kindness towards them or no? I say, if all this be done merely to make men Christians and procure their salvation, why then do they suffer whoredom, fraud, malice and such-like enormities, which (according to the Apostle) manifestly relish of heathenish corruption, to predominate so much and abound amongst their flocks and people? ~ John Locke, #NFDB
1249:Banks and churches and courtrooms all depend on the appurtenances of theatre. On illusion. Banks, the illusion of stability and honourable dealings to the rot and corruption of capitalist exploitation. Churches the illusion of sacred sanctuary of purposes of pacifying social discontent. Courtrooms of course designed to promote the illusion of solemn justice. If there was true justice why would such trappings be necessary? Wouldn't a table and chairs and an ordinary room serve just as well? ~ E L Doctorow, #NFDB
1250:Whensoever, therefore, the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society, and either by ambition, fear, folly, or corruption, endeavour to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people, by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into the hands... and it devolves to the people, who have a right to resume their original liberty, and... provide for their own safety and security. ~ John Locke, #NFDB
1251:Certainly, if we believe in democracy and democratic systems, when [Benazir Bhutto] failed to pass any legislation, really, at all in her first two years in government during her first term and in fact had a tenure that was marked not only by gross corruption but by human rights abuses, that should have been a time for people to say, "Well, OK, we've given you an opportunity and you haven't bettered the institutions, you haven't strengthened the democratic cause - we may not vote you back." ~ Fatima Bhutto, #NFDB
1252:Power creates temptations, and that is true even for the smallest increments of power: the power of the building inspector, of the customs official, of the cop at the traffic stop. It took a lot of work by a lot of people over a long time to build even America's highly imperfect standards of public integrity. Undoing that work would be a far easier task. Corruption is the resting state of pubic affairs; integrity a painstaking, unceasing struggle against cultural inertia and political gravity. ~ David Frum, #NFDB
1253:Amos 9:2 “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. Job 11:8 It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Psa. 16:10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. Psa. 139:8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! Isa. 7:11 “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. ~ Brian Godawa, #NFDB
1254:Any important disease whose causality is murky, and for which treatment is ineffectual, tends to be awash in significance. First, the subjects of deepest dread (corruption, decay, pollution, anomie, weakness) are identified with the disease. The disease itself becomes a metaphor. Then, in the name of the disease (that is, using it as a metaphor), that horror is imposed on other things. The disease becomes adjectival. Something is said to be disease-like, meaning that it is disgusting or ugly. ~ Susan Sontag, #NFDB
1255:At least a dozen different so-called good institutions have been identified. Without attempting to rank them in order of importance, but just listing them alphabetically, they include: control of inflation, educational opportunities, effectiveness of government, enforcement of contracts, freedom from trade barriers, incentives and opportunities for investment of capital, lack of corruption, low risk of assassination, open currency exchange, protection of private property rights, rule of law, ~ Jared Diamond, #NFDB
1256:India, she now knew, would not be content staying in the background, was nobody's wallpaper, insisted in interjecting itself into everyone's life, meddling with it, twisting it, molding it beyond recognition. India, she had found out, was a place of political intrigue and economic corruption, a place occupied by real people with their incessantly human needs, desires, ambitions, and aspirations, and not the exotic, spiritual, mysterious entity that was a creation of the Western imagination. ~ Thrity Umrigar, #NFDB
1257:Lesson number 1b in Bibwit's carefully planned curriculum: For most of the universe's inhabitants, life is not all gummy wads and tarty tarts; it is a struggle against hardship, unfairness, corruption, abuse, and adversity in all its guises, where even to survive - let alone survive with dignity- is heroic. To soldier through the days in a wake of failure is the corageous act of many. To rule benevolently, a queen should be able to enter into the feelings of those less fortunate than herself. ~ Frank Beddor, #NFDB
1258:Reason and free inquiry are the only effective agents against error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their investigation. They are the natural enemies of error and error only. Had not the Roman government permitted free inquiry, Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not free inquiry been indulged at the era of the Reformation, the corruption of Christianity could not have been purged away. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
1259:It is unnatural that a pure stream should flow from a foul fountain its vices are but a continuation of the vices of its origin. A man of moral honor and good political principles, cannot submit to the mean drudgery and disgraceful arts, by which such elections are carried. To be a successful candidate, he must be destitute of the qualities that constitute a just legislator: and being thus disciplined to corruption it is not to be expected that the representative should be better than the man. ~ Thomas Paine, #NFDB
1260:Think about the world. War, violence, natural disasters, man-made disasters, corruption. Things are bad, and it feels like they are getting worse, right? The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer; and the number of poor just keeps increasing; and we will soon run out of resources unless we do something drastic. At least that’s the picture that most Westerners see in the media and carry around in their heads. I call it the overdramatic worldview. It’s stressful and misleading. ~ Hans Rosling, #NFDB
1261:Because of our current representatives’ corruption, many Americans no longer trust the federal government. Some refuse to analyze the reasons for this distrust and prefer to think about other things, like sports, entertainment, and lifestyles of the rich and famous. We have the choice of continuing to be distracted by trivialities or of faithfully watching for and responding to abuse of the Constitution. If we choose the former option, our descendants will be faced with much less pleasant options. ~ Ben Carson, #NFDB
1262:If drugs were legalized in the US, the Mexican economy would collapse since the earnings from drugs bring in more hard currency than its largest licit source, oil sales. Mexico is a corrupt state that has now become dependent on the earnings on an illegal product. But inevitably, the product will become legal and then Mexico will retain its corruption but must face the needs of its citizens now employed by the drug industry who have become steeped in violence and conditioned to higher incomes. ~ Charles Bowden, #NFDB
1263:Nevertheless, despite his deep concerns, in the end Owen concludes: “It is better that our affections exceed our light from the defect of our understandings, than that our light exceed our affections from the corruption of our wills.”296 That’s a remarkable thing for a Puritan to say. If we are going to be imbalanced, better that we be doctrinally weak and have a vital prayer life and a real sense of God on the heart than that we get all our doctrine straight and be cold and spiritually hard. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1264:The claim that democracy and efficiency are contradictory is nonsense. That's evident in the history of democracy itself, because it is only democrats who were and continue to be capable of learning from mistakes. A more appropriate question is to ask whether a country like China, which has been so incredibly successful economically, is actually inefficient in light of its environmental destruction and its corruption. In China's perception, however, the democratic model is doubtlessly inferior. ~ Sigmar Gabriel, #NFDB
1265:After a series of campaign scandals involving secret donations from the newly rich industrial barons in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Progressives had passed laws limiting spending in order to protect the democratic process from corruption. The laws were meant to safeguard political equality at a time of growing economic inequality. Reformers had seen the concentration of wealth in the hands of oil, steel, finance, and railroad magnates as threatening the democratic equilibrium. ~ Jane Mayer, #NFDB
1266:What Palpatine lacked in charisma, he made up for in candor, and it was that directness that had led to his widespread appeal in the senate. Here was Palpatine, with his ready smile; above corruption, above deception or duplicity, a kind of confessor, willing to hear the most banal confessions or the basest of misdeeds without passing judgment—aloud, at any rate. For in his heart he judged the universe on his own terms, with a clear sense of right and wrong.
He looked to no other guide than himself. ~ James Luceno,#NFDB
1267:Corruption is subtle, just like the Bible said. Many young poets have come to me and asked, How am I gonna make it? They feel, and often with considerable justice, that they are being overlooked while others with less talent are out there making careers for themselves. I always give the same advice. I say, Do it the hard way, and you’ll always feel good about yourself. You write because you have to, and you get this unbelievable satisfaction from doing it well. Try to live on that as long as you’re able. ~ Philip Levine, #NFDB
1268:The body of the Word, then, being a real human body, in spite of its having been uniquely formed from a virgin, was of itself mortal and, like other bodies, liable to death. But the indwelling of the Word loosed it from this natural liability, so that corruption could not touch it. Thus is happened that two opposite marvels took place at once: the death of all was consummated in the Lord's body; yet, because the Word was in it, death and corruption were in the same act utterly abolished. ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
1269:For half of the world's population, roughly three billion people around the world living on less than two dollars a day, an election is at best a means, not an end; a starting point, not deliverance. These people are looking less for an "electocracy" than for the basic elements that for most of us define a decent life--food, shelter, electricity, basic health care, education for their children, and the ability to make their way through life without having to endure corruption, violence, or arbitrary power. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
1270:if Substance is Life, is the Subject not Death? Insofar as, for Hegel, the basic feature of pre-subjective Life is the “spurious infinity” of the eternal reproduction of the life substance through the incessant movement of the generation and corruption of its elements—that is, the “spurious infinity” of a repetition without progress—the ultimate irony we encounter here is that Freud, who called this excess of death over life the “death drive,” conceived it precisely as repetition, as a compulsion to repeat. ~ Slavoj i ek, #NFDB
1271: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. ~ Michael Hardt, #NFDB
1272:Looking at him in his latest incarnation, the bad-boy author in retirement, I asked him why he had stopped writing about corruption, injustice, and other sensitive subjects. “We have Weibo now. People can find anything they need on there,” he said. “I rarely write about politics. For me, it’s boring now.” “Boring?” I asked. “Because the same bad things happen again, again, and again. As a writer, you don’t want to repeat yourself. I have other ways to express my anger. Or I can choose not to express it at all. ~ Evan Osnos, #NFDB
1273:The “enormity” of December 7, 1941 still resonates for James Ellroy. It's an event that rippled through his home city of Los Angeles and is now at the core of his new novel, which uses the Pearl Harbor bombing as the trigger point for a cascading series of interconnected lives and storylines, exploring politics, race, sex, corruption and more. Perfidia is the first book in a planned quartet--Ellroy calls it his Second L.A. Quartet--a prelude to the first quartet, which included The Black Dahlia , The Big Nowhere ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1274:You've got to give kids really beautiful children's books in order to turn them into revolutionaries. Because if they see these beautiful things when they're young, when they grow up they'll see the real world and say, 'Why is the world so ugly?! I remember when the world was beautiful.' And then they'll fight, and they'll have a revolution. They'll fight against all of our corruption in the world, they'll fight to try to make the world more beautiful. That's the job of a good children's book illustrator. ~ Tony Millionaire, #NFDB
1275:Zeno’s legacy, however, provided a secure throne to work from, and over the next three decades the empire experienced a remarkable recovery. Bribery and corruption were rooted out, money was collected more efficiently, and taxes were generally lowered. Commerce, freed from the burdens of excessive taxation, once again flourished, and wealth came pouring into the cities and markets of the empire. A population increase followed the improving economy, and the empire began to prosper on an unprecedented scale. ~ Lars Brownworth, #NFDB
1276:The whole point of what -Jesus was up to was that he was doing close up, in the present, what he was promising long-term in the future. And what he was promising for that future and doing in the present was not saving souls for a disembodied eternity but rescuing -people from the corruption and decay of the way the world presently is so they could enjoy, already in the present, that renewal of creation which is God’s ultimate purpose — and so they could thus become colleagues and partners in that large project. ~ N T Wright, #NFDB
1277:The people's community must not be a mere phrase, but a revolutionary achievement following from the radical carrying out of the basic life needs of the working class. A ruthless battle against corruption! A war against exploitation, freedom for the workers! The elimination of all economic-capitalist influences on national policy...Maintaining a rotten economic system has nothing to do with nationalism, which is an affirmation of the Fatherland. I can love Germany and hate capitalism. Not only can I, I must. ~ Joseph Goebbels, #NFDB
1278:When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
1279:On Saturday, March 2, 1805, Vice President Burr took his leave of the capital with a paean to the Senate, which he called “a sanctuary; a citadel of law, of order, and of liberty; and it is here—it is here, in this exalted refuge; here, if anywhere, will resistance be made to the storms of popular frenzy and the silent arts of corruption; and if the Constitution be destined ever to perish by the sacrilegious hands of a demagogue or the usurper, which God avert, its expiring agonies will be witnessed on this floor. ~ Jon Meacham, #NFDB
1280:The bells on the streetcars ring, buses clatter by honking their horns, stuffed full with people and more people; taxis and fancy private automobiles hum over the glassy asphalt,” he wrote. “The fragrance of heavy perfume floats by. Harlots smile from the artful pastels of fashionable women’s faces; so-called men stroll to and fro, monocles glinting; fake and precious stones sparkle.” Berlin was, he wrote, a “stone desert” filled with sin and corruption and inhabited by a populace “borne to the grave with a smile. ~ Erik Larson, #NFDB
1281:To one degree or another, everybody is connected to the Mystery, and everybody secretly yearns to expand the connection. That requires expanding the soul. These things can enlarge the soul: laughter, danger, imagination, meditation, wild nature, passion, compassion, psychedelics, beauty, iconoclasm, and driving around in the rain with the top down. These things can diminish it: fear, bitterness, blandness, trendiness, egotism, violence, corruption, ignorance, grasping, shining, and eating ketchup on cottage cheese. ~ Tom Robbins, #NFDB
1282:In the history of education, the most striking phenomenon is that schools of learning, which at one epoch are alive with a ferment of genius, in a succeeding generation exhibit merely pedantry and routine. The reason is, that they are overladen with inert ideas. Education with inert ideas is not only useless: it is, above all things, harmful - Corruptio optimi, pessima [the corruption of the best is the worst]. ~ Alfred North Whitehead, “The Aims of Education,” Presidential address to the Mathematical Association of England, 1916, #NFDB
1283:No one can predict whether the earth will be cooler or hotter next year, let alone do anything to change it. If you're afraid of global warming, turn off the lights when you leave the room - but don't participate in the corruption of science, don't scare our kids with unproven cataclysmic theories, and don't try to ban economic energy sources that people living on this planet depend upon today. And don't try to stop progress; it's the only hope the earth has of seeing clean industry, short of exterminating mankind. ~ Doug Casey, #NFDB
1284:As people get their opinions so largely from the newspapers they read, the corruption of the schools would not matter so much if the Press were free. But the Press is not free. As it costs at least a quarter of a million of money to establish a daily newspaper in London, the newspapers are owned by rich men. And they depend on the advertisements of other rich men. Editors and journalists who express opinions in print that are opposed to the interests of the rich are dismissed and replaced by subservient ones. ~ George Bernard Shaw, #NFDB
1285:The lordship of man over man is the root cause of all corrupt rule. In the light of this principle, no laws are legitimate except God's law, and no government is legitimate except those who rule as God's deputies, implementing God's laws alone, which no-one has the power to change. So I say to you: if you really want to root out corruption now so widespread on God's earth, stand up and fight against corrupt rule; take power and use it on God's behalf. It is useless to think you change things by preaching alone. ~ Abul A la Maududi, #NFDB
1286:Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again. If somewhere in the Hollywood-entertainment world someone has managed to break through with something that speaks to you, then it isn’t all corruption. The movie doesn’t have to be great; it can be stupid and empty and you can still have the joy of a good performance, or the joy in just a good line. An actor’s scowl, a small subversive gesture, a dirty remark that someone tosses off with a mock-innocent face, and the world makes a little bit of sense. ~ Pauline Kael, #NFDB
1287:I discovered that all these rulers were men. What they had in common was an avaricious and distorted personality, a never-ending appetite for money, sex and unlimited power. They were men who sowed corruption on the earth, and plundered their peoples, men endowed with loud voices, a capacity for persuasion, for choosing sweet words and shooting poisoned arrows. Thus, the truth about them was revealed only after their death, and as a result I discovered that history tended to repeat itself with a foolish obstinacy. ~ Nawal El Saadawi, #NFDB
1288:When the United States stands up for human rights, by example at home and by effort abroad, we align ourselves with men and women around the world who struggle for the right to speak their minds, to choose their leaders, and to be treated with dignity and respect. We also strengthen our security and well being, because the abuse of human rights can feed many of the global dangers that we confront - from armed conflict and humanitarian crises, to corruption and the spread of ideologies that promote hatred and violence. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
1289:No matter how low down you are; no matter what your disposition has been; you may be low in your thoughts, words, and actions; you may be selfish; your heart may be overflowing with corruption and wickedness; yet Jesus will have compassion upon you. He will speak comforting words to you; not treat you coldly or spurn you, as perhaps those of earth would, but will speak tender words, and words of love and affection and kindness. Just come at once. He is a faithful friend - a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. ~ Dwight L Moody, #NFDB
1290:The informal economy is the livelihood of many Lagosians. But corruption, in the form of piracy or of graft, also means that most people remain on the margins. The systems that could lift the majority out of poverty are undercut at every turn. Precisely because everyone takes a shortcut, nothing works and, for this reason, the only way to get anything done is to take another shortcut. The advantage in these situations goes to the highest bidders, those individuals most willing to pay money or to test the limits of the law. ~ Teju Cole, #NFDB
1291:In reality, it is not so much a stateless society that we fear, but rather a family-less and friendless society where we rock gently, hugging our useless truths to our chests; solitary, ostracized, alone, rejected, scorned, derided. The truth is a desert island, we fear, and so, as evolutionarily social animals, we join our corrupt circles in mocking and attacking the truth and resent those who tell the truth for revealing the corruption that formerly was only visible unconsciously – which is to say, largely invisible. ~ Stefan Molyneux, #NFDB
1292:For the Word, realizing that in no other way would the corruption of human beings be undone except, simply, by dying, yet being immortal and the Son of the Father of the Word was not able to die, for this reason he takes to himself a body capable of death, in order that it, participating in the Word who is above all, might be sufficient for death on behalf of all, and through the indwelling Word would remain incorruptible, and so corruption might henceforth cease from all by the grace of the resurrection. ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
1293:Karzai is Afghanistan's first democratically elected president. He brought the international community into partnership on an unprecedented level, and he championed a new constitution that is liberal, democratic and still very Afghan. All of that does reflect a vision. But he's presided over a country that is still in conflict, and he hasn't taken some of the difficult decisions his own government wanted him to take. On corruption, he hasn't been as decisive as he should've been. There are legitimate questions about him. ~ Chris Alexander, #NFDB
1294:Lord, lead me not into temptation, and when there leave me not there; for unless thou hold me fast I feel I must, I shall decline, and prove an apostate after all." There is enough tinder in the hearts of the best men in the world to light a fire that shall burn to the lowest hell, unless God should quench the sparks as they fall. There is enough corruption, depravity, and wickedness in the heart of the most holy man that is now alive to damn his soul to all eternity, if free and sovereign grace does not prevent. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
1295:Christians had lost, their scriptures not having remained free from corruption, and many which were to be met with in their books but which they did not act upon. Some of these which were of permanent value were revealed in the Holy Qur’an, but others — referred to in passing over much — had been given to them to suit only the requirements of the time when they were given and were not now needed. Or, the reference may be to the prophecies of the advent of the Holy Prophet, for the Qur’an refers to only very few of them. 15b. Two ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1296:No man, however enslaved to his appetites, or hurried by his passions, can, while he preserves his intellects unimpaired, please himself with promoting the corruption of others. He whose merit has enlarged his influence would surely wish to exert it for the benefit of mankind. Yet such will be the effect of his reputation, while he suffers himself to indulge in any favourite fault, that they who have no hope to reach his excellence will catch at his failings, and his virtues will be cited to justify the copiers of his vices. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
1297:I was repelled by the sleazy reality of the totalitarian countries: politicians were shameless. There were corruption, pollution, shoddy goods, long lines, and suicide everywhere, but the leaders kept boasting about their great achievements and bright tomorrows. I saw all this and tried to show it in my pictures as simply and straightforwardly as I could. All I wanted to do was record how all these poor people adapted to lies and suffering, how they got used to it, how, in fact they were bound to miss it when it was over. ~ Antonin Kratochvil, #NFDB
1298:Like apples in a barrel infected by one rotten one, the corruption of Greece would infect Iran and all to the east. It would also carry infection to Africa through Asia Minor and Egypt, and to Europe through Italy and France, already threatened by the strongest domestic Communist parties in Western Europe. The Soviet Union was playing one of the greatest gambles in history at minimal cost. It did not need to will all the possibilities. Even one or two offered immense gains. We and we alone were in a position to break up the play. ~ Dean Acheson, #NFDB
1299:There was a lot of downtime sitting by Mike, so I read. I had a little table on which I had my pile of books and, by the end, they were nearly as high as the studio ceiling. I used to get all the song titles from them. Even the album titles, as it turned out, because ‘A startling tale of power, corruption and lies’ was a review quote from the Daily Telegraph on the back of 1984 by George Orwell. ‘Leave Me Alone’ came from Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and ‘Ultraviolence’ was from A Clockwork Orange, to name but a few. ~ Peter Hook, #NFDB
1300:The goal of the 'liberals' - as it emerges from the record of the past decades - was to smuggle this country into welfare statism by means of single, concrete, specific measures, enlarging the power of the government a step at a time, never permitting these steps to be summed up into principles, never permitting their direction to be identified or the basic issue to be named. Thus, statism was to come, not by vote or by violence, but by slow rot - by a long process of evasion and epistemological corruption, leading to a fait accompli. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
1301:Why is it that the pick of the young Englishmen from Oxford and Cambridge go into politics and in the U. S. A. we leave it to the muckers?—raised in the ward, educated in the assembly and sent to Congress, fat-paunched bundles of corruption, devoid of "both ideas and ideals" as the debaters used to say. Even forty years ago we had good men in politics, but we, we are brought up to pile up a million and "show what we are made of." Sometimes I wish I'd been an Englishman; American life is so damned dumb and stupid and healthy. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1302:Why is it that the pick of the young Englishmen from Oxford and Cambridge go into politics and in the U. S. A. we leave it to the muckers?—raised in the ward, educated in the assembly and sent to Congress, fat-paunched bundles of corruption, devoid of “both ideas and ideals” as the debaters used to say. Even forty years ago we had good men in politics, but we, we are brought up to pile up a million and “show what we are made of.” Sometimes I wish I’d been an Englishman; American life is so damned dumb and stupid and healthy. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1303:When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any individual in a government, he becomes the center, round which every kind of corruption generates and forms. Give to any man a million a year, and add thereto the power of creating and disposing of places, at the expense of a country, and the liberties of that country are no longer secure. What is called the splendour of a throne is no other than the corruption of the state. It is made up of a band of parasites, living in luxurious indolence, out of the public taxes. ~ Thomas Paine, #NFDB
1304:But he alone having reached our deep corruption, he alone having taken upon himself our labors, he alone having suffered the punishments due for our impieties, having recovered us who were not half dead merely, but were already in tombs and sepulchers, and altogether foul and offensive, saves us, both anciently and now, by his beneficent zeal, beyond the expectation of any one, even of ourselves, and imparts liberally of the Father's benefits-he who is the giver of life and light, our great Physician and King and Lord, the Christ of God. ~ Eusebius, #NFDB
1305:one man, knows already is referred to that only one man who don’t know it to find out — all through the deplorable cause, everybody must have copies, over and over again, of everything that has accumulated about it in the way of cartloads of papers (or must pay for them without having them, which is the usual course, for nobody wants them) and must go down the middle and up again through such an infernal country-dance of costs and fees and nonsense and corruption as was never dreamed of in the wildest visions of a witch’s Sabbath. ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
1306:This devotion, so great and so confident, to the august Queen of Heaven, has never forth with such brilliancy as when the militant Church of Go has seemed to be endangered by the violence of heresy spread abroad, or by an intolerable moral corruption, or by the attacks of powerful enemies. Ancient and modern history and the more sacred annals of the Church bears witness to public and private supplications addressed to the Mother of God, to help She has granted in return, and to the peace and tranquillity which She has obtained from God. ~ Pope Leo X, #NFDB
1307:For Werner, doubts turn up regularly. Racial purity, political purity—Bastian speaks to a horror of any sort of corruption, and yet, Werner wonders in the dead of night, isn’t life a kind of corruption? A child is born, and the world sets in upon it. Taking things from it, stuffing things into it. Each bite of food, each particle of light entering the eye—the body can never be pure. But this is what the commandant insists upon, why the Reich measures their noses, clocks their hair color. The entropy of a closed system never decreases. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
1308:The corruption of the good by the belief in their own infallible goodnes is the most bloody dangerous pitfall in the human spectrum. Once you have conquered all your sins, pride is the one which will conquer you. A man starts off deciding he is a good man because he makes good decisions. Next thing, he's convinced that whatever decision he makes must be good because he's a good man. Most of the wars in the world are caused by people who think they have god on their side. Always stick with people who know they are flawed and ridiculous. ~ Helen Fielding, #NFDB
1309:There was simply no peace to be had no matter where you hid yourself away. Even in a northern border town of such intensely chaotic oddity and corruption there was still some greater chaos, some deeper insanity, than one had counted on, or could ever be taken into account - wherever there was anything, there would be chaos and insanity to such a degree that one could never come to terms with it, and it was only a matter of time before your world, whatever you thought it to be, was undermined, if not completely overrun, by another world. ~ Thomas Ligotti, #NFDB
1310:Syria was milked of its more profitable resources,’ believed Lawrence’s wartime comrade W. F. Stirling, who noted that the country’s profitable utilities and monopolies were all French-owned and that what infrastructure existed was built ‘for strategic purposes and not for public benefit’.15 And corruption was pervasive: it was not long before one British diplomat reported that French officials were ‘expecting liberal presents for services rendered by them’.16 As even Catroux commented, ‘we were in the Orient where nothing comes for free’.17 ~ James Barr, #NFDB
1311:But apart from these lazinesses of logic, what makes the story so tired is the failure of the writer to reach for anything but the nearest cliche'. "Shouldered his way," "only to be met," "crashing into his face," "waging a lonely war," "corruption that is rife," "sending shock waves," "New York's finest," - these dreary phrases constitute writing at its most banal. We know just what to expect. No surprise awaits us in the form of an unusual word, an oblique look. We are in the hands of a hack, and we know it right away, We stop reading. ~ William Zinsser, #NFDB
1312:Jubilees 20:4-5 [L]et them not take to themselves wives from the daughters of Canaan; for the seed of Canaan will be rooted out of the land. And he told them of the judgment of the giants, and the judgment of the Sodomites, how they had been judged on account of their wickedness, and had died on account of their fornication, and uncleanness, and mutual corruption through fornication.[44] This is critical for understanding the Nephilim as unholy giant progeny because the Nephilim are the result of this sexual union between angel and human. ~ Brian Godawa, #NFDB
1313:While it is easy to become paralyzed by the world's suffering and the inequalities created by corruption and greed, we actually hold immense power for change, simply by virtue of our wealth and economic independence. Because we decide where our dollars go. Never has so much wealth been so concentrated; our prosperity is unprecedented. If enough of us decided to share, we would unleash a torrent of justice to sweep away disparity, extreme poverty, and hopelessness. The world is waiting. Our kids are watching. Time is wasting. Are we willing? ~ Jen Hatmaker, #NFDB
1314:The ongoing reports continue to demonstrate years of the most horrendous and systematic looting, stealing, corruption, money laundering and abuse of our state agencies and state-owned enterprises imaginable. Some losses run into billions of rand. Much of it is taxpayers' money – money that could and should have gone to fund needy tertiary students, build more schools and provide more services to disadvantaged communities; money that could have addressed issues that have been fuelling many of the civil protests in our country in recent years. ~ Jacques Pauw, #NFDB
1315:IN AN OLD YUGOSLAV JOKE mocking police corruption, a policeman returns home unexpectedly and finds his wife naked in their marital bed, obviously hot and excited. Suspecting that he surprised her with a lover, he starts to look around the room for a hidden man. The wife goes pale when he leans down to look under the bed; but after some brief whispering, the husband rises with a satisfied, smug smile and says “Sorry, my love, false alarm. There is no one under the bed!,” while his hand is holding tightly a couple of high denomination banknotes. ~ Slavoj i ek, #NFDB
1316:Let it stand, therefore, as an indubitable truth, which no engines can shake, that the mind of man is so entirely alienated from the righteousness of God that he cannot conceive, desire, or design any thing but what is wicked, distorted, foul, impure, and iniquitous; that his heart is so thoroughly envenomed by sin that it can breathe out nothing but corruption and rottenness; that if some men occasionally make a show of goodness, their mind is ever interwoven with hypocrisy and deceit, their soul inwardly bound with the fetters of wickedness. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
1317:Change can only come from local citizens and politicians - it cannot be imposed by well-meaning foreigners - not least because a society like Afghanistan or Iraq is suspicious of outsiders and often resistant to change. I am not going to get drawn into the ethics of intervening in other countries. My concern is the practical question. Can you actually achieve change in this way? My guess is we can stop wars sometimes as in the Balkans and topple regimes - but that the other stuff - such as corruption is not within our power to effect and alter. ~ Rory Stewart, #NFDB
1318:When we see men grow old and die at a certain time one after another, from century to century, we laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years; and with equal justice may the lexicographer be derided, who being able to produce no example of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases from mutability, shall imagine that his dictionary can embalm his language, and secure it from corruption and decay, that it is in his power to change sublunary nature, or clear the world at once from folly, vanity, and affectation. ~ Melvyn Bragg, #NFDB
1319:Let our hearts admit, “I am poor and weak. Satan is too subtle, too cunning, too powerful; he watches constantly for advantages over my soul. The world presses in upon me with all sorts of pressures, pleas, and pretences. My own corruption is violent, tumultuous, enticing, and entangling. As it conceives sin, it wars within me and against me. Occasions and opportunities for temptation are innumerable. No wonder I do not know how deeply involved I have been with sin. Therefore, on God alone will I rely for my keeping. I will continually look to Him. ~ John Owen, #NFDB
1320:POEM VERSES 121–124 Some assumptions are not permissible, such as holding a bad opinion about someone who manifests righteous behavior. This means that your heart is convinced and you have judged him based on your heart’s suspicions without proof that warrants such an assumption. There is nothing wrong with having doubts about someone or having a bad opinion of him, if it is based on sound reasoning and is not arbitrary. Thus, our bad opinion of some profligate whose actions indicate his [corruption] is not prohibited. ~ Hamza Yusuf, #NFDB
1321:From the blinding deceitful nature of sin. The heart of man is full of sin and corruption, and that corruption is of an exceedingly darkening, blinding nature. Sin always carries a degree of darkness with it; and the more it prevails, the more it darkens and deludes the mind.--It is from hence that the knowing whether there be any wicked way in us is a difficult thing. The difficulty is not at all for want of light without us, not at all because the word of God is not plain, or the rules not clear; but it is because of the darkness within us. ~ Jonathan Edwards, #NFDB
1322:The tragedy is that in the name of resisting the internal deterioration of faith and the corruption of the world around them, many Christians - and Christian conservatives most significantly -unwittingly embrace some of the most corrosive aspects of the cultural disintegration they decry. By nurturing its resentments, sustaining them through a discourse of negation toward outsiders, and in cases, pursuing their will to power, they become functional Nietzscheans, participating in the very cultural breakdown they so ardently strive resist. ~ James Davison Hunter, #NFDB
1323:If the USA doesn't start learning how to put personal egos aside for the sustainability of a nation, then these "mighty" United States will be no better than the politically divided commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Where progress is slowed because each party thinks any idea from the other party must be stupid or without validity and Independence has become a distant dream squashed by corruption. I suggest politicians go back to kindergarten to learn the basics in decent humanity. The notions of sharing and respect obviously didn't stick the first time. ~ Kent Marrero, #NFDB
1324:The final victory over Carthage in the Punic Wars led to rising economic inequality, dislocation of traditional ways of life, increasing political polarization, the breakdown of unspoken rules of political conduct, the privatization of the military, rampant corruption, endemic social and ethnic prejudice, battles over access to citizenship and voting rights, ongoing military quagmires, the introduction of violence as a political tool, and a set of elites so obsessed with their own privileges that they refused to reform the system in time to save it. ~ Mike Duncan, #NFDB
1325:We are continuously looking at the question of increasing the capacity of Home Affairs and that is why Home Affairs introduced mobile units, to be able to reach people. The matter of the establishment of the Social Security Agency was to deal with the matter of the more efficient distribution of these grants, the reductions in the levels of corruption and greater sensitivity. You are dealing with vulnerable people, like the elderly, who you needed to find a way of addressing, so that people don't have to be waiting in the sun in the queue, and so on. ~ Thabo Mbeki, #NFDB
1326:Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you planned: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterward remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad. ~ Christina Rossetti, #NFDB
1327:What did “good government” really mean? Langlie and his brotherhood promised an end to political corruption. (There’s no evidence that Langlie ever even took a drink, much less a bribe.) The days of “honest graft” were over, at least for a while. But seen from another perspective—that of ordinary citizens without access to Langlie and Abram’s elite network—Langlie didn’t so much end corruption as legalize it. Langlie wasn’t opposed to a government organized around the interests of the greedy; he just didn’t want to have to break the law to serve them. ~ Jeff Sharlet, #NFDB
1328:These qualities are by-products, not goals — “fruit” of the Holy Spirit as he changes us on the inside. That is, they happen naturally as he does his work in us. He gives us love for neighbor and enemy, joy despite circumstances and in sorrow, peace in turmoil and conflict, patient forbearance during daily aggravations and persecutions, kindness in a violent society, goodness when surrounded by corruption, faithfulness though commitment is scarce, gentleness when the prevailing mood is pushy self-centeredness, and self-control in a world of wild hedonism. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1329:To take another example, it is unthinkable for Hindus to enter temples with their shoes on. Even so, why don’t we, as Indians, cheat and enter places of worship covertly in our shoes? Simply because we feel it is disrespectful to do so. No law is needed; no politician at the top needs to remind us. It is our society’s core values that guide us—we have learnt that places of worship should be treated with respect, and removing our shoes is one way of showing deference. Now, if only we felt the same way about corruption! Well, hopefully we will, one day. ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
1330:I would miss the kindness of good people who were compassionate when so many were pitiless, who made their way through so much corruption without being corrupted themselves, who eschewed envy in a world of envy, who eschewed greed in a world of greed, who valued truth and could not be drowned in a sea of lies, for they shone and, by the light they cast, they had warmed me all my life. I would not miss the indifference in the face of suffering, the hatred, the violence, the cruelty, the lust for power that so many people brought to the pageant of humanity. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
1331:The unvisited grannies, in stone houses by the wheat field, can't remember their husbands or children. They worry their hands, though, hands that could do with a rinsing. The grannies think:
We start out in identical perfection: bright, reflective, full of sun. The accident of our lives bruises us into dirty individuality. We meet with grief. Our character dulls and tarnishes. We meet with guilt. We know, we know: the price of living is corruption. There isn't as much light as there once was. In the grave we lapse back into undifferentiated sameness. ~ Gregory Maguire,#NFDB
1332:I know now that all people hunger for a noble, unsullied past, that as sure as the black nationalist dreams of a sublime Africa before the white man's corruption, so did Thomas Jefferson dream of an idyllic Britain before the Normans, so do all of us dream of some other time when things were so simple. I know now that that hunger is a retreat from the knotty present into myth and that what ultimately awaits those who retreat into fairy tales, who seek refuge in the mad pursuit to be made great again, in the image of greatness that never was, is tragedy. ~ Ta Nehisi Coates, #NFDB
1333:Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . . If the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces. ~ James A Garfield, #NFDB
1334:In a world where the most consequential things happen by chance, or from unfathomable causes, you don't look to reason for help. You consort with mysteries... They have been killed in place of you - in your place. You don't think it out, not at the time, not in those terms, but you can't help but feel it, and go on feeling it. It's the close call you have to keep escaping from, the unending doubt that you have a right to your own life. It's the corruption suffered by everyone who lives on, that henceforth they must wonder at the reason and probe its justice. ~ Tobias Wolff, #NFDB
1335:I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good Family, tho' not of that Country, my Father being a Foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull; He got a good Estate by Merchandise, and leaving off his Trade, lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my Mother, whose Relations were named Robinson, a very good Family in that Country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual Corruption of Words in England, we are now called, nay we call ourselves, and write our Name Crusoe, and so my Companions always call'd me. ~ Daniel Defoe, #NFDB
1336:What I hope I have done is to show you, to show you what lies beneath all this corruption. Others want you to see, or hear, or speak their truths. I offer you no values, no workbooks, no catechisms. “Peel back the unblemished flesh that covers the face of reality, and then you’ll see the real truth pulsing beneath. More than that, you’ll feel it, and that’s my lesson for you—always reach for what you desire, what you truly desire. Your wishes lie like fish beneath the water’s surface. Call to them and they’ll come to you, and you’ll understand and be alive. ~ Gregg Hurwitz, #NFDB
1337:Because the state uses violence to achieve its ends, and there is no rational end to the use of violence, states grow until they destroy civilized interactions through the corruption of money, contracts, honesty, family and self-reliance.
No state in history has ever been contained.
It’s only taken a little more than a century for the US – founded on the idea of limited government, to break the bonds of the constitution, institute the income tax, take control of the money supply and the educational system and begin its catastrophic expansion. ~ Stefan Molyneux,#NFDB
1338:I know now that all people hunger for a noble, unsullied past, that as sure as the black nationalist dreams of a sublime Africa before the white man’s corruption, so did Thomas Jefferson dream of an idyllic Britain before the Normans, so do all of us dream of some other time when things were so simple. I know now that that hunger is a retreat from the knotty present into myth and that what ultimately awaits those who retreat into fairy tales, who seek refuge in the mad pursuit to be made great again, in the image of a greatness that never was, is tragedy. ~ Ta Nehisi Coates, #NFDB
1339:I was told when I grew up I could be anything I wanted: a fireman, a policeman, a doctor - even President, it seemed. And for the first time in the history of mankind, something new, called an astronaut. But like so many kids brought up on a steady diet of Westerns, I always wanted to be the avenging cowboy hero - that lone voice in the wilderness, fighting corruption and evil wherever I found it, and standing for freedom, truth and justice. And in my heart of hearts I still track the remnants of that dream wherever I go, in my endless ride into the setting sun. ~ Bill Hicks, #NFDB
1340:I was told when I grew up I could be anything I wanted: a fireman, a policeman, a doctor - even President, it seemed. And for the first time in the history of mankind, something new, called an astronaut. But like so many kids brought up on a steady diet of Westerns, I always wanted to be the avenging cowboy hero - that lone voice in the wilderness, fighting corruption and evil wherever I found it, and standing for freedom, truth and justice. And in my heart of hearts I still track the remnants of that dream wherever I go, in my endless ride into the setting sun. ~ Bill Hicks, #NFDB
1341:y Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 z Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for a whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8For b the one who sows to his own flesh c will from the flesh reap corruption, but d the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9And e let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, f if we do not give up. 10So then, g as we have opportunity, let us h do good to everyone, and especially to those who are i of the household of faith. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1342:If you see the humanity in the world, grains of sand that bring everything to a halt - corruption, clashes of egos, human factors more than resources. So, how to avoid that? There’s a lack of human maturity. So it’s not been a fertile exercise to perfect yourself to some extent before you serve others, otherwise it’s like cutting the wheat when it’s still green. And nobody is fed by that. So we need a minimum of readiness to efficiently and wisely be at the service of others. So compassion needs also to be sort of enlightened by wisdom. Otherwise, it’s blind. ~ Matthieu Ricard, #NFDB
1343:There are several kinds of poverty. Third-and first-world poverty are entirely different in character because of the great difference in their historical and economic settings. The gruel-ling problems faced by the third world’s poor relate to bare survival, to the basic task of getting water and food. Their plight is often further complicated by war, corruption, flood or drought. Third-world poverty is life on the margins of existence, a tough and unforgiving struggle, dedicated to the present moment and having room in it for only two feelings: despair and hope. ~ A C Grayling, #NFDB
1344:The Senator did not know who owned the jet, nor had he ever met Mr. Trudeau, which in most cultures would seem odd since Rudd had taken so much money from the man. But in Washington, money arrives through a myriad of strange and nebulous conduits. Often those taking it have only a vague idea of where it's coming from; often they have no clue. In most democracies, the transference of so much cash would be considered outright corruption, but in Washington the corruption has been legalized. Senator Rudd didn't know and didn't care that he was owned by other people. ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
1345:What this means for our reading the Scriptures is that seeing the glory of God may not always awaken, first, the sweetness of his worth and beauty. It may awaken the sorrows of remembered sin and remaining corruption in our hearts. “Savoring” this painful truth would mean welcoming it rather than denying it or twisting it. It would mean being thankful and letting the rebuke and the correction have their full effect in contrition and humility. And it would mean letting it lead us to the mercies of God and the sweet relief that comes from his saving grace in Christ. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
1346:I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called - nay we call ourselves and write our name - Crusoe; and so my companions always called me. ~ Daniel Defoe, #NFDB
1347:The FDA, NCI and ACS, and the large treatment centres work to eliminate choice of cancer therapies, particulary better ones. They openly attack breakthroughs made by "mavericks", which they define as anyone outside their ranks. Folks, any serious study of how these entities work together to destroy hopeful approaches to cancer reveals a trail of corruption, conspiracy, dishonesty, and inhumanity that warrants desigantion of evil........We continue to use them not because they work, but because those who perform them have so vigorously eliminated any other choice. ~ Julian Whitaker, #NFDB
1348:The massive corruption common in so many developing countries would be quite impossible if Western countries did not provide convenient opportunities to ship ill-gotten funds out of the country. It wouldn't make much sense for a ruler to store in his basement large quantities of stolen cash in his own country's currency. A corrupt ruler wants to be able to keep this money safe and to be able to spend it. And for this, he needs to convert it into a Western currency and store it in a bank abroad, where it can also earn investment returns and be bequeathed to his heirs. ~ Thomas Pogge, #NFDB
1349:There are 3 kinds of magic in our world. The peddling little magician magic like Uncle Andrew in 'The Magicians Newphew' where people mess around with things they don't understand. It's movie magic. Then there is the magic of the evil side of things. The demonic forces. And that's not really magic... it's corruption of what really exists. And then finally there is the magic of the Holy Spirit of God which is the creation and maintenence of the universe. We don't understand it... and we haven't the faintest idea how He does it. But it's real. That's the deep magic. ~ Douglas Gresham, #NFDB
1350:I believe the only thing that will correct our downward trajectory is the rekindling of the enthusiasm for individual freedom and the reestablishment of the U.S. Constitution as the dominant document of governance. Unless the majority of Americans awaken from their complacency and recognize the threat to their fundamental individual liberties imposed by continued expansion of the federal government, nothing will save us from the fate of all pinnacle nations that have preceded us, those that tolerated political and moral corruption while ignoring fiscal irresponsibility. ~ Ben Carson, #NFDB
1351:But the party itself is above the law. The ritual of political humiliation follows a rigid protocol: first, the internal party investigation; second, expulsion from the party. Only then—at the party’s behest—are legal charges framed. In the case of Mr Zhou, the Chinese press has tried to present his fall from grace as purely about the party purging itself of corruption, rather than some internal power struggle. “The party and corruption are like water and fire,” sobbed its mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, surprising those who think they are more like dry tinder and matches. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1352:HOW TO CHOOSE A GREAT LEADER
Choose a leader who will invest in
Building bridges, not walls.
Books, not weapons.
Morality, not corruption.
Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance.
Stability, not fear and terror.
Peace, not chaos.
Love, not hate.
Convergence, not segregation.
Tolerance, not discrimination.
Fairness, not hypocrisy.
Substance, not superficiality.
Character, not immaturity.
Transparency, not secrecy.
Justice, not lawlessness.
Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction.
Truth, not lies. ~ Suzy Kassem,#NFDB
1353:Imagine some foul and putrid corpse that has lain rotting and decomposing in the grave, a jelly-like mass of liquid corruption. Imagine such a corpse a prey to flames, devoured by the fire of burning brimstone and giving off dense choking fumes of nauseous loathsome decomposition. And then imagine this sickening stench, multiplied a millionfold and a millionfold again from the millions upon millions of fetid carcasses massed together in the reeking darkness, a huge and rotting human fungus. Imagine all this, and you will have some idea of the horror of the stench of hell. ~ James Joyce, #NFDB
1354:I grant this mode of secluding boys from the intercourse of private families has a tendency to make them scholars, but our business is to make them men, citizens, and Christians. The vices of young people are generally learned from each other. The vices of adults seldom infect them. By separating them from each other, therefore, in their hours of relaxation from study, we secure their morals from a principal source of corruption, while we improve their manners by subjecting them to those restraints which the difference of age and sex naturally produce in private families. ~ Benjamin Rush, #NFDB
1355:Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, #NFDB
1356:I’m not starry-eyed about science. Scientists are human, and so we are prone to corruption and groupthink and all sorts of forces that veer us away from the truth. But it does work stunningly well, and this is largely because science provides an excellent example of a community that establishes conditions where rational argument is able to flourish. I think the same holds, to varying extents, in other domains, such as philosophy, the humanities, and even certain sorts of political discourse. We are capable of reason and can exercise this capacity in the domain of morality. To ~ Paul Bloom, #NFDB
1357:Tenebrous had told him from the start that the Republic, with help from the Sith, would continue to descend into corruption and disorder, and that a time would come when it would have to rely on the strengths of an enlightened leader, capable of saving the lesser masses from being ruled by their unruly passions, jealousies, and desires. In the face of a common enemy, real or manufactured, they would set aside all their differences and embrace the leadership of anyone who promised a brighter future. Could this Palpatine, with Plagueis’s help, be the one to bring about such a ~ James Luceno, #NFDB
1358:African economists have argued that corruption—not Western colonialism, not lack of Western aid—is why Africa hasn’t escaped poverty. These economists have begged Western countries to stop giving monetary aid to corrupt African countries because nearly all the money goes to corrupt government officials and thereby further increases their corrupt power. Meanwhile, in Europe, North America, Japan, Singapore, and a handful of other countries, corruption is far more likely to be prosecuted and therefore far less prevalent. That is a major reason for their continuing prosperity. ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
1359:Russians refer to United Russia as the Party of Power. Other nations refer to it as “the Party of Crooks and Thieves.” In exchange for financial support, Putin’s party controlled power by giving out contracts, bribes, and kickbacks. Across the country members of the party were routinely accused of corruption, drug trafficking, racketeering, vote-rigging, and murder. Yet, once in office they would not only escape prosecution, in some cases they were awarded medals for their service. Being a member was almost a get-out-of-jail-free card, unless you crossed the party itself. ~ Malcolm W Nance, #NFDB
1360:15a. There were many truths which the Jews and the Christians had lost, their scriptures not having remained free from corruption, and many which were to be met with in their books but which they did not act upon. Some of these which were of permanent value were revealed in the Holy Qur’an, but others — referred to in passing over much — had been given to them to suit only the requirements of the time when they were given and were not now needed. Or, the reference may be to the prophecies of the advent of the Holy Prophet, for the Qur’an refers to only very few of them. 15b. Two ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1361:Then again, given that human history appears to be defined by a succession of more or less corrupt ruling elites, and if we are to assume that such corruption (and its spread throughout society) is the mechanism by which a civilization attracts cosmic catastrophe, blaming and deposing the elite is a good solution. The problem, however, is that the underlying mechanism is not understood by the people, which means that they lack the knowledge that, if they are to prevent further destruction, they must, at all costs, prevent the establishment of any future corrupt elite. ~ Laura Knight Jadczyk, #NFDB
1362:If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I do not know what is going to become of us as a nation. If truth be not diffused, then error will be. If God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendency. If the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will. If the power of the gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of this land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end. ~ Daniel Webster, #NFDB
1363:Our God is a God of love. He waits with open arms, and the unfolding of His merciful plan of salvation is not only therefore the mark of divine power but also the mark of God's relentless, redeeming love. It is a point well worth pondering because, among other reasons, it will help us to understand better why God, through the prophets, denounces sin and corruption in such scalding terms. He loves all of us, His spirit sons and daughters, but hates our vices. His denunciation of those vices may, if we are not careful, seem to obscure the enormous and perfect love He has for us. ~ Neal A Maxwell, #NFDB
1364:Your Fish Speakers aren’t an army, they’re a police force.” “By my name, I assure you that’s not so. Police are inevitably corrupted.” “You tempted me with power,” Idaho accused. “That’s the test, Duncan.” “You don’t trust me?” “I trust your loyalty to the Atreides implicitly, without question.” “Then what’s this talk of corruption and testing?” “You were the one who accused me of having a police force. Police always observe that criminals prosper. It takes a pretty dull policeman to miss the fact that the position of authority is the most prosperous criminal position available. ~ Frank Herbert, #NFDB
1365:Besides, as men were created to occupy the earth, so we ought certainly to conclude that God has mapped, as with a boundary, that space of earth which would suffice for the reception of men, and would prove a suitable abode for them. Any inequality which is contrary to this arrangement is nothing else than a corruption of nature which proceeds from sin. In the meantime, however, the benediction of God so prevails that the earth everywhere lies open that it may have its inhabitants, and that an immense multitude of men may find, in some part of the globe, their home. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
1366:Acheson then jumped into action with a dramatic and deliberately florid statement of what was later to be known as the "domino theory" of foreign interconnection. "We are met at Armageddon," he began: Like apples in a barrel infected by one rotten one, the corruption of Greece would infect Iran and all to the East. It would also carry infection to spread through Asia Minor and Egypt, and to Europe through Italy and France. . . . The Soviet Union was playing one of the greatest gambles in history at minimal cost. . . . We and we alone were in a position to break up this play.44 ~ James T Patterson, #NFDB
1367:To become a developed country, therefore, India’s GDP will have to grow at 12 per cent per year for at least a decade. Technically this is within India’s reach, since it would require the rate of investment to rise from the present 28 per cent of GDP to 36 per cent, while productivity growth will have to ensure that the incremental output-capital ratio declines from the present 4.0 to 3.0. These are modest goals that can be attained by an efficient decision-making structure, tackling corruption, increased Foreign direct investment (FDI) and use of IT software in the domestic industry. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1368:Tacitus appears to have been as great an enthusiast as Petrarch for the revival of the republic and universal empire. He has exerted the vengeance of history upon the emperors, but has veiled the conspiracies against them, and the incorrigible corruption of the people which probably provoked their most atrocious cruelties. Tyranny can scarcely be practised upon a virtuous and wise people. ~ John Adams, #NFDB
1369:There is either a warning or an encouragement here for every one of us. If you are a nice person—if virtue comes easily to you—beware! Much is expected from those to whom much is given. If you mistake for your own merits what are really God’s gifts to you through nature, and if you are contented with simply being nice, you are still a rebel: and all those gifts will only make your fall more terrible, your corruption more complicated, your bad example more disastrous. The Devil was an archangel once; his natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above those of a chimpanzee. But ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1370:Now, obviously, Meredith Whitney didn't sink Wall Street. She'd just expressed most clearly and most loudly a view that turned out to be far more seditious to the social order than, say, the many campaigns by various New York attorneys general against Wall Street corruption. If mere scandal could have destroyed the big Wall Street investment banks, they would have vanished long ago. This woman wasn't saying that Wall Street bankers were corrupt. She was saying that they were stupid. These people whose job it was to allocate capital apparently didn't even know how to manage their own. ~ Michael Lewis, #NFDB
1371:Being, in my own small way, a part of Authority, it never ceases to amaze me how much people believe in it and trust it. I see it from the inside, of course—inefficiencies, stupidities, corruption, bloody-minded ignorance and simple lack of resources to cope with the magnitude of the endless, ever-multiplying problems. But other people see it from the outside. They see the Land Walls. They see the emperor’s head on the coins, with Victory on the reverse. They see the temples. They see soldiers in shining armour. They see, and they believe, that the empire is big, strong, wise, unbeatable. ~ K J Parker, #NFDB
1372:In North America, people get a sense that something is really wrong in government and in our culture. There is a corruption, not only in politics, but of spirit as well, when people are so quick to be violent with one another. I think everybody would like to be able to find a solution to make things better. We have the desire to reform inside of us, and we get frustrated because we don't know how to change things, even if it comes to our own behavior. Sometimes you get frustrated because you don't know how to stop that thing that you know is either hurtful to yourself or someone else. ~ Jennifer Beals, #NFDB
1373:Peace, Inc., is sometimes as worrying and War, Inc. It's a way of managing public anger. We're all being managed, and we don't even know it. The IMF and the World Bank, the most opaque and secretive entities, put millions into NGOs who fight against "corruption" and for "transparency." They want the Rule of Law--as long as they make the laws. They want transparency in order to standardise a situation, so that global capital can flow without any impediment. Cage the People, Free the Money. The only thing that is allowed to move freely--unimpeded--around the world today is money, capital. ~ Arundhati Roy, #NFDB
1374:The ostensible purpose of Mr Wray's visit was to check corruption in the dockyard, and it appeared to Maturin that he would probably be more successful in this than in counter-espionage. Intelligence was a highly specialized concern, and as far as he knew this was Wray's first direct connection with the department. Corruption on the other hand was universal, open to all; and since Wray in his youth had kept a carriage and a considerable establishment on an official salary of a few hundred a year and no private means it was likely that he was tolerably well acquainted with the subject. ~ Patrick O Brian, #NFDB
1375:The government now requisitions the publics' telephone records and sifts through its emails. It labels whistle-blowers such as Edward Snowden as traitors, even though they have exposed the corruption, lawlessness and host of antidemocratic practices engaged in by established governments. Police can take DNA samples of all people arrested of a crime, whether they are proven guilty or not. The United States is incarcerating people in record numbers, imprisoning over 2.3 million inmates while 6 million people at any one time [are] under carceral supervision - more than were in Stalin's Gulag. ~ Henry Giroux, #NFDB
1376:The gravest error a thinking person can make is to believe that one particular version of history is absolute fact. History is recorded by a series of observers, none of whom is impartial. The facts are distorted by sheer passage of time and thousands of years of humanity's dark ages, deliberate misrepresentations by religious sects, and the inevitable corruption that comes from an accumulation of careless mistakes. The wise person, then, views history as a set of lessons to be learned, choices and ramifications to be considered and discussed, and mistakes that should never again be made. ~ Frank Herbert, #NFDB
1377:Agent Jones switched to the big screen and a grainy video of MoMo sitting at his enormous desk, a swivel-hipped Elvis clock ticking behind his bewigged head. 'Death to the capitalist pigs! Death to your cinnamon bun-smelling malls! Death to your power walking and automatic car windows and I'm With Stupid T-shirts! The Republic of ChaCha will never bend to your side-of-fries -drive -through-please-oh-would-you-like-ketchup-with-that corruption! MoMo B. ChaCha defies you and all you stand for, and one day, you will crumble into the sea and we will pick up the pieces and make them into sand art. ~ Libba Bray, #NFDB
1378:Now, however, it is only seven thousand who are killed, and the great majority are to be rescued. Suddenly, out of the smoke and fire of the earlier chapters, a vision is emerging: a vision of the creator God as the God of mercy, grieving over the rebellion and corruption of the world but determined to rescue and restore it, and doing so through the faithful death of the lamb and, now, through the faithful death of the lamb’s prophetic followers. The way stands clear for the glorious celebration at the end of the chapter, which rounds off the first half of this very carefully structured book. ~ Tom Wright, #NFDB
1379:A great leader must serve the best interests of the people first, not those of multinational corporations. Human life should never be sacrificed for monetary profit. There are no exceptions. In addition, a leader should always be open to criticism, not silencing dissent. Any leader who does not tolerate criticism from the public is afraid of their dirty hands being revealed under heavy light. And such a leader is dangerous, because they only feel secure in the darkness. Only a leader who is free from corruption welcomes scrutiny; for scrutiny allows a good leader to be an even greater leader. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
1380:The plain truth is, within the space of our lifetimes, much of what Americans once almost universally abhorred has been packaged, perfumed, gift-wrapped, and sold to us as though it had great value. By skillfully playing on our deeply felt national values of fairness, generosity, and tolerance, these marketers have persuaded us to embrace as enlightened and noble that which all previous generations since America’s founding regarded as grossly self-destructive -– in a word, evil.” From The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom. ~ David Kupelian, #NFDB
1381:In striking down the existing campaign-finance laws, the courts eviscerated a century of reform. After a series of campaign scandals involving secret donations from the newly rich industrial barons in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Progressives had passed laws limiting spending in order to protect the democratic process from corruption. The laws were meant to safeguard political equality at a time of growing economic inequality. Reformers had seen the concentration of wealth in the hands of oil, steel, finance, and railroad magnates as threatening the democratic equilibrium. ~ Jane Mayer, #NFDB
1382:It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses to remember that the dullest, most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another ~ Sarah Mackenzie, #NFDB
1383:The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong it’s reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
1384:It is a fearful thing to hate whom God hath loved. To look upon another-his weaknesses, his sins, his faults, his defects is to look upon one who is suffering. He is suffering from negative passions, from the same sinful human corruption from which you yourself suffer. This is very important: do not look upon him with judgmental eyes of comparison, noting the sins you assume you'd never commit. Rather, see him as a fellow sufferer, a fellow human being who is in need of the very healing of which you are in need. Help him, love him, pray for him do unto him as you would have him do unto you. ~ Tikhon of Zadonsk, #NFDB
1385:Q.Do you have any positive message, in your opinion? A.Indeed I do think that I do. Q.Such as what? A.The crying, almost screaming, need of a great worldwide human effort to know ourselves and each other a great deal better, well enough to concede that no man has a monopoly on right or virtue any more than any man has a corner on duplicity and evil and so forth. If people, and races and nations, would start with that self-manifest truth, then I think that the world could sidestep the sort of corruption which I have involuntarily chosen as the basic, allegorical theme of my plays as a whole. ~ Tennessee Williams, #NFDB
1386:Questions are not happenstance thoughts nor are questions common problems of today which one picks up from hearsay and booklearning and decks out with a gesture of profundity questions grow out of confrontation with the subject matter and the subject matter is there only where eyes are, it is in this manner that questions will be posed and all the more considering that questions that have today fallen out of fashion in the great industry of problems. One stands up for nothing more than the normal running of the industry. Philosophy interprets its corruption as the resurrection of metaphysics. ~ Martin Heidegger, #NFDB
1387:It's because of my grandfather that I became a Young Avenger. But it's hard sometimes, to be a black kid carrying a name like "Patriot". I remember talking to Captain America about before he died, and he explained what Patriotism meant to him...
It wasn't about blindly supporting your government. It was about knowing what your country could be, what it should be... And trying to lead it there through your example. And holding it accountable when it failed. I remember he said: "There's noting patriotic about corruption or cover-ups... or defending them. But exposing them, well, that takes a hero. ~ Ed Brubaker,#NFDB
1388:Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad. ~ Christina Rossetti,#NFDB
1389:A cleansed vessel must be ruled with the opposite from which it was emptied. If fear was cast out, faith must be added. If corruption was cast out, purity must fill its place. If hatred and bitterness were cast out, love and forgiveness must occupy. In other words, one must fill himself with the character and nature of Christ Himself. When a man is completely occupied with matters of the Holy Spirit, there can be no room for evil. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). The filling of the house is accomplished by living a disciplined Christian life. Let ~ Frank Hammond, #NFDB
1390:Middle-class Americans might be invited to join a new elite by attacks against the corruption of the established rich. The New Yorker Cadwallader Colden, in his Address to the Freeholders in 1747, attacked the wealthy as tax dodgers unconcerned with the welfare of others (although he himself was wealthy) and spoke for the honesty and dependability of “the midling rank of mankind” in whom citizens could best trust “our liberty & Property.” This was to become a critically important rhetorical device for the rule of the few, who would speak to the many of “our” liberty, “our” property, “our” country. ~ Howard Zinn, #NFDB
1391:He was the ideal undercover agent for Western intelligence, Rafsanjani announced – ‘a person who seemingly comes from India and who apparently is separate from the Western world and who has a misleading name’. Rushdie was a white colonialist, hiding beneath a brown skin; a traitor hiding behind a Muslim name. The British secret service had paid him to betray the faithful, the Iranian theocracy explained as it added corruption to the list of charges against him. It gave him bribes, disguised as book advances, as it organised the assault on Islam by the cunning if curious means of a magical realist novel. ~ Nick Cohen, #NFDB
1392:Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor in America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
1393:A thousand prayers and praises and do not honor God so much—as the mortifying of one lust! "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." 1 Samuel 15:22. "Upon mount Zion there shall be deliverance and holiness," Obadiah 17. When these two go together, deliverance and holiness; when, being made monuments of mercy, we are patterns of piety; then a deliverance comes in love, and we may say as Hezekiah, "You have in love to my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption. ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
1394:What was in fact blown up on the 8th of November 2016 was the social contract, the paradigm that says you can live comfortably without getting your hands dirty with politics. The belief that it only takes your one vote every four years (or no vote at all: you’re above politics) to have your freedoms protected. This belief was torn to pieces. The belief that institutions are here to protect us and take care of us, and we don’t need to bother ourselves with protecting these institutions from being eroded by corruption, lobbyists, monopolies, corporate and government control over our personal data. ~ Nadya Tolokonnikova, #NFDB
1395:Jazz. Here in Germany it become something worse than a virus. We was all of us damn fleas, us Negroes and Jews and low-life hoodlums, set on playing that vulgar racket, seducing sweet blond kids into corruption and sex. It was a plague sent out by the dread black hordes, engineered by the Jews. Us Negroes, see, we was only half to blame - we just can't help it. Savages just got a natural feel for filthy rhythms, no self-control to speak of. But the Jews, brother, now they cooked up this jungle music on purpose. All part of their master plan to weaken Aryan youth, corrupt its janes, dilute its bloodlines. ~ Esi Edugyan, #NFDB
1396:Q.Do you have any positive message, in your opinion?
A.Indeed I do think that I do.
Q.Such as what?
A.The crying, almost screaming, need of a great worldwide human effort to know ourselves and each other a great deal better, well enough to concede that no man has a monopoly on right or virtue any more than any man has a corner on duplicity and evil and so forth. If people, and races and nations, would start with that self-manifest truth, then I think that the world could sidestep the sort of corruption which I have involuntarily chosen as the basic, allegorical theme of my plays as a whole. ~ Tennessee Williams,#NFDB
1397:Placing a black person in control of an essentially apartheid system—whether that system is a city or its welfare apparatus or its public schools—seems to serve at least three functions. It offers symbolism that protects the white society against the charges of racism. It offers enforcement, since a black official is expected to be even more severe in putting down unrest than white officials. It offers scapegoats: When the situation is unchanged, he or she may be condemned, depending on the situation, for corruption or ineptitude or lack of vision, for too much (or for too little) flair or energy or passion. ~ Jonathan Kozol, #NFDB
1398:17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest gloom of darkness has been reserved. 18For, uttering loud boasts of folly, they entice with licentious passions of the flesh men who have barely escaped from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved. 20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1399:Partial Resemblance
A doll's hair concealing
an eggshell skull delicately
throbbing, within which
maggots in voluptuous unrest
jostle and shrug. Oh, Eileen, my
big doll, your gold hair was
not more sunny than this
human fur, but
your head was
radiant in its emptiness,
a small clean room.
Her warm and rosy mouth
is telling lies—she would
believe them if she could believe:
her pretty eyes
search out corruption. Oh, Eileen
how kindly your silence was, and
what virtue
shone in the opening and shutting of your
ingenious blindness.
~ Denise Levertov,#NFDB
1400:The "war" is being fought along the line between sin and righteousness in every family. It is being fought along the line between truth and falsehood in every school... Between justice and injustice in every legislature... Between integrity and corruption in every office... Between love and hate in every ethnic group... Between pride and humility in every sport... Between the beautiful and the ugly in every art... Between right doctrine and wrong doctrine in every church... Between sloth and diligence between coffee breaks. It is not a waste to fight the battle for truth and faith and love on any of these fronts. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
1401:When we are foiled by corruption we must go to Christ, for he is king; desire him by his kingly power to subdue our corruptions, to bind these kings with chains. Psalm 149:8. We are apt to say of our sins, "These sons of Zeruiah will be too strong for us!" "We shall never overcome our corruptions!" Go to Christ—he is king. Though our lusts are too strong for us—they are not for Christ to conquer; for by his Spirit he can break the power of sin. When Joshua had conquered five kings, he caused his servants to set their feet on the necks of those kings; so Christ can and will set his feet on the necks of our lusts! ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
1402:The writer H. P. Lovecraft would later provide an example of the animosity Americans felt toward the newcomers in a letter to a friend in which he described immigrants from Italy crowded into the Lower East Side as creatures who “could not by any stretch of the imagination be call’d human.” Instead, “they were monstrous and nebulous adumbrations of the pithecanthropoid and amoebal; vaguely moulded from some stinking viscous slime of earth’s corruption, and slithering and oozing in and on the filthy streets or in and out of doorways in a fashion suggestive of nothing but infesting worms or deep-sea unnamabilities. ~ Stephan Talty, #NFDB
1403:In one of C. S. Lewis's more striking passages, he challenges us
to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you
would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.... There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations-these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. ~ Dallas Willard,#NFDB
1404:Democracy and freedom of information go together, because if the electorate does not know what has been done in its name, it cannot pass a fair verdict on its rulers. Democracy’s advantage over other systems is that it allows countries to replace rulers without violence. But electorates cannot ‘throw the scoundrels out’ if censorship prevents them from learning that the scoundrels are scoundrels in the first place. The limiting of state corruption, meanwhile, is also an ambition that is beyond conventional politics, because it is a universal human aspiration that everyone who has experienced the insolence of office shares. ~ Nick Cohen, #NFDB
1405:When I was no longer of the world, I would miss its extravagant beauty. I would miss the complex and charming layers of subterfuge by which the truth of the world's mysteries were withheld from us even as we were tantalized and enchanted by them. I would miss the kindness of good people who were compassionate when so many were pitiless, who made their way through so much corruption without being corrupted themselves, who eschewed envy in a world of envy, who eschewed greed in a world of greed, who valued truth and could not be drowned in a sea of lies, for they shone and, by the light they cast, they warmed me all my life. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
1406:Remember
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more, day by day,
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad. ~ Christina Rossetti,#NFDB
1407:sexual orthodoxy and the exercise of power. If a President can’t keep his pants on, does he lose the right to rule us? If a public servant cheats on his wife does this make him more likely to cheat on the electorate? For myself, I’d rather be ruled by an adulterer, by some sexual rogue, than by a prim celibate or zipped-up spouse. As criminals tend to specialize in certain crimes, so corrupt politicians normally specialize in their corruption: the sexual blackguards stick to fucking, the bribe-takers to graft. In which case it would make more sense to elect proven adulterers instead of discouraging them from public life. I ~ Julian Barnes, #NFDB
1408:George W. Grayson, professor of government at the College of William and Mary, published a background paper in 2006 that included some salient details. Mexican federal deputies earn $148,000 a year as opposed to the French, who make $78,000, or the Germans, who earn $105,000. When they show up for work, they only participate in two legislative sessions a year, which collectively last six and a half months (less weekends and holidays). State legislators earn $60,632 a year, more than double that of their counterparts in the United States, who make $28,261. Even more money is made through the traffic of influence and corruption. ~ David Lida, #NFDB
1409:When I was no longer of the world, I would miss its extravagant beauty. I would miss the complex and charming layers of subterfuge by which the truth of the world’s mysteries were withheld from us even as we were tantalized and enchanted by them. I would miss the kindness of good people who were compassionate when so many were pitiless, who made their way through so much corruption without being corrupted themselves, who eschewed envy in a world of envy, who eschewed greed in a world of greed, who valued truth and could not be drowned in a sea of lies, for they shone and, by the light they cast, they had warmed me all my life. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
1410:Law enforcement loses its moral compass when what is asked of it undermines its ethical base. When in service to corruption—and when that corruption is thoroughly even if only unconsciously perceived—despair and nihilism follows. The good is deemed ineffectual. The bad is set upon a movable scale of permissibility, one that inevitably climbs to ever greater extremes. In this context, the police become tribal and will act first and foremost in defense of itself. Further indoctrination reinforces this escalation. In effect, the law rises above the law, and the sudden absence of restraint is an invitation to unchecked brutality. ~ Steven Erikson, #NFDB
1411:Remember
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
~ Christina Georgina Rossetti,#NFDB
1412:Remember" by Christina Rossetti
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad. ~ Christina Rossetti,#NFDB
1413:You know how it is when some great king enters a large city and dwells in one of its houses; because of his dwelling in that single house, the whole city is honored, and enemies and robbers cease to molest it. Even so is it with the King of all; He has come into our country and dwelt in one body amidst the many, and in consequence the designs of the enemy against mankind have been foiled and the corruption of death, which formerly held them in its power, has simply ceased to be. For the human race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Savior of all the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death. ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
1414:You know how it is when some great king enters a large city and dwells in one of its houses; because of his dwelling in that single house, the whole city is honored, and enemies and robbers cease to molest it. Even so is it with the King of all; He has come into our country and dwelt in one body amidst the many, and in consequence the designs of the enemy against mankind have been foiled and the corruption of death, which formerly held them in its power, has simply ceased to be. For the human race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Savior of all, the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death. ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
1415:Extreme civilization robs crime of its frightful poetry, and prevents the writer from restoring it. That would be too dreadful, say those good souls who want everything to be prettified, even the horrible. In the name of philanthropy, imbecile criminologists reduce the punishment, and inept moralists the crime, and what is more they reduce the crime only in order to reduce the punishment. Yet the crimes of extreme civilization are undoubtedly more atrocious than those of extreme barbarism, by virtue of their refinement, of the corruption they imply and of their superior degree of intellectualism. ("A Woman's Vengeance") ~ Jules Barbey d Aurevilly, #NFDB
1416:It was the practice of our past pious seniors and veterans that at such times of corruption they used to keep themselves aloof from the general public. They advised others to follow the same course as they followed during their secluded lives. There is no doubt that they were more farsighted and discerning and sympathetic with the people than we. The present age is worse than their age. Hazrat Imam Ghazali (RA) has given this account about the 5th century A.H. Now consider what is the condition of this age. How necessary is it to seek safety from the evils of the times, to reform ourselves and take to privacy and seclusion. ~ Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, #NFDB
1417:I said, 'I'll tell you about shit, Roebuck. Take it from an expert. There's two main things about it. One thing is it's stink and corruption and waste. The other thing is if you don't pile it up too thick in any one place, it makes the seeds grow.' I said, 'Roebuck, God's where there's seeds growing. God's where there's something no bigger than the head of a pin starting to inch up out of the stink and dark of shit towards the light of day.' I said, 'Roebuck, God so loved the world he sent his only begotten son down there into the shit with the rest of us so something green could happen, something small and green and hopeful'. ~ Frederick Buechner, #NFDB
1418:And Tietjens, who hated no man, in face of this simple-minded and agreeable schoolboy type of fellow, fell to wondering why it was that humanity that was next to always agreeable in its units was, as a mass, a phenomenon so hideous. You look at a dozen men, each of them not by any means detestable and not uninteresting: for each of them would have technical details of their affairs to impart: you formed them into a Government or a club, and at once, with oppressions, inaccuracies, gossip, backbiting, lying, corruption and vileness, you had the combination of wolf, tiger, weasel, and louse-covered ape that was human society. And he ~ Ford Madox Ford, #NFDB
1419:Criticism of religion must extend not only to its basic claims but to all of its statements. Religion is liable to distortion from without and to corruption from within. Since it frequently absorbs ideas not indigenous to its spirit, it is necessary to distinguish between the authentic and the spurious. Furthermore, superstition, pride, self-righteousness, bias, and vulgarity, may defile the finest traditions. Faith in its zeal tends to become bigotry. The criticism of reason, the challenge, and the doubts of the unbeliever may, therefore, be more helpful to the integrity of faith than the simple reliance on one's own faith. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, #NFDB
1420:Finally, there came a time when everything that men had considered as inalienable became an object of exchange, of traffic and could be alienated. This is the time when the very things which till then had been communicated, but never exchanged; given, but never sold; acquired, but never bought – virtue, love, conviction, knowledge, conscience, etc. – when everything, in short, passed into commerce. It is the time of general corruption, of universal venality, or, to speak in terms of political economy, the time when everything, moral or physical, having become a marketable value, is brought to the market to be assessed at its truest value. ~ Karl Marx, #NFDB
1421:So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
1422:It was a lengthy text, setting out the perfidies of the Jews and the insufficiency of measures so far taken to stop their corruption of Christian belief. “Therefore we command…all Jews and Jewesses, of whatever age they may be, that live, reside, and dwell in our said kingdoms and dominions…by the end of the month of July next, of the present year 1492, they depart from our said kingdoms…and that they not presume to return to, or reside therein, or they shall incur the penalty of death.” Jews were not to leave with gold or silver or gems; they had to pay all outstanding debts but were not in a position to collect any monies owed to them. ~ Geraldine Brooks, #NFDB
1423:Men call you fayre, and you doe credit it,
For that your self ye daily such doe see:
But the trew fayre, that is the gentle wit,
And vertuous mind, is much more praysd of me.
For all the rest, how ever fayre it be,
Shall turne to nought and loose that glorious hew:
But onely that is permanent and free
From frayle corruption, that doth flesh ensew.
That is true beautie: that doth argue you
To be divine and borne of heavenly seed:
Deriv'd from that fayre Spirit, from whom al true
And perfect beauty did at first proceed.
He onely fayre, and what he fayre hath made,
All other fayre lyke flowres untymely fade. ~ Edmund Spenser,#NFDB
1424:The Power of God’s Promise.* 3 His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of hima who called us by his own glory and power.* 4 Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.b 5 * For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge,c 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, 7 devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1425:The bigger the government, the more the corruption. It's almost never mentioned, and it might be the biggest of the ten principles that I am speaking of…Do you know who has created the greatest evils of history? Big governments. Big SECULAR governments. Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, all big States. Why would anybody trust the big state? It's amazing how many callers have imbued the college message that more people have been killed by religion than anything else in history. NO. More people have been killed by governments than anything else in history…….and just in the 20th century alone, and none of them were religious. You don't learn THAT in college. ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
1426:Challenging boundaries is not simply social rebellion. It is the catalyst of social evolution. When systems go unchallenged, they grow complacent and corrupt. Raising generation after generation of rule followers and conformists may be more convenient for society, but it inevitably leads to tyranny and, ultimately, revolution. Raising independent thinkers, conscious objectors, and peaceful activists creates a social balance that can endure. Peaceful parenting, then, by its very nature, is socially responsible because it creates the catalysts of social evolution that protect our society from the complacency and corruption that lead to tyranny and revolution. ~ L R Knost, #NFDB
1427:Her voice rose in her refutation. “We are not corrupt, Rra.” “Yes,” he said enthusiastically. “That’s just the right thing to say, Mma. Just right. And anyway, this corruption nonsense—what are they talking about? Is it corruption to do whatever is necessary to make sure that important economic assets are constructed? Is it corrupt to make sure that jobs are created for people currently without work? Is that corrupt, Mma? If it is, then I would be proud to call myself corrupt. I would go out in the streets and say, Here is a corrupt man doing his best for the economy of Botswana. That is what I would say. I would say it openly, and with pride, Mma. ~ Alexander McCall Smith, #NFDB
1428:The two national powers that dominated the colonies, France and Britain, represented two different models of corruption. Britain was seen as a failed ideal. It was corrupted republic, a place where the premise of government was basically sound but civic virtue—that of the public and public officials—was degenerating. On the other hand, France was seen as more essentially corrupt, a nation in which there was no true polity, but instead exchanges of luxury for power; a nation populated by weak subjects and flattering courtiers. Britain was the greater tragedy, because it held the promise of integrity, whereas France was simply something of a civic cesspool. ~ Zephyr Teachout, #NFDB
1429:The first major step towards achieving true world peace, and one of the most important pinnacles in the evolution of mankind, is to shift people's perception of how they view wealth. If we can change the way consumers place value on material versus spiritual wealth, we can demolish the media. We can make the government work for us. We can have Big Business serving the vested interests of the people and we can put a halt to advertising puffery, toxic chemicals in our medicines and foods, wars, violence, and corruption. Peacemakers come from all trades. We can be and will be self-sufficient. It starts now. We far outweigh those setting the rules and limitations. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
1430:The modern Westerner, persuaded that he has a right to 'think for himself' and imagining that he exercises this right, is unwilling to acknowledge that his every thought has been shaped by cultural and historical influences and that his opinions fit, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, into a pattern which has nothing random about it. Statements which begin with the words 'I think...' reflect a climate created by all those strands of belief and experience - as also of folly and corruption - which have gone to form the current mindset and to establish principles which cannot be doubted by any sane and reasonable man in this place and at this point in time. ~ Charles Le Gai Eaton, #NFDB
1431:Someone might object that men have always been like us, that there was greed, effeminacy, and corruption from the foundation of the city, and I would point to proportion. Men so easily forget Nature and Reason, yes, and this is a constant inclination, and so far I agree with the objection. But in some places virtue is made easy and in others hard, and in Rome the former become the latter. You can see it in our leaders. Think of Cincinnatus, respected enough to be offered the dictatorship in a crisis, respectful enough to give it up when the crisis had passed. That is virtue. I think I can stop with this one example—no need to contrast him with recent dictators. ~ Jordan M Poss, #NFDB
1432:We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress…. The people are demoralized; The newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled, public opinion silenced, business prostrated, homes covered with mortgages, labor impoverished…. The fruits of the toil of millions are badly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the history of mankind; and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic and endanger liberty. From the same prolific womb of governmental injustice we breed the two great classes—tramps and millionaires. ~ Ignatius L Donnelly, #NFDB
1433:Think it not enough, that you can bear the denial of sinful desires; but presently destroy the desires themselves. For if you let alone the desires, they may at last lay hold upon their prey, before you are aware: or if you should be guilty of nothing but the desires themselves, it is no small iniquity; being the corruption of the heart, and the rebellion and adultery of the principal faculty, which should be kept loyal and chaste to God. The crossness of thy will to the will of God, is the sum of all the evil and impiety of the soul; and the subjection and conformity of thy will to his, is the heart of the new creature, and of thy rectitude and sanctification. ~ Richard Baxter, #NFDB
1434:The flat, overall illumination of Protestant ideology was all very well but for these sophisticates, pure, simple plainness was not enough. Francis Bacon, corrupt, brilliant and unlikeable, builder of his own great pair of houses, now disappeared, not far away at St Albans, famous for the pale-faced catamites he kept to warm his bed, the inventor of the English essay, later to be Lord Chancellor, and, later still, accused of corruption, to be thrown to parliament as a sop to their demands, defined in his essay ‘On Truth’ the subtle and shifting Jacobean relationship to light and beauty, to plainness and richness, to clarity and sparkle. ‘This same Truth’, he wrote, ~ Adam Nicolson, #NFDB
1435:In 2012, Vigilance Commissioner R. Sri Kumar cited an internal study to say that the CBI’s conviction rate in corruption cases was a shocking 3.96 per cent. The CBI analysed 264 corruption cases in which 698 people were accused, including 486 government officials. On an average, the CBI took more than thirteen months to conclude investigations and just eight out of the total accused were convicted after twenty-six years of investigation and trial, Sri Kumar said. ‘There is no certainty of punishment for corruption and that is why corruption has increased,’ said Sri Kumar, who, as a member of the Central Vigilance Commission, was officially tasked to supervise the CBI. ~ Josy Joseph, #NFDB
1436:PREFACE So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use. HAUTEVILLE HOUSE, 1862. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
1437:The place reeked of vice and corruption and the dregs of Parisian society in all its rottenness gathered there: cheats, conmen and cheap hacks rubbed shoulders with under-age dandies, old roués and rogues, sleazy underworld types once notorious for things best forgotten mingled with other small-time crooks and speculators, dabblers in dubious ventures, frauds, pimps, and racketeers. Cheap sex, both male and female, was on offer in this tawdry meat-market of a place where petty rivalries were exploited, and quarrels picked over nothing in an atmosphere of fake gallantry where swords or pistols at dawn settled matters of highly questionable honour in the first place. ~ Guy de Maupassant, #NFDB
1438:He was the most contradictory of men. A champion of extending freedom and democracy to even the poorest of whites, Jackson was an unrepentant slaveholder. A sentimental man who rescued an Indian orphan on a battlefield to raise in his home, Jackson was responsible for the removal of Indian tribes from their ancestral lands. An enemy of Eastern financial elites and a relentless opponent of the Bank of the United States, which he believed to be a bastion of corruption, Jackson also promised to die, if necessary, to preserve the power and prestige of the central government. Like us and our America, Jackson and his America achieved great things while committing grievous sins. ~ Jon Meacham, #NFDB
1439:I blame my rapidly beating heart on the melody, the music that brims with so much life. Somehow this night reminds me of Julian’s lessons, his histories of the world before our own. That was a world of empires, of corruption, of war—and more freedom than I’ve ever known. But the people of that time are gone, their dreams in ruin, existing only in smoke and ash. It’s our nature, Julian would say. We destroy. It’s the constant of our kind. No matter the color of blood, man will always fall. I didn’t understand that lesson a few days ago, but now, with Cal’s hands in mine, guiding me with the lightest touch, I’m beginning to see what he meant. I can feel myself falling. ~ Victoria Aveyard, #NFDB
1440:His ranch adjoined the Rio Grande, the river that formed the boundary between the United States and Mexico, with its poverty, caste system, and systemic corruption. So the poor Mexicans migrated. Over thirteen million of them, over a fifth of the Mexican population, had crossed that border illegally in the last fifty years and were grubbing for work in the United States, usually for minimum wage, or living on welfare and food stamps. Illiterate, unskilled, and usually unable to speak English, they flooded the schools with their children, kept blue-collar wages low, and formed an underclass that resisted assimilation and required huge amounts of public assistance dollars. ~ Stephen Coonts, #NFDB
1441:By the latter part of 1861 the War Department had taken over from the states the responsibility for feeding, clothing, and arming Union soldiers. But this process was marred by inefficiency, profiteering, and corruption. To fill contracts for hundreds of thousands of uniforms, textile manufacturers compressed the fibers of recycled woolen goods into a material called “shoddy.” This noun soon became an adjective to describe uniforms that ripped after a few weeks of wear, shoes that fell apart, blankets that disintegrated, and poor workmanship in general on items necessary to equip an army of half a million men and to create its support services within a few short months. ~ James M McPherson, #NFDB
1442:Sonnet Lxxix
MEn call you fayre, and you doe credit it,
For that your selfe ye dayly such doe see:
but the trew fayre, that is the gentle wit,
and vertuous mind is much more praysd of me.
For all the rest, how euer fayre it be,
shall turne to nought and loose that glorious hew:
but onely that is permanent and free
from frayle corruption, that doth flesh ensew.
That is true beautie: that doth argue you
to be diuine and borne of heauenly seed:
deriu'd from that fayre Spirit, from whom al true
and perfect beauty did at first proceed.
He only fayre, and what he fayre hath made,
all other fayre lyke flowres vntymely fade.
~ Edmund Spenser,#NFDB
1443:In Chapter 5 we consider swindles and defalcations. It happens that crashes and panics often are precipitated by the revelation of some misfeasance, malfeasance, or malversation (the corruption of officials) engendered during the mania. It seems clear from the historical record that swindles are a response to the greedy appetite for wealth stimulated by the boom. And as the monetary system gets stretched, institutions lose liquidity, and unsuccessful swindles are about to be revealed, the temptation to take the money and run becomes virtually irresistible. It is difficult to write on this subject without permitting the typewriter to drip with irony. An attempt will be made. ~ Charles P Kindleberger, #NFDB
1444:It is perfectly possible — indeed, it is far from uncommon — to go to bed one night, or wake up one morning, or simply walk through a door one has known all one’s life, and discover, between inhaling and exhaling, that the self one has sewn together with such effort is all dirty rags, is unusable, is gone: and out of what raw material will one build a self again? The lives of men — and, therefore, of nations — to an extent literally unimaginable, depend on how vividly this question lives in the mind. It is a question which can paralyze the mind, of course; but if the question does not live in the mind, then one is simply condemned to eternal youth, which is a synonym for corruption. ~ James Baldwin, #NFDB
1445:Karzai stands in relation to the Afghanistan War as Ngo Dinh Diem stands in relation to the Vietnam War: His credentials as a nationalist untainted by corruption but with a Western orientation made him in Washington’s eyes a seemingly ideal partner. In the 1950s, the Eisenhower administration had sought to use President Diem as its agent in creating a Republic of Vietnam compatible with U.S. national security interests. In the 2000s, the Bush administration sought to use Karzai for similar purposes. Much to their subsequent
consternation, U.S. military and civilian officials soon enough discovered, as they had four decades earlier with Diem, that Karzai had a mind of his own. ~ Andrew J Bacevich,#NFDB
1446:Joseph of Arimathea, another wealthy man, but a Pharisee. Joseph said, “My brother Annas sounds more like a pagan Greek than a Hebrew.” Some scattered laughs peppered the crowd. Longinus shook his head with contempt. “Not only does the prophet Daniel clearly speak of a general resurrection of the dead, but Isaiah and our beloved David reveal it to be so. May I quote from the Scriptures that Annas and his Sadducees so proudly claim to be the sole beneficiaries of? A Psalm of David: ‘For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.’ And the prophet Isaiah, who, I may remind my illustrious opponents, wrote Scripture, said of a Suffering Servant, and I quote, ~ Brian Godawa, #NFDB
1447:Amoretti Lxxix: Men Call You Fair
Men call you fair, and you do credit it,
For that your self ye daily such do see:
But the true fair, that is the gentle wit,
And vertuous mind, is much more prais'd of me.
For all the rest, how ever fair it be,
Shall turn to naught and lose that glorious hue:
But only that is permanent and free
From frail corruption, that doth flesh ensue.
That is true beauty: that doth argue you
To be divine, and born of heavenly seed:
Deriv'd from that fair Spirit, from whom all true
And perfect beauty did at first proceed.
He only fair, and what he fair hath made,
All other fair, like flowers untimely fade.
~ Edmund Spenser,#NFDB
1448:Think of progressives as a species of religious fundamentalists planning a redemption. Like fundamentalists, they look at the world as fallen – a place corrupted by racism, sexism and class division. But the truly religious understand that we are the source of corruption and that redemption is only possible through the work of a Divinity. In contrast, progressives see themselves as the redeemers, which is why they are so dangerous, because they regard those who oppose them as the eternally damned. Progressives are on a mission to create the kingdom of heaven on earth by redistributing income and using the state to enforce politically correct attitudes and practices in everyone’s life.3 ~ David Kupelian, #NFDB
1449:Beaucoup de gens pensent : Si les enfants n'ont rien à craindre, comment peuvent-ils être droits ? La droiture qui dépend de la peur de l'enfer, du gendarme ou de la punition n'est pas de la droiture du tout - c'est tout simplement de la lâcheté. La droiture qui dépend de l'espoir d'une récompense, d'une louange ou du ciel est une forme de corruption. La morale d'aujourd'hui fait de nos enfants des lâches, car elle leur fait craindre la vie. Et le "bien-fondé" de la discipline n'est pas autre chose. Des milliers de professeurs font un travail splendide sans avoir à recouvrir à la menace de la punition. Les autres sont des inadaptés incompétents qu'on devrait chasser de la profession. (p. 176) ~ A S Neill, #NFDB
1450:So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use. HAUTEVILLE HOUSE, 1862. [Translation by Isabel F. Hapgood] ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
1451:He did believe that the magistrate had entered the almshouse searching for a son. How it must agonize Woodward now, to think he might lose another one to the corruption of circumstance. But as much as Matthew felt for the magistrate, he would not—could not—turn away from Rachel. He might be a substitute for a son, yes … but he was also a man, and he must do what he thought to be the correct thing. Which meant fighting to prove her innocence, right up to the moment of her execution. Nightbird or not, she had indeed spoken to him. He heard her even now, suffering in the darkness of her cage. What was he going to do tomorrow, when the magistrate asked him to prepare the decree of death and sign it as ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1452:But since the will of man could turn either way, God secured this grace that He had given by making it conditional from the first upon two things--namely, a law and a place. He set them in His own paradise, and laid upon them a single prohibition. If they guarded the grace and retained the loveliness of their original innocence, then the life of paradise should be theirs, without sorrow, pain or care, and after it the assurance of immortality in heaven. But if they went astray and became vile, throwing away their birthright of beauty, then they would come under the natural law of death and live no longer in paradise, but, dying outside of it, continue in death and in corruption. ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
1453:Autocrats can avoid the technical difficulties of gathering and redistributing wealth by authorizing their supporters to reward themselves directly. For many leaders, corruption is not something bad that needs to be eliminated. Rather it is an essential political tool. Leaders implicitly or sometimes even explicitly condone corruption. Effectively they license the right to extract bribes from the citizens. This avoids the administrative headache of organizing taxation and transferring the funds to supporters. Saddam Hussein’s sons were notorious for smuggling during the 1990s when Iraq was subject to sanctions. They made a fortune from the sanctions that were supposed to harm the regime. ~ Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, #NFDB
1454:O Lord, I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy handmaid: Thou hast broken my bonds in sunder. I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of Let my heart and my tongue praise Thee; yea, let all my bones say, O Lord, who is like unto Thee? Let them say, and answer Thou me, and say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Who am I, and what am I? What evil have not been either my deeds, or if not my deeds, my words, or if not my words, my will? But Thou, O Lord, are good and merciful, and Thy right hand had respect unto the depth of my death, and from the bottom of my heart emptied that abyss of corruption. And this Thy whole gift was, to nill what I willed, and to will what Thou willedst. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #NFDB
1455:Lack of true understanding as to the meaning of the "temptation" and the "fall" led Christian theologians to regard all female kind as the embodiment of temptation and corruption. In fact, the old story to the effect that "with Adam's fall we sinned us all" is one of the most ludicrous errors of theology. Nowhere is it more evident in scriptural writings that "the letter of the law killeth" than in this particular instance. In fact, the whole Christian theory of redemption, and the estate of Christ in the concepts of orthodox theologians depends upon the literal and benighted misunderstanding of the ancient Chaldean myth, long regarded not only as history but as scripture. ~ Manly P Hall, How to Understand Your Bible, #NFDB
1456:So far, then from the megamachine's being utterly discredited by the colossal errors of its ruling 'elite,' the opposite actually happened: it was rebuilt by the Western allies on advanced scientific lines, with its defective human parts replaced by mechanical and electronic and chemical sustitutes, and finally coupled to a source of power that made all previous modes of power-production as obsolete as Bronze Age missiles. In short, in the very act of dying the Nazis transmitted the germs of their disease to their American opponents: not only the methods of compulsive organization or physical destruction, but the moral corruption that made it feasible to employ these methods without stirring opposition. ~ Lewis Mumford, #NFDB
1457:If you want to understand power’s dangers, slavery has one advantage: it is vivid and complete in its corruption. In enslavement one human being asserts unlimited power over another, an assertion that requires not just the inflation of the slave owner’s power to unholy, godlike levels, but the eradication of the slave’s power. Some masters may be relatively benevolent (as some were, at least in their own eyes, in the era of American slavery). But the master-slave relationship remains one of categorical lordship, and it is predicated on the owner’s assertion of the right to take anything and everything from the slave, up to and including her life. Ultimately the owner owns everything; the slave owns nothing. ~ Andy Crouch, #NFDB
1458:There was a time when a new deputy tried to teach Mr. Fruit about the difference between a red and a green light, but Mr. Fruit had resisted all efforts to reorder what he had been doing perfectly well for many years. He had not only monitored the comings and goings of the town, his presence softened the ingrained evil that flourished along the invisible margins of the town’s consciousness. Any community can be judged in its humanity or corruption by how it manages to accommodate the Mr. Fruits of the world. Colleton simply adjusted itself to Mr. Fruit’s harmonies and ordinations. He did whatever he felt was needed and he did it with style. “That’s the Southern way” my grandmother said. “That’s the nice way. ~ Pat Conroy, #NFDB
1459:So oft it chances in particular men
That for some vicious mole of nature in
them—
As in their birth (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin),
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of
reason,
Or by some habit that too much o'erleavens
The form of plausive manners—that these
men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being nature’s livery or fortune’s star,
Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo)
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault. The dram of evil
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
To his own scandal. ~ William Shakespeare,#NFDB
1460:Culture is always in a near-dead state, even though it was established by the spirit of great people in the past. But the present is not the past. The wisdom of the past thus deteriorates, or becomes outdated, in proportion to the genuine difference between the conditions of the present and the past. That is a mere consequence of the passage of time, and the change that passage inevitably brings. But it is also the case that culture and its wisdom is additionally vulnerable to corruption—to voluntary, willful blindness and Mephistophelean intrigue. Thus, the inevitable functional decline of the institutions granted to us by our ancestors is sped along by our misbehavior—our missing of the mark—in the present. ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
1461:It is not that Argentinians are just naïve and think that Juan Perón or the more recent Perónist politicians such as Menem or the Kirchners are selfless and looking out for their interests, or that Venezuelans see their salvation in Chávez. Instead, many Argentinians and Venezuelans recognize that all other politicians and parties have for so long failed to give them voice, to provide them with the most basic public services, such as roads and education, and to protect them from exploitation by local elites. So many Venezuelans today support the policies that Chávez is adopting even if these come with corruption and waste in the same way that many Argentinians supported Perón’s policies in the 1940s and 1970s. ~ Daron Acemo lu, #NFDB
1462:Pick a leader who will keep jobs in your country by offering companies incentives to hire only within their borders, not one who allows corporations to outsource jobs for cheaper labor when there is a national employment crisis. Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
1463:And, because in some hard core of me, in some stubborn trench of selfish refusal, I could not, even at ten years of age, surrender to anything or anyone, I fought that pain. I analysed its offensive, and found its lines of attack. It festered, like the corruption in a wound turned sour, drawing strength from me. I knew enough to know the remedy. Hot iron for infection, cauterize, burn, make it pure. I cut from myself all the weakness of care. The love for my dead, I put aside, secure in a casket, an object of study, a dry exhibit, no longer bleeding, cut loose, set free. The capacity for new love, I burned out. I watered it with acid until the ground lay barren and nothing there would sprout, no flower take root. ~ Mark Lawrence, #NFDB
1464:Convinced the gospel is a product we’ve got to sell to an increasingly shrinking market, we like our people to function as walking advertisements: happy, put-together, finished—proof that this Jesus stuff WORKS! At its best, such a culture generates pews of Stepford Wife–style robots with painted smiles and programmed moves. At its worst, it creates environments where abuse and corruption get covered up to protect reputations and preserve image. “The world is watching,” Christians like to say, “so let’s be on our best behavior and quickly hide the mess. Let’s throw up some before-and-after shots and roll that flashy footage of our miracle product blanching out every sign of dirt, hiding every sign of disease. ~ Rachel Held Evans, #NFDB
1465:Culture is always in a near-dead state, even though it was established by the spirit of great people in the past. But the present is not the past. The wisdom of the past thus deteriorates, or becomes outdated, in proportion to the genuine difference between the conditions of the present and the past. That is a mere consequence of the passage of time, and the change that passage inevitably brings. But it is also the case that culture and its wisdom is additionally vulnerable to corruption—to voluntary, willful blindness and Mephistophelean intrigue. Thus, the inevitable functional decline of the institutions granted to us by our ancestors is sped along by our misbehavior—our missing of the mark—in the present. ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
1466:The stubborn of a captive mentality can be clearly seen in the formulation of national development plans in most developing nations where the fundamental meaning and criteria of knowledge and development, modernization and reform, progress and change, happiness, tolerance, pluralism and their respective antonyms - such as under-development and corruption - are all derived from Western frameworks. Sometimes the strangest phenomenon surfaces - such as when the methodology of understanding and teaching indigenous religions is regarded as being uncritical and less objective if it does not utilize the methods developed by Western scholars in the understanding and teaching Western religions and religious texts. ~ Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, #NFDB
1467:We all appreciate in others the inner qualities of kindness, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, and generosity, and in the same way we are all averse to displays of greed, malice, hatred, and bigotry.
The first beneficiaries of such a strengthening our inner values will, no doubt, be ourselves. Our inner lives are something we ignore at our own peril, and many of the greatest problems we face in today's world are the result of such neglect.
When a system is sound, its effectiveness depends on the way it is used.
So long as people give priority to material values, then injustice, corruption, inequity, intolerance, and greed-all the outward manifestations of neglect of inner values-will persist. ~ Dalai Lama XIV,#NFDB
1468:With each of these parental fixations, the object of fear correlates less to the level of risk than to parents’ ability (or perceived ability) to exert control over the outcome. If you are a Puritan parent, why fret over the very significant possibility that your children will perish by contagion when you lack any knowledge or medicine to manage this risk? Better to worry about moral corruption and spiritual goodness, outcomes one might hope to influence—it’s the college admissions thing with the hereafter in place of Stanford. Likewise, today’s parents and parenting experts tend not to focus on many of the very daunting problems facing our children when those problems are beyond the scope of an individual’s influence. ~ Kim Brooks, #NFDB
1469:Yet, even allowing for these failings, was not St John Clarke still a person more like myself than anyone else sitting round the table? That was a sobering thought. He, too, for longer years, had existed in the imagination, even though this imagination led him (in my eyes) to a world ludicrously contrived, socially misleading, professionally nauseous. On top of that, had he not on this earlier occasion gone out of his way to speak a word of carefully hedged praise for my own work? Was that, therefore, an aspect of his critical faculty for which he should be given credit, or was it an even stronger reason for guarding against the possibility of corruption at the hands of one whose own writings could not be approved? ~ Anthony Powell, #NFDB
1470:Dagon met with Ba’alzebul, Asherah and Molech in the sanctuary of his temple. They had come to discuss the latest intelligence delivered to them by Asherah’s spies. Dagon said incredulously, “Nimrod? King Saul is in the hands of the spirit of Nimrod?” “So we think,” said Asherah. Ba’alzebul added, “That means he cannot be the Chosen Seed of Yahweh.” Molech said, “That means Israel’s fall is at hand. I will have them passing their children through my fires in no time. We will not need war. Israel will be conquered through inner corruption.” “Do not count your bastards before they are birthed, mole god,” said Asherah. “If he is not the Chosen Seed, then someone else is. When the kingdom of Saul falls, that Seed will rise. ~ Brian Godawa, #NFDB
1471:Everyone here has a different gripe, large or small. The bad fish, for instance, which I’m told is caught in polluted rivers and can be deadly. The biggest complaint, though, is the lack of queuing. “It’s not first-come, first-served, it’s most-obnoxious, first-served,” says Abby. The lack of trust is another popular gripe. “Friends don’t even trust friends. If bad things happen to their friends, people think, ‘Good, maybe it won’t happen to me,’ ” says one volunteer. Corruption is another theme. Paying professors for passing grades is widespread, so much so that Moldovans won’t go to doctors under thirty-five years old. They suspect—with good reason—that they bought their degrees. Thus, the radius of mistrust is widened. ~ Eric Weiner, #NFDB
1472:On day six, the other gods of the pantheon arrived on boats to join in the festivities. They gathered in the shrine on the top of Etemenanki as sacrifices were offered. Then the little clay figurines of mankind were struck by priests and purified in fire for the atonement of the people. Abram was allowed to stay in the city under the protection of Mikael. He wondered what God’s remedy was to be for this obscene fulcrum of corruption and depravity. Why was mass destruction ruled out? What could possibly be enough? It was not just the city that was malignant; it was the entire earth that had come to be “one” under this maleficent tyrant. They all spoke one language, had one religion, and served one god king and pantheon. ~ Brian Godawa, #NFDB
1473:Totalitarian propaganda perfects the techniques of mass propaganda, but it neither invents them nor originates their themes. These were prepared for them by fifty years of imperialism and disintegration of the nation-state, when the mob entered the scene of European politics. Like the earlier mob leaders, the spokesmen for totalitarian movements possessed an unerring instinct for anything that ordinary party propaganda or public opinion did not care or dare to touch. Everything hidden, everything passed over in silence, became of major significance, regardless of its own intrinsic importance. The mob really believed that truth was whatever respectable society had hypocritically passed over, or covered up with corruption. ~ Hannah Arendt, #NFDB
1474:Prayer brings blessings to the church. The history of the church has always been a history of grave difficulties to overcome. The devil hates the church and seeks in every way to block its progress; now by false doctrine, again by division, again by inward corruption of life. But by prayer, a clear way can be made through everything. Prayer will root out heresy, allay misunderstanding, sweep away jealousies and animosities, obliterate immoralities, and bring in the full tide of God's reviving grace. History abundantly proves this. In the hour of darkest portent, when the case of the church, local or universal, has seemed beyond hope, believing men and believing women have met together and cried to God and the answer has come. ~ R A Torrey, #NFDB
1475:In Mein Kampf, Hitler declares that he is a nationalist but not a patriot, a distinction with profound implications. Patriots revere the ideas, institutions, and traditions of a particular country and its government. The watchwords for nationalists are "blood", "soil", "race", "Volk", and so forth. As a revolutionary nationalist, Hitler believed the entire bourgeois edifice of modern German culture was hollowed out by political or spiritual corruption. As a result, he believed Germany needed to rediscover its pre-Christian authenticity. This was the logical extension of identity politics--the idea that experience of a personal quest for meaning in racial conceptions of authenticity could be applied to the entire community. ~ Jonah Goldberg, #NFDB
1476:Nothing happens in the world? Are you out of your fucking mind? People are murdered every day. There's genocide, war, corruption. Every fucking day, somewhere in the world, somebody sacrifices his life to save someone else. Every fucking day, someone, somewhere makes a conscious decision to destroy someone else. People find love, people lose it. For Christ's sake, a child watches her mother beaten to death on the steps of a church. Someone goes hungry. Somebody else betrays his best friend for a woman. If you can't find that stuff in life, then you, my friend, don't know crap about life. And why the FUCK are you wasting my two precious hours with your movie? I don't have any use for it. I don't have any bloody use for it. ~ Charlie Kaufman, #NFDB
1477:ministry. Sadly, there has never been a city on earth that is not saturated with human sin and corruption. Indeed, to paraphrase a Woody Allen joke, cities are just like everywhere else, only much more so. They are both better and worse, both easier and harder to live in, both more inspiring and oppressive, than other places. As redemptive history unfolds, we begin to see how the tension of the city will be resolved. The turn in the relationship between the people of God and the pagan city becomes a key aspect of God’s plan to bless the nations and redeem the world. In the New Testament, we find cities playing an important role in the rapid growth of the early church and in spreading the gospel message of God’s salvation. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1478:The word corruption does not arouse the moral revulsion that it should. We think of it as more a nuisance than a great evil. But corruption kills societies every bit as much as murder kills an individual. Moreover there is no hope for any society in which corruption is endemic. One final thought: Here in Cameroon, as elsewhere in Africa, the knowledgeable guides who lead tours of the slave centers note that Africans were deeply involved in the slave trade, and that without them, the slave trade could not have existed. If only this fact were taught as readily in American universities as it is here in Africa — not in order to minimize white complicity, but because universities should teach truth. Flawed human nature has no color. ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
1479:...America went off the track somewhere--back around the time of the Civil War, or pretty soon afterwards. Instead of going ahead and developing along the line in which the country started out, it got shunted off in another direction...Suddenly we realize that America has turned into something ugly...and the worst of it is the intellectual dishonesty which all this corruption has bred...People are afraid to think straight--afraid to face themselves...We've become like a nation of advertising men, all hiding behind catch phrases like "prosperity" and "rugged individualism" and "the American way." And the real things like freedom, and equal opportunity and the integrity and worth of the individual...they have become just words too. ~ Thomas Wolfe, #NFDB
1480:Whether this has ever happened I know not, nor whether it ever can happen. For we see, as I have said a little way back, that a city which owing to its pervading corruption has once begun to decline, if it is to recover at all, must be saved not by the excellence of the people collectively, but of some one man then living among them, on whose death it at once relapses into its former plight; as happened with Thebes, in which the virtue of Epaminondas made it possible while he lived to preserve the form of a free Government, but which fell again on his death into its old disorders; the reason being that hardly any ruler lives so long as to have time to accustom to right methods a city which has long been accustomed to wrong. ~ Niccol Machiavelli, #NFDB
1481:Q: Isn't the employment of thought in the psychological sense synonymous with corruption? Bohm: Why do you say that? Q: Are there not only two states: corruption and innocence? Bohm: Are you saying that thought by itself is incapable of innocence? Q: In the psychological sense it seems so. Bohm: It may seem so. But the question is whether it is actually so. That's the question we're trying to explore. We'll admit the fact that it seems so; it has that appearance. Now the question is: what is actually the case? We have to explore this, and it will take some digging into. We can't simply take the way things seem and just work on that, because that would be another kind of mistake thought makes—taking the surface and calling it the reality. ~ David Bohm, #NFDB
1482:The form that the love of religion takes in the soul differs a great deal according to the circumstances of out lives. Some circumstances prevent the very birth of this love; others kill it before it has been able to grow very strong. In affliction some men, in spite of themselves, develop a hatred and contempt for religions because the cruelty, pride, or corruption of certain of its ministers have made them suffer. There are others who have been reared from their earliest youth in surroundings impregnated with a spirit of this sort. We must conclude that in such cases, by God's mercy, the love of our neighbor and the love of the beauty of the world, if they are sufficiently strong and pure, will be enough to raise the soul to any height. ~ Simone Weil, #NFDB
1483:To that end, he said, the city formed a holding company that acquired 51 percent of the stock of all the casinos in the city, in the hopes of collecting dividends. “But it was a mistake: the casinos funneled the money out in cash and reported losses every time,” Putin complained. “Later, our political opponents tried to accuse us of corruption because we owned stock in the casinos. That was just ridiculous…. Sure, it may not have been the best idea from an economic standpoint. Judging from the fact that the setup turned out to be inefficient and we did not attain our goals, I have to admit it was not sufficiently thought through. But if I had stayed in Petersburg, I would have finished choking those casinos. I would have made them share. ~ Masha Gessen, #NFDB
1484:The New Testament uses five main Greek words for sin, which together portray its various aspects, both passive and active. The commonest is hamartia, which depicts sin as a missing of the target, the failure to attain a goal. Adikia is ‘unrighteousness’ or ‘iniquity’, and ponēria is evil of a vicious or degenerate kind. Both these terms seem to speak of an inward corruption or perversion of character. The more active words are parabasis (with which we may associate the similar paraptōma), a ‘trespass’ or ‘transgression’, the stepping over a known boundary, and anomia, ‘lawlessness’, the disregard or violation of a known law. In each case an objective criterion is implied, either a standard we fail to reach or a line we deliberately cross. ~ John R W Stott, #NFDB
1485:How many vampires do you think have the stamina for immortality? They have the most dismal notions of immortality to begin with. For in becoming immortal they want all the forms of their life to be fixed as they are and incorruptible: carriages made in the same dependable fashion, clothing of the cut which suited their prime, men attired and speaking in the manner they have always understood and valued. When, in fact, all things change except the vampire himself; everything except the vampire is subject to constant corruption and distortion. Soon, with an inflexible mind, and often even with the most flexible mind, this immortality becomes a penitential sentence in a madhouse of figures and forms that are hopelessly unintelligible and without value. ~ Anne Rice, #NFDB
1486:Finally, state capacity is a function of resources. The best-trained and most enthusiastic officials will not remain committed if they are not paid adequately, or if they find themselves lacking the tools for doing their jobs. This is one of the reasons that poor countries have poorly functioning governments. Melissa Thomas notes that while a rich country like the United States spends approximately $17,000 per year per capita on government services of all sorts, the government of Afghanistan spends only $17 when foreign donor contributions are excluded. Much of the money it does collect is wasted through corruption and fraud. It is therefore not surprising that the central Afghan government is barely sovereign throughout much of its own territory.6 ~ Francis Fukuyama, #NFDB
1487:I had not yet been to Gettysburg. I had not read Thavolia Glymph. All I had was the feeling, the weight. I did not yet know, and I do not fully know now. But part of what I know ist hat there is the burden of living among Dreamers, and there is the extra burden of your country telling you the Dream is just, noble, and real, and you are crazy for seeing the corruption and smelling the sulfur. For their innocence, they nullify your anger, your fear, until you are coming and going, and you find yourself inveighing against yourself - "black people are the only people who..." - really inveighing against your own humanity and raging against the crime in your ghetto, because you are powerless before the great crime of history that brought the ghettos to be. ~ Ta Nehisi Coates, #NFDB
1488:At the center of the bouquet is a monstrous peony, probably purchased on sale at the supermarket. By Tuesday its curling petals had begun to collect at the bottom of the vase, infusing the room with the faint but unmistakable sweet odor of corruption and imminent death. ... In Tick's opinion there was something extravagantly excessive about the peony from the start, as if God had intended so suggest with this particular bloom that you could have too much of a good thing. The swiftness with which the fallen petals bean to stink drove the point home in case anybody missed it. As a rule, Tick leans toward believing that there is no God, but she isn't so sure at times like this, when pockets of meaning emerge so clearly that they feel like divine communication. ~ Richard Russo, #NFDB
1489:How can I hate someone who only ever gave me love? thought Veronika, confused, trying to check her feelings. But it was too late; her hatred had been unleashed; she had opened the door to her personal hell. She hated the love she had been given because it had asked for nothing in return, which was absurd, unreal, against the laws of nature.
That love asking for nothing in return had managed to fill her with guilt, with a desire to fulfill another's expectations, even if that meant giving up everything she had dreamed of for herself. It was a love that for years had tried to hide from her the difficulties and the corruption that existed in the world, ignoring the fact that one day she would have to find this out, and would then be defenseless against them. ~ Paulo Coelho,#NFDB
1490:I should be inclined, therefore, as I have hinted before, to consider the world and this life as the mighty process of God, not for the trial, but for the creation and formation of mind, a process necessary to awaken inert, chaotic matter into spirit, to sublimate the dust of the earth into soul, to elicit an ethereal spark from the clod of clay. And in this view of the subject, the various impressions and excitements which man receives through life may be considered as the forming hand of his Creator, acting by general laws, and awakening his sluggish existence, by the animating touches of the Divinity, into a capacity of superior enjoyment. The original sin of man is the torpor and corruption of the chaotic matter in which he may be said to be born. ~ Thomas Robert Malthus, #NFDB
1491:If there are so many successful public enterprises, why do we rarely hear about them? It is partly because of the nature of reporting, whether journalistic or academic. Newspapers tend to report bad things – wars, natural disasters, epidemics, famines, crime, bankruptcy, etc. While it is natural and necessary for newspapers to focus on these events, the journalistic habit tends to present the public with the bleakest possible view of the world. In the case of SOEs, journalists and academics usually investigate them only when things go wrong – inefficiency, corruption or negligence.Well-performing SOEs attract relatively little attention in the same way that a peaceful and productive day in the life of a ‘model citizen’ is unlikely to make front-page news. There ~ Ha Joon Chang, #NFDB
1492:Thomas Jefferson and George Washington owned slaves; Albert Einstein and Mohandas Gandhi were imperfect husbands and fathers. The list goes on indefinitely. We are all flawed and creatures of our times. Is it fair to judge us by the unknown standards of the future? Some of the habits of our age will doubtless be considered barbaric by later generations – perhaps for insisting that small children and even infants sleep alone instead of with their parents; or exciting nationalist passions as a means of gaining popular approval and achieving high political office; or allowing bribery and corruption as a way of life; or keeping pets; or eating animals and jailing chimpanzees; or criminalizing the use of euphoriants by adults; or allowing our children to grow up ignorant. ~ Carl Sagan, #NFDB
1493:You already know what you know, after all—and, unless your life is perfect, what you know is not enough. You remain threatened by disease, and self-deception, and unhappiness, and malevolence, and betrayal, and corruption, and pain, and limitation. You are subject to all these things, in the final analysis, because you are just too ignorant to protect yourself. If you just knew enough, you could be healthier and more honest. You would suffer less. You could recognize, resist and even triumph over malevolence and evil. You would neither betray a friend, nor deal falsely and deceitfully in business, politics or love. However, your current knowledge has neither made you perfect nor kept you safe. So, it is insufficient, by definition—radically, fatally insufficient. ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
1494:The hard-pressed people were demanding a way out of their sorry predicament. The millions of unemployed wanted jobs. The shopkeepers wanted help. Some four million youths who had come of voting age since the last election wanted some prospect of a future that would at least give them a living. To all the millions of discontented Hitler in a whirlwind campaign offered what seemed to them, in their misery, some measure of hope. He would make Germany strong again, refuse to pay reparations, repudiate the Versailles Treaty, stamp out corruption, bring the money barons to heel (especially if they were Jews) and see to it that every German had a job and bread. To hopeless, hungry men seeking not only relief but new faith and new gods, the appeal was not without effect. ~ William L Shirer, #NFDB
1495:Derived from the Greek word anarchos, "without authority," anarchism denies law and considers property to be tyranny. Anarchists believe that human corruption results when differences are enforced through the maintenance of property and authority. Anarchists do not oppose or deny governance as long as it exists without coercion and the threat of violence. They oppose and deny the authority of the centralized state and propose governance through collaboration, deliberation, consensus, and common coordination. Justice can emerge from a sense of common purpose and practices of mutual aid, not the monopoly on violence that the state demands. While anarchism is commonly associated with bloody violence and rage, anarchists believe deeply in an ideology of love. ~ Siva Vaidhyanathan, #NFDB
1496:You already know what you know, after all—and, unless your life is perfect, what you know is not enough. You remain threatened by disease, and self-deception, and unhappiness, and malevolence, and betrayal, and corruption, and pain, and limitation. You are subject to all these things, in the final analysis, because you are just too ignorant to protect yourself. If you just knew enough, you could be healthier and more honest. You would suffer less. You could recognize, resist and even triumph over malevolence and evil. You would neither betray a friend, nor deal falsely and deceitfully in business, politics or love. However, your current knowledge has neither made you perfect nor kept you safe. So, it is insufficient, by definition—radically, fatally insufficient. ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
1497:There were no rules when it came to writing, he said. Take a close look at the lives of poets and novelists, and what you wound up with was unalloyed chaos, an infinite jumble of exceptions. That was because writing was a disease, Tom continued, what you might call an infection or influenza of the spirit, and therefore it could strike anyone at any time. The young and the old, the strong and the weak, the drunk and the sober, the sane and the insane. Scan the roster of the giants and semi-giants, and you would discover writers who embraced every sexual proclivity, every political bent, and every human attribute — from the loftiest idealism to the most insidious corruption. They were criminals and lawyers, spies and doctors, soldiers and spinsters, travelers and shut-ins. ~ Paul Auster, #NFDB
1498:I lent only half an ear to those well-intentioned folk who say that happiness is enervating, liberty too relaxing, and that kindness is a corruption for those upon whom it is practiced. That may be; but in the world as it is, such reasoning amounts to a refusal to nourish a starving man decently, for fear that in a few years he may suffer from overfeeding. When useless servitude has been alleviated as far as possible, and unnecessary misfortune avoided, there will remain as a test of man’s fortitude that long series of veritable ills, death, old age, and incurable sickness, love unrequited and friendship rejected or betrayed, the mediocrity of a life less vast than our projects and duller than our dreams; in short, all the woes caused by the divine nature of things. ~ Marguerite Yourcenar, #NFDB
1499:Si les gens d'autrefois paraissent candides, c'est souvent en fonction de la perspective déformante due à une corruption plus ou moins généralisée ; les taxer de naïfs est en somme leur appliquer une loi rétroactive, juridiquement parlant. De même, si tel auteur ancien peut donner une impression de simplicité d'esprit, c'est pour une large part parce qu'il n'avait pas à tenir compte de mille erreurs encore inconnues ni de mille possibilités de mésinterprétation, et aussi, parce que sa dialectique n'avait pas à ressembler à une danse écossaise entre des œufs, étant donné qu'il pouvait se passer largement de nuances ; les mots avaient encore une fraîcheur et une plénitude - ou une magie - qu'il nous est difficile d'imaginer dans le climat d'inflation verbale où nous vivons. ~ Frithjof Schuon, #NFDB
1500:Game Over! In this country, we outnumber them by the hundreds of millions, yet in the end, they’ll win. They’ve already won. Over decades, with the appetite of the greedy and the cunning of the wicked, their hired agents have built up a national archetype that’s now unstoppable. While we were distracted by our own shadows, their needles pierced the national psyche, slow dripping the poison of mendacity into our nation’s bloodstream. They contaminated the law with toxic corruption, and while invoking the name of freedom, they crushed any opposition with bone-cracking efficiency. When we finally peel away the submissive bandages that wrapped our imaginary wounds and promised us safety, we’ll find our flesh gone to dust, leaving only a willowy skeleton of hopelessness and surrender. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
32 Integral Yoga
29 Christianity
27 Occultism
16 Psychology
14 Fiction
13 Philosophy
12 Poetry
10 Islam
7 Kabbalah
3 Sufism
2 Baha i Faith
1 Thelema
1 Science
1 Integral Theory
1 Alchemy
21 Sri Aurobindo
20 Saint Augustine of Hippo
15 Carl Jung
12 The Mother
10 Muhammad
8 James George Frazer
8 H P Lovecraft
7 Satprem
7 Rabbi Moses Luzzatto
7 Percy Bysshe Shelley
7 Aleister Crowley
5 Saint John of Climacus
5 Plato
5 Nolini Kanta Gupta
4 Anonymous
4 Aldous Huxley
3 Plotinus
3 Jordan Peterson
3 Al-Ghazali
3 A B Purani
2 Walt Whitman
2 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 Friedrich Nietzsche
2 Baha u llah
13 City of God
10 Quran
10 Mysterium Coniunctionis
8 The Golden Bough
8 Lovecraft - Poems
7 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
7 Shelley - Poems
7 General Principles of Kabbalah
5 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
4 The Perennial Philosophy
4 The Bible
4 Magick Without Tears
3 The Lotus Sutra
3 The Alchemy of Happiness
3 Maps of Meaning
3 Liber ABA
3 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
3 Agenda Vol 05
2 Whitman - Poems
2 Twilight of the Idols
2 The Synthesis Of Yoga
2 The Practice of Psycho therapy
2 The Life Divine
2 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
2 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
2 Questions And Answers 1953
2 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
2 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02
2 Letters On Yoga IV
2 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
2 Aion
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
(7) The legend of "Christ" is only a corruption and
perversion of other legends. Especially of Dionysus:
0 1964-01-29, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Doubt, discouragement, diminution or loss of faith, waning of the vital enthusiasm for the ideal, perplexity and a baffling of the hope for the future are the common features of the difficulty. In the world outside there are much worse symptoms such as the general increase of cynicism, a refusal to believe in anything at all, a decrease of honesty, an immense corruption, a preoccupation with food, money, comfort, pleasure, to the exclusion of higher things, and a general expectation of worse and worse things awaiting the world. All that, however acute, is a temporary phenomenon for which those who know anything about the workings of the world-energy and the workings of the Spirit were prepared. I myself foresaw that this worst would come, the darkness of night before the dawn; therefore I am not discouraged. I know what is preparing behind the darkness and can see and feel the first signs of its coming. Those who seek for the Divine have to stand firm and persist in their seeking; after a time, the darkness will fade and begin to disappear and the Light will come.
(XXVI.169-170, April 9, 1947)
0 1964-02-05, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes, so as not to feel. A great corruption. And spinelessness, cynicism.
Its plain that they can live only thanks to their nonreceptivity. If they were receptive, they couldnt stay there!
0 1964-08-14, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And here, theres TOTAL corruptiontotal, to such a point that Ill give you an example. The government meddles in everything, you cant move a finger without its permission: you cant leave the country, you cant enter the country, you cant send money out, you cant open a shop, you cant nothing, nothing, nothing, not even plow your field without its permission. They meddle in everything, which in itself is pretty stupid. And then they make regulations the more regulations you make, the more disobedience it creates, naturally.
People no longer grow crops because its too complicated and with all those taxes (theyve scores of taxes to pay), it costs them much more than they can earn. And as there isnt enough food, there are naturally individuals who try and hoard as much as they can to sell it for as high a price as possible.
0 1969-05-10, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Why? Why that habit of suddenly coming apart, why? Of course, its not something new that came with man, because it was the same thing with all that preceded him: it would take form, dissolvetake form, live, grow, and dissolveeverything: plants and The mineral kingdom was more stable by virtue of its unconsciousness (!), but all the rest was like that, constantly taking form, losing form, taking form and losing form again. Then man made a fuss about it, of course, and a drama. He dramatized it, and because he dramatized it he endeavors not to get out of it, but to adjust himselfto understand and adjust himself. And when you are in a certain consciousness, it simply looks like foolishness, nothing else. But why? Is the human body incapable of? Its not even that, I cant even say that. There are minutes (minutes, it doesnt last), minutes when the body feels it has escaped that law [of death]. But it doesnt last; its for one minute, then it passes and things are back as they were. But the body consciousness is beginning to wonder why its like that: Why, why isnt there a growth in light and in consciousness, an indefinite growth? Why? The body itself wonders why. Also, its constantly assailed by all the well, the general corruption; and once in a whileonce in a whilea flash of light, lasting a few seconds: all of a sudden, something else. Something else and a wonderful consciousness, and then the old routine goes on.
Then, people come with all their thoughts. Some come, sit down in front of me, and start thinking, Maybe its the last time I am seeing her! Things of that sort, you understand. So it all comes (gesture like a truckload being dumped), and because of that, its a bit difficult.
0 1973-01-20, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Dalai Lama:) It is my dream to have the perfect economic development of Tibet, the perfect organization, the efficiency that we find in Communism, but all this based upon, founded upon the Buddhistic qualities of Compassion and Love, so that the people in power do not degenerate into corruption. What is Mothers view of this dream, and whether such a thing will be realized in Tibet?
It is not a dream. It will naturally be. But the time it will take, I do not know. This is something like what Sri Aurobindo has said about the Supramental.
02.07 - The Descent into Night, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And tasted corruption like a high-spiced food.
A darkness settled on the heavy air;
02.13 - On Social Reconstruction, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
It is one of the great errors of the human mind to take equality as identical with uniformity. When Rousseau started the revolutionary slogan "Men are born equal", men were carried away in the vehemence of the new spirit and thought that there was absolutely no difference between man and man, all difference must be due to injustice, tyranny and corruption in the social system. Rousseau's was a necessary protest and corrective against the rank inequality that was the order of the day. All men are, however, equal not in the sense that all material particlessea-sands or molecules or atoms, for examplemay be equal, that is to say, same in dimension and mass and energy. That is the materialistic mechanistic view, imposed by the first discoveries and conclusions of modern Science, but which has lost much of its cogency in recent times even in respect of the physical world. All men are equal, not in the sense that all have the same uniform value, but that each has his own value. It is the recognition of the personal worth of each individual that gives him true equality with others and not the casting of all into the same mould and pattern, fitting all on to the Procrustean bed, which indeed would mean just the negation of equality. This variability is the very basis of a living equality. Physically all men have not the same height or weight or growth, even so internally too all have not the same magnitude of being or similar power of consciousness.
A social organization must have two fundamental objects. The central purpose is to serve and help the individual. That is the first thing to be remembered. Organization for the sake of organization is not the end. Organization for the sake of perpetuating a system, however laudable it may be, is not the end either. It is, as I say, by the service that an organization renders to its individual members, and not merely by its mechanical order and efficiency that it is to be judged. This service, I have said, is twofold. First, each individual must find his proper vocation: the right man in the right place. The function of each man must be in accordance with his nature and character. Secondly, each person, while fulfilling his Dharma, (that is the right word) must be trained, must have the opportunity to grow and increase in his being and consciousness. First of all, a prosperous, at least an adequately equipped outer life, and then as adequate a lebensraum for the inner personality to have its free and full play and expression.
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As we have said, a normally healthy society is a harmonious welding of these four elements. A society becomes diseased when only one member gets inflated and all-powerful at the expense of others or whenever there is an unholy alliance of some against the rest. Priest-craft, the Church militant, Fanaticism (religious or ideological), Inquisition are corruptions that show themselves when the first principle, the principle of Brahminhood, becomes exclusive and brings in arrogance and ignorance. Similarly colonisation and imperialism of the type only too familiar to us are aberrations of the spirit that the second principle embodies the spirit of the Kshattriya. Likewise financial cartels, the industrial magnates, the profiteer, the arriviste are diseased growths in the economic body of a modern society which has forgotten the true Vaishya spirit that seeks to produce wealth in order to share and distribute fairly and equitably. The remedy of these ills society has suffered from is not the introduction of a fourth evil, the tyranny of the Fourth Estate of the proletariate. The Fourth was reduced, it is true, to a state of slavery and serfdom, of untouchability, at its reductio ad absurdum. The cure, we say, is not in blind revolt and an inauguration of the same evil under a new name and form, which means its perpetuation, but in the creation of a new life and soul, that can happen only with the creation of a new head and front Zeus-like that would give birth to the goddess of light and knowledge, inspirer of a true Brahminhood.
We repeat a fair and sure economic basis has to be found for the down-trodden, proletarian or other. For the proletariate is not the only unfortunate in the human society. There are whole groups of the unfortunate in the three other Estates also. Or perhaps if we like we can extend the meaning of the term "proletariate" and include in it all the less favoured sections of all the Four Orders.
03.02 - Aspects of Modernism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Simplicity and intensity, sublimity and profundity were the most predominant qualities of man's achievement in the past; what characterises human endeavour in the present is its wideness, richness, complexity. It can also be noted that the corruptions of these qualities likewise mark out their respective ages. Fanaticism, for example, the corruption of a good and noble thing, fidelity, means a unilateral mind carried to its extreme; it is a characteristic product of the middle ages in the West as in the East. The modern world in its stead has given us dilettantism and cynicism, corruption of largeness and catholicity.
Consciousness has two primary movements. In one it penetrates, enters straight into the heart of things; in the other it spreads out, goes about and round the object. The combination of the two powers is a rarity; ordinarily man follows the one to the exclusion of the other. The modern age in its wide curiosity has neglected the penetrative and intensive movement and is therefore marred by superficiality. It is eager to go over the entire panorama of creation at one glance, if that is possible, to have a telescopic view of things; but it has been able to take in only the surface, the skin, the crust. Even the entrance into the world of atoms and cellsof protons and electrons, of chromosomes and genesis not really a penetrative or intensive movement. It is only another form of the movement of pervasion or extension: it is still a going abroad, only on another line, in a different direction, but always fundamentally on the same horizontal plane. The microscope is only an inverted telescope. Our instruments are the external mind and senses and these move laterally and have not the power to leap on to a different level of vision. The earlier ages of mankind, narrow and circumscribed in many respects, possessed nevertheless that intensive and in-gathering movement, which is a kind of movement in the fourth dimension; it was a sixth sense leading into the Behind or Beyond of things.
03.03 - A Stainless Steel Frame, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
corruption is the order of the day. In all walks of life, wherever we have to live and move, we come across the monster; we cannot pass him by, we have to accost him (even in the Shakespearean sense, that is) welcome him, woo him. It is like one of the demons of the Greek legends that come out of the unknown, the sea or the sky, to prey upon a helpa less land and its people until a deliverer comes.
corruption appears today with a twofold face, Janus like: violence and falsehood. In private life, in the political field, in the business world, in social dealings, it is now an established practice, it has gained almost the force of a law of nature that success can be achieved only with these two comrades on your either side. A gentle, honest, peace-loving man is inevitably pushed back, he has to go to the wall; a straightforward truthful candid soul will get no hearing and make no living. From high diplomacy on the international level to village pettifoggery, from the blast of the atom bomb to the thrust of the dagger, we have all the degrees of the two cardinal virtues that make up the warp and woof of modern life.
In the old worldnot so old however, for the landslide started in fact with the First World Warevil there was and abundantly in man and in man's society, but it was not accepted as virtue or even as an acceptable or inevitable thing. It was tolerated, suffered, and generally with a heavy heart. Indeed the heart was sound, it was the flesh only that was weak. There was an idealism, an aspiration and although one could not always live up to it, yet one did not deny it or spurn it; one endeavoured as best one could, even though in leisure hours, in the inner mind and consciousness at least, to obey and follow its dictates. It is the Nazi theory of life that broughtto the very forefront and installed in the consciousness ofman Evil as Good, Falsehood as Truth. That is pragmatism with a vengeance. Whatever leads to success, to worldly success, that is to say, brings you wealth, prosperity, power to rule over men and things, enriches you in your possessionvittena, as the Upanishad terms it that is Good, that is Truth. All the rest are mental conceptions, notions, abstractions, day-dreams meant to delude you, take you away from the road to your fulfilment and achievement. That is how we have listened to the voice of Mephistopheles and sold away our soul.
1.002 - The Heifer, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
30. When your Lord said to the angels, “I am placing a successor on earth.” They said, “Will You place in it someone who will cause corruption in it and shed blood, while we declare Your praises and sanctify You?” He said, “I know what you do not know.”
31. And He taught Adam the names, all of them; then he presented them to the angels, and said, “Tell Me the names of these, if you are sincere.”
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205. When he gains power, he strives to spread corruption on earth, destroying properties and lives. God does not like corruption.
206. And when he is told, “Beware of God,” his pride leads him to more sin. Hell is enough for him—a dreadful abode.
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282. O you who believe! When you incur debt among yourselves for a certain period of time, write it down. And have a scribe write in your presence, in all fairness. And let no scribe refuse to write, as God has taught him. So let him write, and let the debtor dictate. And let him fear God, his Lord, and diminish nothing from it. But if the debtor is mentally deficient, or weak, or unable to dictate, then let his guardian dictate with honesty. And call to witness two men from among you. If two men are not available, then one man and two women whose testimony is acceptable to all—if one of them fails to remember, the other would remind her. Witnesses must not refuse when called upon. And do not think it too trivial to write down, whether small or large, including the time of repayment. That is more equitable with God, and stronger as evidence, and more likely to prevent doubt—except in the case of a spot transaction between you—then there is no blame on you if you do not write it down. And let there be witnesses whenever you conclude a contract, and let no harm be done to either scribe or witness. If you do that, it is corruption on your part. And fear God. God teaches you. God is aware of everything.
283. If you are on a journey, and cannot find a scribe, then a security deposit should be handed over. But if you trust one another, let the trustee fulfill his trust, and let him fear God, his Lord. And do not conceal testimony. Whoever conceals it is sinner at heart. God is aware of what you do.
1.005 - The Table, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
32. Because of that We ordained for the Children of Israel: that whoever kills a person—unless it is for murder or corruption on earth—it is as if he killed the whole of mankind; and whoever saves it, it is as if he saved the whole of mankind. Our messengers came to them with clarifications, but even after that, many of them continue to commit excesses in the land.
33. The punishment for those who fight God and His Messenger, and strive to spread corruption on earth, is that they be killed, or crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, or be banished from the land. That is to disgrace them in this life; and in the Hereafter they will have a terrible punishment.
34. Except for those who repent before you apprehend them. So know that God is Forgiving and Merciful.
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64. The Jews say, “God’s hand is tied.” It is their hands that are tied, and they are cursed for what they say. In fact, His hands are outstretched; He gives as He wills. Certainly, what was revealed to you from your Lord will increase many of them in defiance and blasphemy. And We placed between them enmity and hatred, until the Day of Resurrection. Whenever they kindle the fire of war, God extinguishes it. And they strive to spread corruption on earth. God does not love the corrupters.
65. Had the People of the Scripture believed and been righteous, We would have remitted their sins, and admitted them into the Gardens of Bliss.
10.07 - The Demon, #Writings In Bengali and Sanskrit, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Selfish corruption 8 Immortal soul
Kill the power to enter
1.008 - The Spoils, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
73. As for those who disbelieve, they are allies of one another. Unless you do this, there will be turmoil in the land, and much corruption.
74. Those who believed, and emigrated, and struggled for God’s cause, and those who gave shelter and support—these are the true believers. They will have forgiveness, and a bountiful provision.
1.011 - Hud, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
85. “O my people! Give full measure and full weight, in all fairness, and do not cheat the people out of their rights, and do not spread corruption in the land.
86. What is left by God is best for you, if you are believers. And I am not a guardian over you.”
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116. If only there were, among the generations before you, people with wisdom, who spoke against corruption on earth—except for the few whom We saved. But the wrongdoers pursued the luxuries they were indulged in, and thus became guilty.
117. Your Lord would never destroy the towns wrongfully, while their inhabitants are righteous.
1.013 - Thunder, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
25. As for those who violate the promise to God, after pledging to keep it, and sever what God has commanded to be joined, and spread corruption on earth—these, the curse will be upon them, and they will have the Worst Home.
26. God dispenses the provisions to whomever He wills, and restricts. And they delight in the worldly life; yet the worldly life, compared to the Hereafter, is only enjoyment.
1.01f - Introduction, #The Lotus Sutra, #Anonymous, #Various
Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying in the city of Rjagha, on the mountain called Gdhraka, together with a great assembly of twelve thousand monks, all of whom were arhats whose corruption was at an end, who were free from the confusion of desire, who had achieved their own goals, shattered the bonds of existence, and attained complete mental discipline. Their names were jtakauinya, Mahkyapa, Uruvilvakyapa,
Gaykyapa, Nadkyapa, riputra, Mahmaudgalyyana, Mahktyyana, Aniruddha, Kapphia, Gavpati, Revata, Pilindavatsa, Bakkula,
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The true character of freedom from corruption
And after me he will become
1.01 - NIGHT, #Faust, #Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #Poetry
Out of corruption's womb:
Burst ye the prison,
1.01 - On knowledge of the soul, and how knowledge of the soul is the key to the knowledge of God., #The Alchemy of Happiness, #Al-Ghazali, #Sufism
Be sure, O seeker after knowledge! that it is impossible to obtain a knowledge of the heart, until you know its essence and its true nature, its faculties, and its relations with its faculties,-nor until you know its attributes, and how through them the knowledge of God is obtained, and what happiness is, and how happiness is to be secured. Know then, that the existence of the spirit is evident and is not involved in doubt. Still, it is not body, which is found in corpses and in animals generally. If a person with his eyes wide open should look upon the world and upon his own body, and then shut his eyes, everything would be veiled from his view, so that he could not see even his own body. But the existence of his spirit would not be at the same time shut out from his view. Again, at death, the body turns to earth, but the spirit undergoes no corruption. Still it is not permitted to us to know what the spirit is in its real nature and in its essence, as God says in his Holy Word : "They will ask you about the spirit. Answer, the spirit is a creation by decree of the Lord."1 The spirit belongs to the world of decrees.
All existence is of two kinds, one is of the world of decrees, and the other is of the world of creation. "To him belongs creation and decree."2 The matters which belong to the world of decrees are those which have not superficies, [17] quantity, or form: to the world of creation belong those which do have both quantity and form. The creation spoken of in the verse is in the sense of foreordination and not of actual formation. Hence those who say that the spirit is created, and is also from all eternity are in error, for nothing is eternal except the being and attributes of God.
1.01 - On renunciation of the world, #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
Those of us who wish to go out of Egypt and to fly from Pharaoh, certainly need some Moses as a mediator with God and from God, who, standing between action and contemplation, will raise hands of prayer for us to God, so that guided by Him we may cross the sea of sin and rout the Amalek of the passions.4 That is why those who have surrendered themselves to God, deceive themselves if they suppose that they have no need of a director. Those who came out of Egypt had Moses as their guide, and those who fled from Sodom had an angel.5 The former are like those who are healed of the passions of the soul by the care of physicians: these are they who come out of Egypt. The latter are like those who long to put off the uncleanness of the wretched body. That is why they need a helper, an angel, so to speak, or at least one equal to an angel. For in proportion to the corruption of our wounds we need a director who is indeed an expert and a physician.
Those who aim at ascending with the body to heaven, need violence indeed and constant suffering6 especially in the early stages of their renunciation, until our pleasure-loving dispositions and unfeeling hearts attain to love of God and chastity by visible sorrow. A great toil, very great indeed, with much unseen suffering, especially for those who live carelessly, until by simplicity, deep angerlessness and diligence, we make our mind, which is a greedy kitchen dog addicted to barking, a lover of chastity and watchfulness. But let us who are weak and passionate have the courage to offer our infirmity and natural weakness to Christ with unhesitating faith, and confess it to Him; and we shall be certain to obtain His help, even beyond our merit, if only we unceasingly go right down to the depth of humility.
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Let no one, by appealing to the weight and multitude of his sins, say that he is unworthy of the monastic vow, and for love of pleasure disparage himself, excusing himself with excuses in his sins.1 Where there is much corruption, considerable treatment is needed to draw out all the impurity. The healthy do not go to a hospital.
20. If an earthly king were to call us and request us to serve in his presence, we should not delay for other orders, we should not make excuses, but we should leave everything and eagerly go to him. Let us then be on the alert, lest when the King of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods calls us to this heavenly office, we cry off out of sloth and cowardice and find ourselves without excuse at the Last Judgment. It is possible to walk, even when tied with the fetters of worldly affairs and iron cares, but only with difficulty. For even those who have iron chains on their feet can often walk; but they are continually stumbling and getting hurt. An unmarried man, who is only tied to the world by business affairs, is like one who has fetters on his hands; and therefore when he wishes to enter the monastic life he has nothing to hinder him. But the married man is like one who is bound hand and foot. (So when he wants to run he cannot.)2
10.24 - Savitri, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Ashwapati now observes with a clear vividness that all these worlds and the beings and forces that inhabit them are stricken as it were with a bar sinister branded upon their bodies. In spite of an inherent urge of ascension the way is not a straight road but devious and crooked breaking into by-lanes and blind alleys. There is a great corruption and perversion of natural movements towards Truth: falsehoods and pretensions, arrogance of blindness reign here in various degrees. Ashwapati sought to know the wherefore of it all. So he goes behind, dives down and comes into a region that seems to be the source and basis of all ignorance and obscurity and falsehood. He comes into the very heart of the Night, the abyss of consciousness. He meets there the Mother of Evil and the sons of darkness. He stands before
. . the gate of the false Infinite,
1.026 - The Poets, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
183. And do not defraud people of their belongings, and do not work corruption in the land.
184. And fear Him who created you and the masses of old.”
1.028 - History, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
77. But seek, with what God has given you, the Home of the Hereafter, and do not neglect your share of this world. And be charitable, as God has been charitable to you. And do not seek corruption in the land. God does not like the seekers of corruption.”
78. He said, “I was given all this on account of knowledge I possess.” Did he not know that God destroyed many generations before him, who were stronger than he, and possessed greater riches? But the guilty will not be asked about their sins.
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83. That Home of the Hereafter—We assign it for those who seek no superiority on earth, nor corruption. And the outcome is for the cautious.
84. Whoever brings a virtue will receive better than it. But whoever brings evil—the evildoers will be rewarded only according to what they used to do.
1.029 - The Spider, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
30. He said, “My Lord, help me against the people of corruption.”
31. And when Our envoys brought Abraham the good news, they said, “We are going to destroy the people of this town; its people are wrongdoers.”
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36. And to Median, their brother Shuaib. He said, “O my people, worship God and anticipate the Last Day, and do not spread corruption in the land.”
37. But they rejected him, so the tremor overtook them, and they were left motionless in their homes.
1.02 - MAPS OF MEANING - THREE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
point reads: God has high standards. Divinity will not put up forever with exploitation, corruption and
mediocrity.355
1.02 - Skillful Means, #The Lotus Sutra, #Anonymous, #Various
Who have put an end to all their corruption
And are bearing their last bodies,
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Free from corruption,
Even if they tried together singlemindedly,
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At that time it occurred to the great assembly of twelve hundred rvakas, arhats free from corruption, beginning with jtakauinya, and the other monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen who had set out to become rvakas and pratyekabuddhas: Why has the Bhagavat just now so earnestly praised skillful means? For what reason has he declared that the Dharma that the buddhas have attained is very profound and difficult to understand? Why has he said that their intention in adapting their teaching to what is appropriate is so difficult to comprehend that all the rvakas and pratyekabuddhas are not able to understand it?
As long as the Buddha taught the meaning of the single liberation we thought we had attained that Dharma and achieved nirvana. But now we do not understand what he means.
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The arhats free from corruption
And those seeking nirvana
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That is free from corruption.
Of those hearing this Dharma
1.02 - The Age of Individualism and Reason, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
An individualistic age of human society comes as a result of the corruption and failure of the conventional, as a revolt against the reign of the petrified typal figure. Before it can be born it is necessary that the old truths shall have been lost in the soul and practice of the race and that even the conventions which ape and replace them shall have become devoid of real sense and intelligence; stripped of all practical justification, they exist only mechanically by fixed idea, by the force of custom, by attachment to the form. It is then that men in spite of the natural conservatism of the social mind are compelled at last to perceive that the Truth is dead in them and that they are living by a lie. The individualism of the new age is an attempt to get back from conventionalism of belief and practice to some solid bed-rock, no matter what, of real and tangible Truth. And it is necessarily individualistic, because all the old general standards have become bankrupt and can no longer give any inner help; it is therefore the individual who has to become a discoverer, a pioneer, and to search out by his individual reason, intuition, idealism, desire, claim upon life or whatever other light he finds in himself the true law of the world and of his own being. By that, when he has found or thinks he has found it, he will strive to rebase on a firm foundation and remould in a more vital even if a poorer form religion, society, ethics, political institutions, his relations with his fellows, his strivings for his own perfection and his labour for mankind.
It is in Europe that the age of individualism has taken birth and exercised its full sway; the East has entered into it only by contact and influence, not from an original impulse. And it is to its passion for the discovery of the actual truth of things and for the governing of human life by whatever law of the truth it has found that the West owes its centuries of strength, vigour, light, progress, irresistible expansion. Equally, it is due not to any original falsehood in the ideals on which its life was founded, but to the loss of the living sense of the Truth it once held and its long contented slumber in the cramping bonds of a mechanical conventionalism that the East has found itself helpless in the hour of its awakening, a giant empty of strength, inert masses of men who had forgotten how to deal freely with facts and forces because they had learned only how to live in a world of stereotyped thought and customary action. Yet the truths which Europe has found by its individualistic age covered only the first more obvious, physical and outward facts of life and only such of their more hidden realities and powers as the habit of analytical reason and the pursuit of practical utility can give to man. If its rationalistic civilisation has swept so triumphantly over the world, it is because it found no deeper and more powerful truth to confront it; for all the rest of mankind was still in the inactivity of the last dark hours of the conventional age.
1.030 - The Romans, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
41. corruption has appeared on land and sea, because of what people’s hands have earned, in order to make them taste some of what they have done, so that they might return.
42. Say, “Roam the earth, and observe the fate of those who came before. Most of them were idolaters.”
1.03 - A Parable, #The Lotus Sutra, #Anonymous, #Various
Freedom from corruption,
By hearing the Buddhas voice,
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When they ride in them, sentient beings will enjoy faculties free from corruption and also powers, paths to enlightenment, meditation, liberation, and concentration. And they themselves will attain immeasurable ease and pleasure.
O riputra! Those beings, wise by nature, who accept the Dharma from the Buddha Bhagavat, who are diligent, persistent, and wish to escape from the triple world quickly, and who are seeking nirvana, are all practicing the rvaka vehicle. They are like those children who left the burning house seeking the cart yoked to a sheep.
1.03 - On Knowledge of the World., #The Alchemy of Happiness, #Al-Ghazali, #Sufism
Know, that the state previous to death is called the world, because mortality is close at hand. The state after death is called the future, because its rest is permanent. The purpose and design of the world, is to afford an opportunity [66] to make provision for the future, to acquire knowledge, and to worship God. Man as at first created, was destitute of works, and void of perfection : but he was made capable of reaching perfection and attaining felicity, so that while in a material world he could look forward to a spiritual world, understand whence he came, what are his duties, that he is soon to depart, and might be always ready. Man's felicity, which consists in the contemplation of the beauty of God, cannot be vouchsafed to him, until the eye of his judgment is opened. But the eye of judgment is opened by the contemplation of the works of God, and by understanding his almighty power. The contemplation of the works of God is by means of the senses, which become the key to all knowledge of God. The senses subsist by means of the body, and the body is composed of four different elements. Those therefore who are endowed with understanding, conscious of the frailty of their bodies should make all diligence to quit this kingdom of corruption and to enter permanently into the unchanging kingdom.
Know, O inquirer after the divine secrets, that there are two things needful to man in this world; first of all, he needs to acquire spiritual food to preserve his heart from perishing. The aliment of the heart consists in the love and knowledge of God; for whatever is a necessity of the nature of any one, that he loves, as we have before mentioned. The ruin of the soul consists in the predominance of some other love over the love of God, which veils the divine love. Our refuge is in God !
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The world resembles those imposters, who decorate themselves externally and conceal the sorrows and curse they bring, while the ignorant, looking only at the outside, are fascinated and deluded. The world resembles the old woman who arrayed herself in silk stuffs and flowered brocades, and with ornaments, and covered her head with a beautiful embroidered veil, so that those who should see her from a distance, and notice only her garments and her form, might be deceived. And whenever she has succeeded in inducing a person to follow after her and to decide upon joining himself to her, she takes off her robes from her back and her veil from her head, and immediately her concealed ugliness is brought to light, and the person who had been seeking her, becomes subject to eternal regret and sorrow. We have received it also by tradition, that the world will be brought to the great assembly at the last day, in the form of a woman with livid eyes, pendent lips, and deformed shape, and all the people will look upon her, (we take refuge in God,) and will exclaim, "what deformed and horrible person is that, whose aspect alone is severe torture to the soul?" And they will be answered. "It was on her account that you were envying and [71] hating one another, and were ready to slay one another. It was on her account that you rebelled against God, and debased yourselves to every sort of corruption." And then God will order her to be driven off to hell with her followers and her lovers....
Know, that the world consists of a certain number of stages between the world of spirits and the future world. The first stage is the cradle, and the last is the grave, and every period between these is also a stage. Each month represents a league, each hour a mile, and each breath a step. It is always flowing on like running water. Man in his excessive heedlessness thinking himself to be permanently established, engages in building up the world: and though he has no assurance of a half-hour of time, he makes preparations for dwelling here for many years, and never once brings himself to make the necessary preparation for dislodging and moving to another land.
1.03 - The Human Disciple, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
For the maintenance of family morality, of the social law and the law of the nation? These are the very standards that will be destroyed by this civil war; the family itself will be brought to the point of annihilation, corruption of morals and loss of the purity of race will be engendered, the eternal laws of the race and moral law of the family will be destroyed. Ruin of the race, the collapse of its high traditions, ethical degradation and hell for the authors of such a crime, these are the only practical results possible of this monstrous civil strife. "Therefore," cries
Arjuna, casting down the divine bow and inexhaustible quiver given to him by the gods for that tremendous hour, "it is more for my welfare that the sons of Dhritarashtra armed should slay me unarmed and unresisting. I will not fight."
1.03 - THE ORPHAN, THE WIDOW, AND THE MOON, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
The lion, the lower sun,144 grows corrupt through the flesh. [His flesh is weak because he suffers from quartan fever.145] Thus is the lion146 corrupted in his nature through his flesh, which follows the times of the moon,147 and is eclipsed. For the moon is the shadow of the sun, and with corruptible bodies she is consumed, and through her corruption is the lion eclipsed with the help of the moisture of Mercurius,148 yet his eclipse is changed to usefulness and to a better nature, and one more perfect than the first.
The changefulness of the moon and her ability to grow dark are interpreted as her corruptibility, and this negative quality can even darken the sun. The text continues:
1.04 - GOD IN THE WORLD, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
Yet further, you never enjoyed the world aright, till you so love the beauty of enjoying it, that you are covetous and earnest to persuade others to enjoy it. And so perfectly hate the abominable corruption of men in despising it that you had rather suffer the flames of hell than willingly be guilty of their error.
The world is a mirror of Infinite Beauty, yet no man sees it. It is a Temple of Majesty, yet no man regards it. It is a region of Light and Peace, did not men disquiet it. It is the Paradise of God. It is more to man since he is fallen than it was before. It is the place of Angels and the Gate of Heaven. When Jacob waked out of his dream, he said, God is here, and I wist it not. How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the House of God and the Gate of Heaven.
1.04 - On blessed and ever-memorable obedience, #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
This sea is bound to be stirred up and roused and enraged, so as to cast out of it again on to the dry land the wood, and hay, and all the corruption that was brought down into it by the rivers of the passions. Let us watch nature and we shall find that after a storm at sea there comes a deep calm.
He who is sometimes obedient to his father and sometimes disobedient is like a person who sometimes puts lotion in his eyes and sometimes quicklime. For it is said, When one builds and an other pulls down, what profit have they had but the labour ?5
1.04 - On Knowledge of the Future World., #The Alchemy of Happiness, #Al-Ghazali, #Sufism
In like manner the men of this world when they go to their graves, will see that what they called pleasure was flesh and corruption which they had unlawfully taken into their mouths. They will see that that beloved object, dressed in rich clothing, obtained by illicit means and stained with pollution, is but the old hag the world, with her disgusting face and horrid smell and putrefied corruption, on account of whom so many drowned in illusions have become victims to shame and remorse. Still more bitter torment will that be, beloved, which will be the lot of man, when in the day of resurrection and assembly all these crimes and sins shall be laid open before all the angels and prophets. Our refuge is in God!
Think not that the shame and remorse of the future world is only of the kind that we have been describing. [93] For we have before said that nothing belonging to the future world can be understood in the present world, or be rightly conceived of by our minds. The doctors of the law however (upon whom may God show mercy!), for the sake of warning and admonition in the world, and so far as the mind can appreciate it, have spoken in parables and illustrations, and they have in various ways compared the ignominy and remorse of the future world to the shame and misery existing in the present world, notwithstanding the misery in this world is but for a moment or a few days, while the other is everlasting.
1.04 - THE APPEARANCE OF ANOMALY - CHALLENGE TO THE SHARED MAP, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
immersion in love, life before the necessary corruption of social contact, life preceding exposure to the
harshly punitive conditions of physical existence. Childhood represents (perhaps, is) existence prior to the
1.04 - The Paths, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
Its magical formula is Regeneration through Putrefac- tion. The alchemists of old used this formula mainly. The first common matter of their operations was base, and had to pass through several stages of corruptions or putrefac- tion (or chemical change, as it would be styled to-day), when it was called the black dragon - but from this putrid stage, the pure gold was derived.
Another application of the same formula applies to that psychological state of which all mystics speak, viz. : the
1.05 - Christ, A Symbol of the Self, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
does not exist; and so the defect of corruption is nothing else
than the desire or act of a misdirected will." 40 Augustine agrees
1.05 - The Ascent of the Sacrifice - The Psychic Being, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
It is natural from the point of view of the Yoga to divide into two categories the activities of the human mind in its pursuit of knowledge. There is the supreme supra-intellectual knowledge which concentrates itself on the discovery of the One and Infinite in its transcendence or tries to penetrate by intuition, contemplation, direct inner contact into the ultimate truths behind the appearances of Nature; there is the lower science which diffuses itself in an outward knowledge of phenomena, the disguises of the One and Infinite as it appears to us in and through the more exterior forms of the world-manifestation around us. These two, an upper and a lower hemisphere, in the form of them constructed or conceived by men within the mind's ignorant limits, have even there separated themselves, as they developed, with some sharpness.... Philosophy, sometimes spiritual or at least intuitive, sometimes abstract and intellectual, sometimes intellectualising spiritual experience or supporting with a logical apparatus the discoveries of the spirit, has claimed always to take the fixation of ultimate Truth as its province. But even when it did not separate itself on rarefied metaphysical heights from the knowledge that belongs to the practical world and the pursuit of ephemeral objects, intellectual Philosophy by its habit of abstraction has seldom been a power for life. It has been sometimes powerful for high speculation, pursuing mental Truth for its own sake without any ulterior utility or object, sometimes for a subtle gymnastic of the mind in a mistily bright cloud-land of words and ideas, but it has walked or acrobatised far from the more tangible realities of existence. Ancient Philosophy in Europe was more dynamic, but only for the few; in India in its more spiritualised forms, it strongly influenced but without transforming the life of the race.... Religion did not attempt, like Philosophy, to live alone on the heights; its aim was rather to take hold of man's parts of life even more than his parts of mind and draw them Godwards; it professed to build a bridge between spiritual Truth and the vital and material existence; it strove to subordinate and reconcile the lower to the higher, make life serviceable to God, Earth obedient to Heaven. It has to be admitted that too often this necessary effort had the opposite result of making Heaven a sanction for Earth's desires; for continually the religious idea has been turned into an excuse for the worship and service of the human ego. Religion, leaving constantly its little shining core of spiritual experience, has lost itself in the obscure mass of its ever extending ambiguous compromises with life: in attempting to satisfy the thinking mind, it more often succeeded in oppressing or fettering it with a mass of theological dogmas; while seeking to net the human heart, it fell itself into pits of pietistic emotionalism and sensationalism; in the act of annexing the vital nature of man to dominate it, it grew itself vitiated and fell a prey to all the fanaticism, homicidal fury, savage or harsh turn for oppression, pullulating falsehood, obstinate attachment to ignorance to which that vital nature is prone; its desire to draw the physical in man towards God betrayed it into chaining itself to ecclesiastic mechanism, hollow ceremony and lifeless ritual. The corruption of the best produced the worst by that strange chemistry of the power of life which generates evil out of good even as it can also generate good out of evil. At the same time in a vain effort at self-defence against this downward gravitation. Religion was driven to cut existence into two by a division of knowledge, works, art, life itself into two opposite categories, the spiritual and the worldly, religious and mundane, sacred and profane; but this' defensive distinction itself became conventional and artificial and aggravated rather than healed the disease.... On the other side. Science and Art and the knowledge of life, although at first they served or lived in the shadow of Religion, ended by emancipating themselves, became estranged or hostile, or have even recoiled with indifference, contempt or scepticism from what seem to them the cold, barren and distant or unsubstantial and illusory heights of unreality to which metaphysical Philosophy and Religion aspire. For a time the divorce has been as complete as the one-sided intolerance of the human mind could make it and threatened even to end in a complete extinction of all attempt at a higher or a more spiritual knowledge. Yet even in the earthward life a higher knowledge is indeed the one thing that is throughout needful, and without it the lower sciences and pursuits, however fruitful, however rich, free, miraculous in the abundance of their results, become easily a sacrifice offered without due order and to false gods; corrupting, hardening in the end the heart of man, limiting his mind's horizons, they confine in a stony material imprisonment or lead to a final baffling incertitude and disillusionment. A sterile agnosticism awaits us above the brilliant phosphorescence of a half-knowledge that is still the Ignorance.
A Yoga turned towards an all-embracing realisation of the Supreme will not despise the works or even the dreams, if dreams they are, of the Cosmic Spirit or shrink from the splendid toil and many-sided victory which he has assigned to himself In the human creature. But its first condition for this liberality is that our works in the world too must be part of the sacrifice offered to the Highest and to none else, to the Divine shakti and to no other Power, in the right spirit and with the right knowledge, by the free soul and not by the hypnotised bondslave of material Nature. If a division of works has to be made, it is between those that are nearest to the heart of the sacred flame and those that are least touched or illumined by it because they are more at a distance, or between the fuel that burns strongly or brightly and the logs that if too thickly heaped on the altar may impede the ardour of the fire by their damp, heavy and diffused abundance. But otherwise, apart from this division, all activities of knowledge that seek after or express Truth are in themselves rightful materials for a complete offering; none ought necessarily to be excluded from the wide framework of the divine life. The mental and physical sciences which examine into the laws and forms and processes of things, those which concern the life of men and animals, the social, political, linguistic and historical and those which seek to know and control the labours and activities by which man subdues and utilises his world and environment, and the noble and beautiful Arts which are at once work and knowledge, -- for every well-made and significant poem, picture, statue or building is an act of creative knowledge, a living discovery of the consciousness, a figure of Truth, a dynamic form of mental and vital self-expression or world-expressions-all that seeks, all that finds, all that voices or figures is a realisation of something of the play of the Infinite and to that extent can be made a means of God-realisation or of divine formation. But the Yogin has to see that it is no longer done as part of an ignorant mental life; it can be accepted by him only if by the feeling, the remembrance, the dedication within it, it is turned into a movement of the spiritual consciousness and becomes a part of its vast grasp of comprehensive illuminating knowledge.
1.05 - THE HOSTILE BROTHERS - ARCHETYPES OF RESPONSE TO THE UNKNOWN, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
transformed into certain corruption, when the identified individual is a liar, who has voluntarily rendered
himself incapable of personal heroism. Adoption of group identity and position means access to the power
--
This corruption was not caused by camp conditions, appalling as they were:
Bread is not issued in equal pieces, but thrown onto a pile go grab! Knock down your neighbours,
--
This corruption this turning to the left led some to dissolve, to decay; to fall into the sickness unto
death, despair; to embrace death, with final hope necessary faith irrevocably, understandably, crushed
--
philosophy, to the camp corruption of soul, but he was incapable of adopting it. In the Kemerovo camps
(Antibess) the security chief kept trying to recruit him as a stoolie. Grigoryev replied to him quite
--
medicine which makes the impurities and all the corruptions of the most base metal disappear, and
which can prolong human life for several centuries. According to Arnold of Villanova, the Stone cures
--
reflections upon the moral problem of imperfection and material corruption, as such. Since the alchemist
thought analogically and symbolically, in the absence of the empirical method, he fantasized or imagined
--
searching for a method to redeem corruption. They applied their fantastical reasoning to redemption of
corrupt matter, which seems absurd from the modern viewpoint. However, experience of the physical world
--
alchemists deep into consideration of the nature of corruption, or limitation, and past that, into its
transformation, and redemption. Their devoted concentration upon the nature of this problem set in motion
--
and social world-view. To investigate matter, for the ideal, meant the investigation of evil, and corruption
itself, in the pursuit of value. The alchemist who pursued this investigation already believed he was in need
--
Genesis. The study of the transformations of corruption and limitation activated a mythological sequence in
the mind of the alchemist. This sequence followed the pattern of the way, upon which all religions have
--
for the corruption of the world, attendant upon the Fall [attendant upon the emergence of (partial) selfconsciousness]. The lapis is agent of transformation, equivalent to the mythological redemptive hero
able to to turn base metals into gold. It is, as such, something more valuable than gold just as the hero
--
him, as well as in those around him. The lie is the central act in this drama of corruption:
These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote
1.06 - Being Human and the Copernican Principle, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
change is decay. At root there is only corruption and the
unstemmable tide of chaos. Gone is purpose; all that is left
1.06 - MORTIFICATION, NON-ATTACHMENT, RIGHT LIVELIHOOD, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
That the mortified are, in some respects, often much worse than the unmortified is a commonplace of history, fiction and descriptive psychology. Thus, the Puritan may practice all the cardinal virtuesprudence, fortitude, temperance and chastity and yet remain a thoroughly bad man; for, in all too many cases, these virtues of his are accompanied by, and indeed causally connected with, the sins of pride, envy, chronic anger and an uncharitableness pushed sometimes to the level of active cruelty. Mistaking the means for the end, the Puritan has fancied himself holy because he is stoically austere. But stoical austerity is merely the exaltation of the more creditable side of the ego at the expense of the less creditable. Holiness, on the contrary, is the total denial of the separative self, in its creditable no less than its discreditable aspects, and the abandonment of the will to God. To the extent that there is attachment to I, me, mine, there is no attachment to, and therefore no unitive knowledge of, the divine Ground. Mortification has to be carried to the pitch of non-attachment or (in the phrase of St. Franois de Sales) holy indifference; otherwise it merely transfers self-will from one channel to another, not merely without decrease in the total volume of that self-will, but sometimes with an actual increase. As usual, the corruption of the best is the worst. The difference between the mortified, but still proud and self-centred stoic and the unmortified hedonist consists in this: the latter, being flabby, shiftless and at heart rather ashamed of himself, lacks the energy and the motive to do much harm except to his own body, mind and spirit; the former, because he has all the secondary virtues and looks down on those who are not like himself, is morally equipped to wish and to be able to do harm on the very largest scale and with a perfectly untroubled conscience. These are obvious facts; and yet, in the current religious jargon of our day the word immoral is reserved almost exclusively for the carnally self-indulgent. The covetous and the ambitious, the respectable toughs and those who cloak their lust for power and place under the right sort of idealistic cant, are not merely unblamed; they are even held up as models of virtue and godliness. The representatives of the organized churches begin by putting haloes on the heads of the people who do most to make wars and revolutions, then go on, rather plaintively, to wonder why the world should be in such a mess.
Mortification is not, as many people seem to imagine, a matter, primarily, of severe physical austerities. It is possible that, for certain persons in certain circumstances, the practice of severe physical austerities may prove helpful in advance towards mans final end. In most cases, however, it would seem that what is gained by such austerities is not liberation, but something quite different the achievement of psychic powers. The ability to get petitionary prayer answered, the power to heal and work other miracles, the knack of looking into the future or into other peoples mindsthese, it would seem, are often related in some kind of causal connection with fasting, watching and the self-infliction of pain. Most of the great theocentric saints and spiritual teachers have admitted the existence of supernormal powers, only, however, to deplore them. To think that such Siddhis, as the Indians call them, have anything to do with liberation is, they say, a dangerous illusion. These things are either irrelevant to the main issue of life, or, if too much prized and attended to, an obstacle in the way of spiritual advance. Nor are these the only objections to physical austerities. Carried to extremes, they may be dangerous to health and without health the steady persistence of effort required by the spiritual life is very difficult of achievement. And being difficult, painful and generally conspicuous, physical austerities are a standing temptation to vanity and the competitive spirit of record breaking. When thou didst give thyself up to physical mortification, thou wast great, thou wast admired. So writes Suso of his own experiencesexperiences which led him, just as Gautama Buddha had been led many centuries before, to give up his course of bodily penance. And St. Teresa remarks how much easier it is to impose great penances upon oneself than to suffer in patience, charity and humbleness the ordinary everyday crosses of family life (which did not prevent her, incidentally, from practising, to the very day of her death, the most excruciating forms of self-torture. Whether these austerities really helped her to come to the unitive knowledge of God, or whether they were prized and persisted in because of the psychic powers they helped to develop, there is no means of determining).
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No infallible method for controlling the political manifestations of the lust for power has ever been devised. Since power is of its very essence indefinitely expansive, it cannot be checked except by colliding with another power. Hence, any society that values liberty, in the sense of government by law rather than by class interest or personal decree, must see to it that the power of its rulers is divided. National unity means national servitude to a single man and his supporting oligarchy. Organized and balanced disunity is the necessary condition of liberty. His Majestys Loyal Opposition is the loyalest, because the most genuinely useful section of any liberty-loving community. Furthermore, since the appetite for power is purely mental and therefore insatiable and impervious to disease or old age, no community that values liberty can afford to give its rulers long tenures of office. The Carthusian Order, which was never reformed because never deformed, owed its long immunity from corruption to the fact that its abbots were elected for periods of only a single year. In ancient Rome the amount of liberty under law was in inverse ratio to the length of the magistrates terms of office. These rules for controlling the lust for power are very easy to formulate, but very difficult, as history shows, to enforce in practice. They are particularly difficult to enforce at a period like the present, when time-hallowed political machinery is being rendered obsolete by rapid technological change and when the salutary principle of organized and balanced disunity requires to be embodied in new and more appropriate institutions.
Acton, the learned Catholic historian, was of opinion that all great men are bad; Rumi, the Persian poet and mystic, thought that to seek for union with God while occupying a throne was an undertaking hardly less senseless than looking for camels among the chimney pots. A slightly more optimistic note is sounded by St. Franois de Sales, whose views on the matter were recorded by his Boswellizing disciple, the young Bishop of Belley.
1.06 - The Sign of the Fishes, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
god Rempham." "Rempham" ("Pofupa), is a corruption of Kewan (Chiun).
16 Dozy and de Goeje, "Nouveaux documents pour 1'etude de la religion des
1.07 - A Song of Longing for Tara, the Infallible, #How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator, #Thubten Chodron, #unset
In thinking of the potential corruptions great gurus and small gurus
could fall prey to, we might be tempted to start judging our teachers. This
--
free from politics and corruption?
The way that bodhisattvas and Buddhas work is beyond our comprehension; we cant always tell whats benecial and whats not. Sometimes its
1.07 - Incarnate Human Gods, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
decency and modesty as marks of inward corruption, characteristics
of a soul that still grovelled under the dominion of the flesh and
1.07 - Samadhi, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
4:Now there is great confusion, because the Buddhists use the word Samadhi to mean something entirely different, the mere faculty of attention. Thus, with them, to think of a cat is to "make Samadhi" on that cat. They use the word Jhana to describe mystic states. This is excessively misleading, for as we saw in the last section, Dhyana is a preliminary of Samadhi, and of course Jhana is merely the wretched plebeian Pali corruption of it. footnote: The vulgarism and provincialism of the Buddhist cannon is infinitely repulsive to all nice minds; and the attempt to use the terms of an ego-centric philosophy to explain the details of a psychology whose principal doctrine is the denial of the ego, was the work of a mischievous idiot. Let us unhesitatingly reject these abominations, these nastinesses of the beggars dressed in rags that they have snatched from corpses, and follow the etymological signification of the word as given above!
5:There are many kinds of Samadhi. footnote: Apparently. That is, the obvious results are different. Possibly the cause is only one, refracted through diverse media. "Some authors consider Atmadarshana, the Universe as a single phenomenon without conditions, to be the first real Samadhi." If we accept this, we must relegate many less exalted states to the class of Dhyana. Patanjali enumerates a number of these states: to perform these on different things gives different magical powers; or so he says. These need not be debated here. Any one who wants magic powers can get them in dozens of different ways.
1.07 - The Psychic Center, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
absurdity: Plato and the Hottentot, the fortunate child of saints or Rishis88 and the born and trained criminal plunged from beginning to end in the lowest fetid corruption of a great modern city have equally to create by the action or belief of this one unequal life all their eternal future. This is a paradox which offends both the soul and the reason, and ethical sense and the spiritual intuition. 89 But even among awakened beings, there are vast differences. Some souls, some consciousness-forces have just been born, while others have already acquired quite distinct individualities; some souls are in the midst of their first radiant self-discoveries, but they do not know much outside their own resplendent joys (they do not even have any precise memory of their past, nor are they aware of the worlds they carry within),
while other, rare souls seem replete with a consciousness as vast as the earth. Indeed, a man can be a luminous yogi or a saint living in his soul, yet still possess a crude mind, a repressed vital, a body he ignores or crassly mistreats, and a completely virgin superconscient.
1.089 - The Dawn, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
12. And spread much corruption therein.
13. So your Lord poured down upon them a scourge of punishment.
1.08 - On freedom from anger and on meekness., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
18. When for some reason I was sitting outside a monastery, near the cells of those living in solitude, I heard them fighting by themselves in their cells like caged partridges from bitterness and anger, and leaping at the face of their offender as if he were actually present. And I devoutly advised them not to stay in solitude in case they should be changed from human beings into demons. And I have also observed that people who are sensual and corrupt in heart are sometimes meek, what you might call flatterers, familiar, fond of outward show. And I advised these to go and adopt the life of a solitary, using this as a cure for sensuality and corruption of heart, lest from rational beings they should be pitifully changed into irrational animals. But when some of them told me that they were the wretched victims of these two passions (i.e. anger and sensuality), I absolutely forbade them to live according to their own will, but in a friendly way I suggested to their superiors that they should allow them sometimes to live in one way, sometimes in the other way of life, but that they should be entirely subject to the superior. The sensual person is liable to harm himself and perhaps one other intimate friend of his as well. But the angry person, like a wolf, often disturbs the whole flock, and offends and discourages many souls.
19. It is bad to disturb the eye of the heart by anger, according to him who said: My eye is troubled from anger.3 But it is still worse to show in words the turmoil of the soul. And to come to blows is utterly inimical and alien to the monastic, angelic and divine life.
1.09 - On remembrance of wrongs., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
1 Vices are forms of decay or corruption.
2 Or, hesychast.
1.09 - SKIRMISHES IN A WAY WITH THE AGE, #Twilight of the Idols, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy
_Renan._--Theology, or the corruption of reason by original sin
(Christianity). Proof of this,--Renan who, even in those rare cases
1.09 - The Guardian of the Threshold, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy
[paragraph continues] They assume an independent form which thou canst see even as thou beholdest the stones and plants of the outer world. And . . . I am that very being who shaped my body out of thy good and evil achievements. My spectral form is woven out of thine own life's record. Till now thou hast borne me invisibly within thee, and it was well that this was so; for the wisdom of thy destiny, though concealed from thee, could thus work within thee, so that the hideous stains on my form should be blotted out. Now that I have come forth from within thee, that concealed wisdom, too, has departed from thee. It will pay no further heed to thee; it will leave the work in thy hands alone. I must become a perfect and glorious being, or fall a prey to corruption; and should this occur, I would drag thee also down with me into a dark and corrupt world. If thou wouldst avoid this, then thine own wisdom must become great enough to undertake the task of that other, concealed wisdom, which has departed from thee. As a form visible to thyself I will never for an instant leave thy side, once thou hast crossed my Threshold. And in future, whenever thou dost act or think wrongly thou wilt straightway perceive thy guilt
p. 235
1.09 - The Worship of Trees, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
save his body from corruption; and as the evergreen cypress and pine
are deemed to be fuller of vitality than other trees, they have been
1.10 - The Scolex School, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
The reader is most strongly urged not to permit himself to indulge in fantastic flights of thought, which are the poison of the mind, because they represent an attempt to run away from reality, a dispersion of energy and a corruption of moral strength. His business is, firstly, to know himself; secondly, to order and control himself; thirdly, to develop himself on sound organic lines little by little. The rest is only leather and prunella.
There is, however, a sense in which the service of humanity is necessary to the completeness of the Adept. He is not to fly away too far.
1.14 - The Secret, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
If psychoanalysis were content to remain within its narrow limits, there would be nothing to fear; it would eventually realize its own limitations, while fulfilling in the meantime a useful social function by treating minor scratches. Unfortunately, psychoanalysis has become for many a kind of new gospel. By its insistent focus on all our murky possibilities rather than on our divine ones, it has become a powerful instrument of mental corruption. No doubt, in the course of evolution, our "blunders" eventually find their place and purpose; our moral, middle-class self-righteousness certainly had to be shaken, but the method chosen is a dangerous one because it calls up the disease without having the corresponding power to cure it. It tends, says Sri Aurobindo, to make the mind and vital more and not less fundamentally impure than before.
. . . Modern psychology is an infant science, at once rash, fumbling and crude. As in all infant sciences, the universal habit of the human mind to take a partial or local truth, generalize it unduly and try to explain a whole field of Nature in its narrow terms runs riot here. . . . The psychoanalysis [especially] of Freud . . . takes up a certain part, the darkest, the most perilous, the unhealthiest part of the nature, the lower vital subconscious layer,225 isolates some of its most morbid phenomena and attributes to it and them an action out of all proportion to its true role in the nature. . . . To raise it up prematurely or improperly for experience is to risk suffering the conscious parts also with its dark and dirty stuff and thus poisoning the whole vital and even the mental nature. Always therefore one should begin by a positive, not a negative experience, by bringing down something of the divine nature, calm, light, equanimity, purity, divine strength into the parts of the conscious being that have to be changed; only when that has been sufficiently done and there is a firm positive basis, is it safe to raise up the concealed subconscious adverse elements in order to destroy and eliminate them by the strength of the divine calm, light, force and knowledge.
1.15 - On incorruptible purity and chastity to which the corruptible attain by toil and sweat., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
1 Cf. P.G., 88; col. 912, Scholion 26: Heresy is a deviation of the mind from the truth and a sin of the mouth or tongue, whereas fornication is a sin of the whole body, which damages and depraves all the feelings and powers of body and soul, darkens the image and likeness of God in man, and is therefore called a fall. Heresy comes from presumption, while fornication comes from bodily comfort. Therefore heretics are corrected by humiliation, and sensualists by suffering. We add the gist of a Greek note in K. A. Vretoss edition of the Ladder (Constantinople, 1883, p. 91): Obviously heresy is the greatest of sins. But since the passion of fornication has a tyrannical power due to pleasure and attracts attention, it often causes men to fall after repentance. Therefore, the fornicator is debarred for periods from the Holy Mysteries, that he may not return to his vomit and jeopardize his salvation. It also serves to put fear in all, and make them struggle against their passions and use the grace of the Holy Spirit. Heresy is a mental passion that springs from error and ignorance, or from ambition and vainglory. But when the evil is removed, it no longer causes conflict or trouble. Further, spiritual education aims at cutting out evil by the root. By the practice of a strict life, fornicators are trained to forget the pleasure of lust. For whereas the evil of heresy lies only in the mind, the passion of fornication also affects the body with corruption. The man who repents of heresy is at once cleansed by turning to God with his whole personality. But one who returns to God from fornication usually needs time and tears and fasting to get rid of the pleasure and heal the wound in his flesh and stabilize his mind. If, however, both remain unrepentant, they will certainly have the same condemnation.
2 I.e. his body.
1.16 - Dianus and Diana, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
Dianus or Janus, the latter of these forms being merely a corruption
of the former. All this is true, but the objection may be parried by
1.19 - Tabooed Acts, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
deadly potency by contact with corruption, the magical implement is
set up in the ground near the fire, and as the ball melts, so the
--
through its corruption have proved a real, not a merely imaginary,
source of disease and death. Nor is it only the sanitary condition
1.20 - Tabooed Persons, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
stench of corruption.
The rule which forbids persons who have been in contact with the
1.22 - EMOTIONALISM, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
Besides, you are not accustomed to be contented with a simple good willyour self-love wants a lively emotion, a reassuring pleasure, some kind of charm or excitement. You are too much used to be guided by imagination and to suppose that your mind and will are inactive, unless you are conscious of their workings. And thus you are dependent upon a kind of excitement similar to that which the passions arouse, or theatrical representations. By dint of refinement you fall into the opposite extremea real coarseness of imagination. Nothing is more opposed, not only to the life of faith, but also to true wisdom. There is no more dangerous illusion than the fancies by which people try to avoid illusion. It is imagination which leads us astray; and the certainty which we seek through imagination, feeling, and taste, is one of the most dangerous sources from which fanaticism springs. This is the gulf of vanity and corruption which God would make you discover in your heart; you must look upon it with the calm and simplicity belonging to true humility. It is mere self-love to be inconsolable at seeing ones own imperfections; but to stand face to face widi them, neither flattering nor tolerating them, seeking to correct oneself without becoming pettishthis is to desire what is good for its own sake, and for Gods.
Fnelon
1.23 - The Double Soul in Man, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
10:The true soul secret in us - subliminal, we have said, but the word is misleading, for this presence is not situated below the threshold of waking mind, but rather burns in the temple of the inmost heart behind the thick screen of an ignorant mind, life and body, not subliminal but behind the veil, - this veiled psychic entity is the flame of the Godhead always alight within us, inextinguishable even by that dense unconsciousness of any spiritual self within which obscures our outward nature. It is a flame born out of the Divine and, luminous inhabitant of the Ignorance, grows in it till it is able to turn it towards the Knowledge. It is the concealed Witness and Control, the hidden Guide, the Daemon of Socrates, the inner light or inner voice of the mystic. It is that which endures and is imperishable in us from birth to birth, untouched by death, decay or corruption, an indestructible spark of the Divine. Not the unborn Self or Atman, for the Self even in presiding over the existence of the individual is aware always of its universality and transcendence, it is yet its deputy in the forms of Nature, the individual soul, caitya purus.a, supporting mind, life and body, standing behind the mental, the vital, the subtle-physical being in us and watching and profiting by their development and experience. These other person-powers in man, these beings of his being, are also veiled in their true entity, but they put forward temporary personalities which compose our outer individuality and whose combined superficial action and appearance of status we call ourselves: this inmost entity also, taking form in us as the psychic Person, puts forward a psychic personality which changes, grows, develops from life to life; for this is the traveller between birth and death and between death and birth, our nature parts are only its manifold and changing vesture. The psychic being can at first exercise only a concealed and partial and indirect action through the mind, the life and the body, since it is these parts of Nature that have to be developed as its instruments of self-expression, and it is long confined by their evolution. Missioned to lead man in the Ignorance towards the light of the Divine Consciousness, it takes the essence of all experience in the Ignorance to form a nucleus of soul-growth in the nature; the rest it turns into material for the future growth of the instruments which it has to use until they are ready to be a luminous instrumentation of the Divine. It is this secret psychic entity which is the true original Conscience in us deeper than the constructed and conventional conscience of the moralist, for it is this which points always towards Truth and Right and Beauty, towards Love and Harmony and all that is a divine possibility in us, and persists till these things become the major need of our nature. It is the psychic personality in us that flowers as the saint, the sage, the seer; when it reaches its full strength, it turns the being towards the Knowledge of Self and the Divine, towards the supreme Truth, the supreme Good, the supreme Beauty, Love and Bliss, the divine heights and largenesses, and opens us to the touch of spiritual sympathy, universality, oneness. On the contrary, where the psychic personality is weak, crude or ill-developed, the finer parts and movements in us are lacking or poor in character and power, even though the mind may be forceful and brilliant, the heart of vital emotions hard and strong and masterful, the life-force dominant and successful, the bodily existence rich and fortunate and an apparent lord and victor. It is then the outer desire-soul, the pseudo-psychic entity, that reigns and we mistake its misinterpretations of psychic suggestion and aspiration, its ideas and ideals, its desires and yearnings for true soul-stuff and wealth of spiritual experience.7 If the secret psychic Person can come forward into the front and, replacing the desire-soul, govern overtly and entirely and not only partially and from behind the veil this outer nature of mind, life and body, then these can be cast into soul images of what is true, right and beautiful and in the end the whole nature can be turned towards the real aim of life, the supreme victory, the ascent into spiritual existence.
11:But it might seem then that by bringing this psychic entity, this true soul in us, into the front and giving it there the lead and rule we shall gain all the fulfilment of our natural being that we can seek for and open also the gates of the kingdom of the Spirit. And it might well be reasoned that there is no need for any intervention of a superior Truth-Consciousness or principle of Supermind to help us to attain to the divine status or the divine perfection. Yet, although the psychic transformation is one necessary condition of the total transformation of our existence, it is not all that is needed for the largest spiritual change. In the first place, since this is the individual soul in Nature, it can open to the hidden diviner ranges of our being and receive and reflect their light and power and experience, but another, a spiritual transformation from above is needed for us to possess our self in its universality and transcendence. By itself the psychic being at a certain stage might be content to create a formation of truth, good and beauty and make that its station; at a farther stage it might become passively subject to the worldself, a mirror of the universal existence, consciousness, power, delight, but not their full participant or possessor. Although more nearly and thrillingly united to the cosmic consciousness in knowledge, emotion and even appreciation through the senses, it might become purely recipient and passive, remote from mastery and action in the world; or, one with the static self behind the cosmos, but separate inwardly from the world-movement, losing its individuality in its Source, it might return to that Source and have neither the will nor the power any further for that which was its ultimate mission here, to lead the nature also towards its divine realisation. For the psychic being came into Nature from the Self, the Divine, and it can turn back from Nature to the silent Divine through the silence of the Self and a supreme spiritual immobility. Again, an eternal portion of the Divine,8 this part is by the law of the Infinite inseparable from its Divine Whole, this part is indeed itself that Whole, except in its frontal appearance, its frontal separative self-experience; it may awaken to that reality and plunge into it to the apparent extinction or at least the merging of the individual existence. A small nucleus here in the mass of our ignorant Nature, so that it is described in the Upanishad as no bigger than a man's thumb, it can by the spiritual influx enlarge itself and embrace the whole world with the heart and mind in an intimate communion or oneness. Or it may become aware of its eternal Companion and elect to live for ever in His presence, in an imperishable union and oneness as the eternal lover with the eternal Beloved, which of all spiritual experiences is the most intense in beauty and rapture. All these are great and splendid achievements of our spiritual self-finding, but they are not necessarily the last end and entire consummation; more is possible.
1.24 - The Killing of the Divine King, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
from corruption, the deities were permitted to share the benefit of
an invention which held out to gods as well as to men a reasonable
1.25 - SPIRITUAL EXERCISES, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
In the Orient the systematization of mental prayer was carried out at some unknown but certainly very early date. Both in India and China spiritual exercises (accompanied or preceded by more or less elaborate physical exercises, especially breathing exercises) are known to have been used several centuries before the birth of Christ. In the West, the monks of the Thebaid spent a good part of each day in meditatioq as a means to contemplation or the unitive knowledge of God; and at all periods of Christian history, more or less methodical mental prayer has been largely used to supplement the vocal praying of public and private worship. But the systematization of mental prayer into elaborate spiritual exercises was not undertaken, it would seem, until near the end of the Middle Ages, when reformers within the Church popularized this new form of spirituality in an effort to revivify a decaying monasticism and to reinforce the religious life of a laity that had been bewildered by the Great Schism and profoundly shocked by the corruption of the clergy. Among these early systematizers the most effective and influential were the canons of Windesheim, who were in close touch with the Brethren of the Common Life. During the later sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries spiritual exercises became, one might almost say, positively fashionable. The early Jesuits had shown what extraordinary transformations of character, what intensities of will and devotion, could be achieved by men systematically trained on the intellectual and imaginative exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, and as the prestige of the Jesuits stood very high, at this time, in Catholic Europe, the prestige of spiritual exercises also stood high. Throughout the first century of the Counter-Reformation numerous systems of mental prayer (many of them, unlike the Ignatian exercises, specifically mystical) were composed, published and eagerly bought. After the Quietist controversy mysticism fell into disrepute and, along with mysticism, many of the once popular systems, which their authors had designed to assist the soul on the path towards contemplation. For more detailed information on this interesting and important subject the reader should consult Pourrats Christian Spirituality, Bede Frosts The Art of Mental Prayer, Edward Leens Progress through Mental Prayer and Aelfrida Tillyards Spiritual Exercises. Here it is only possible to give a few characteristic specimens from the various religious traditions.
Know that when you learn to lose yourself, you will reach the Beloved. There is no other secret to be learnt, and more than this is not known to me.
--
Dwelling in the light, there is no occasion at all for stumbling, for all things are discovered in the light. When thou art walking abroad it is present with thee in thy bosom, thou needest not to say, Lo here, or Lo there; and as thou lyest in thy bed, it is present to teach thee and judge thy wandering mind, which wanders abroad, and thy high thoughts and imaginations, and makes them subject. For following thy thoughts, thou art quickly lost. By dwelling in this light, it will discover to thee the body of sin and thy corruptions and fallen estate, where thou art. In that light which shows thee all this, stand; go neither to the right nor to the left.
George Fox
1.29 - What is Certainty?, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
May we call it "a truth of Religion?" (Don't be shocked! The original word implies a binding-together-again, as in a "Body of Doctrine:" compare the word "Ligature." It was only later by corruption, that the word came to imply "piety;" re-ligens, attentive (to the gods) as opposed to neg-ligens, neglectful.)
I think that Hermes was contemplating a Ruach closely knitted together and anchored by incessant Aspiration to the Supernal Triad; just such an one, in short, as appears in those remarks on the Magical Memory, a God-man ready to discard his well-worn Instrument for a new one, bought up to date with all the latest improvements (the movement of the Zeitgeist during his past incarnation, in particular) well wrought and ready for his use.
1.34 - The Myth and Ritual of Attis, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
issue triumphant from the corruption of the grave. On the morrow,
the twenty-fifth day of March, which was reckoned the vernal
1.63 - The Interpretation of the Fire-Festivals, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
pervading taint or corruption of the air. This is the view of Dr.
Edward Westermarck and apparently of Professor Eugen Mogk. It may be
1.69 - Original Sin, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
At the head of a lie, taught Original Sin, The corruption of man's heart."
It is impossible to commit all the possible logical errors in the course of a single syllogism; but he has an honest try.
1.75 - The AA and the Planet, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
When laws are reasonable in the eyes of the average man, he respects them, keeps them, does his best to maintain them; therefore a minute Police Force, with powers strictly limited, is adequate to deal with the almost negligibly small criminal class. A convention is laudable when it is convenient. When laws are unjust, monstrous, ridiculous, that same average man, will he-nill he, becomes a criminal; and the law requires a Tcheka or a Gestapo with dictatorial powers and no safeguards to maintain the farce. Also, corruption becomes normal in official circles; and is excused. I refer you to Mr. J. H. Thomas.*[AC53]
One evil leads to another; the seven devils always take possession of a house that is swept and garnished to he point at which people find it uncomfortable.
19.11 - Old Age, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
This form is decrepit, given to diseases, a mass of corruption, it breaks uplife ends in death.
[4]
1953-08-26, #Questions And Answers 1953, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The unselfish movement, uncalculating, is one of the most beautiful forms of psychic consciousness in the world. But the higher one rises in the scale of mental activity, the rarer it becomes. For with intelligence come all the skill and cleverness, and corruption, calculation. For instance, when a rose blossoms it does so spontaneously, for the joy of being beautiful, smelling sweet, expressing all its joy of living, and it does not calculate, it has nothing to gain out of it: it does so spontaneously, in the joy of being and living. Take a human being, well, apart from a very few exceptions, the moment his mind is active he tries to get some advantage out of his beauty and cleverness; he wants it to bring him something, either mens admiration or even much more sordid gains yet. Consequently, from the psychic point of view, the rose is better than human beings.
Only, if you climb a rung higher and consciously do what the rose does unconsciously, then it is much more beautiful. But it must be the same thing: a spontaneous flowering of beauty, uncalculating, simply for the joy of being. Little children have this at times (at times, not always). Unfortunately, under the influence of their parents and the environment, they learn to be calculating when yet very young.
1953-10-07, #Questions And Answers 1953, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A common will? You must not mix up things. If you are telling me about the goodwill among human beings, this is in the psychic, theres no shadow of a doubt about it. But there is a kind of vital interdependence, quite considerable, more than the physical, I believe. For instance, the First World War was the result of a tremendous descent of the forces of the vital world (hostile forces of the vital world) into the material world. Even those who were conscious of this descent and consequently armed to defend themselves against it, suffered from its consequences. The world, the whole earth suffered from its consequences. There was a general deterioration from the vital point of view, I could say, which was inevitable even for those who consciously knew whence the force came, whence the deterioration came, and who could therefore fight against it consciously they could not prevent certain effects being produced in the earth atmosphere. Naturally, men do not know what happened to them; all that they have said is that everything had become worse since the war. That was all that they could affirm. For example, the moral level went down very much. It was simply the result of a formidable descent of the vital world: forces of disorder, forces of corruption, forces of deterioration, forces of destruction, forces of violence, forces of cruelty.
Why this descent?
1957-01-02 - Can one go out of time and space? - Not a crucified but a glorified body - Individual effort and the new force, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Because until now evil has been opposed by weakness, by a spiritual force without any power for transformation in the material world, this tremendous effort of goodwill has ended only in deplorable failure and left the world in the same state of misery and corruption and falsehood. It is on the same plane as the one where the adverse forces are ruling that one must have a greater power than theirs, a power which can conquer them totally in that very domain. To put it otherwise, a spiritual force which would be capable of transforming both the consciousness and the material world. This force is the supramental force. What is necessary is to be receptive to its action on the physical plane, and not to run away into a distant Nirvana leaving the enemy with full power over what one abandons.
It is neither sacrifice nor renunciation nor weakness which can bring the victory. It is only Delight, a delight which is strength, endurance, supreme courage. The delight brought by the supramental force. It is much more difficult than giving everything up and running away, it demands an infinitely greater heroism but that is the only way to conquer.
1958-07-16 - Is religion a necessity?, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Religions real business is to prepare mans mind, life and bodily existence for the spiritual consciousness to take it up; it has to lead him to that point where the inner spiritual light begins fully to emerge. It is at this point that religion must learn to subordinate itself, not to insist on its outer characters, but give full scope to the inner spirit itself to develop its own truth and reality. In the meanwhile it has to take up as much of mans mentality, vitality, physicality as it can and give all his activities a turn towards the spiritual direction, the revelation of a spiritual meaning in them, the imprint of a spiritual refinement, the beginning of a spiritual character. It is in this attempt that the errors of religion come in, for they are caused by the very nature of the matter with which it is dealing,that inferior stuff invades the very forms that are meant to serve as intermediaries between the spiritual and the mental, vital or physical consciousness, and often it this attempt that lies religions greatest utility as an intercessor between spirit and nature. Truth and error live always together in the human evolution and the truth is not to be rejected because of its accompanying errors, though these have to be eliminated,often a difficult business and, if crudely done, resulting in surgical harm inflicted on the body of religion; for what we see as error is very frequently the symbol or a disguise or a corruption or malformation of a truth which is lost in the brutal radicality of the operation,the truth is cut out along with the error. Nature herself very commonly permits the good corn and the tares and weeds to grow together for a long time, because only so is her own growth, her free evolution possible.
The Life Divine, SABCL, Vol. 19, pp. 864-65
1969 10 01? - 166, #On Thoughts And Aphorisms, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But for this to be possible, it must be replaced by a more luminous and truer law and not by disorder and corruption.
4 October 1969
1f.lovecraft - The Disinterment, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
had passed since I had caught the disease, whereas the corruption takes
seven years to run its entire course.
1f.lovecraft - The Festival, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
death and corruption.
The man who had brought me now squirmed to a point directly beside the
--
out of corruption horrid life springs, and the dull scavengers of
earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great
1f.lovecraft - The Horror at Red Hook, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
of incense and corruption joined in sickening concert, and the black
air was alive with the cloudy, semi-visible bulk of shapeless elemental
--
as the pusher collapsed to a muddy blotch of corruption the pedestal he
had pushed tottered, tipped, and finally careened from its onyx base
1f.lovecraft - The Lurking Fear, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
and leprous lifea loathsome night-spawned flood of organic corruption
more devastatingly hideous than the blackest conjurations of mortal
1f.lovecraft - The Mound, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
corruption, or some very thin infiltration of loan-words. The
underground world, Zamacona learned, bore an ancient name which the
1f.lovecraft - The Night Ocean, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
with the grasp of corruption. The thing, whose shape was nearly lost,
held too much resemblance to what I feared it might be; and I pushed it
1f.lovecraft - Till A the Seas, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
they found only silence. There was not even the horror of corruption,
for the scavenger lizards had been swift.
1.fs - Melancholy -- To Laura, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
From corruption, from decay,
Springs yon clove-pink's fragrant bloom;
1.lovecraft - The Poe-ets Nightmare, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
The coarse corruptions of divine disease;
The fest'ring ailments of infinity;
1.pbs - Adonais - An elegy on the Death of John Keats, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
Invisible corruption waits to trace
His extreme way to her dim dwelling-place;
1.pbs - A Vision Of The Sea, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
Its corruption around it. Meanwhile, from the hold,
One deck is burst up by the waters below,
1.pbs - Queen Mab - Part III., #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
Fatten on its corruption! what are they?
The drones of the community; they feed
1.pbs - The Devils Walk. A Ballad, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
That riot in corruption's spoil,
That fret their little hour in gloom,
1.pbs - The Revolt Of Islam - Canto I-XII, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
To the corruption of a closd grave!
Can they whose mates are beasts, condemned to bear
1.pbs - The Triumph Of Life, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
Sink & corruption veils them as they lie
And frost in these performs what fire in those.
--
the corruption of the text here makes any interpretation doubtful.
190.
1.pbs - To The Republicans Of North America, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
Crouching at corruption's throne,
Start into a man, and brave
1.whitman - Respondez!, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
(Stifled, O days! O lands! in every public and private corruption!
Smother'd in thievery, impotence, shamelessness, mountain-high;
1.whitman - This Compost, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions,
It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless
2.02 - The Ishavasyopanishad with a commentary in English, #Isha Upanishad, #unset, #Zen
pages, those corruptions of pulp which are made today and destroyed tomorrow? Is it into those combinations of those letters
of the English alphabet with which the pages are covered? Put
--
strange mixture of Roman corruption, German barbarism and
fragments of ancient culture all bathed in the pale light that
2.02 - THE SCINTILLA, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
[49] In Dorns view there is in man an invisible sun, which he identifies with the Archeus.107 This sun is identical with the sun in the earth (in agreement with the passage from Novum lumen, supra, par. 43). The invisible sun enkindles an elemental fire which consumes mans substance108 and reduces his body to the prima materia. It is also compared with salt or natural balsam, which has in itself corruption and protection against corruption. This paradoxical aspect is borne out by a curious saying: Man is the bait, wherein the sparks struck by the flint, i.e., Mercurius, and by the steel,109 i.e., heaven, seize upon the tinder and show their power.110 Mercurius as the flint is evidently thought of here in his feminine, chthonic form, and heaven stands for his masculine, spiritual quintessence. From the (nuptial) impact between the two the spark is struck, the Archeus, which is a corrupter of the body, just as the chemist is a corrupter of metals. This negative aspect of the scintilla is remarkable, but it agrees very well with the alchemists less optimistic, medico-scientific view of the world.111 For them the dark side of the world and of life had not been conquered, and this was the task they set themselves in their work. In their eyes the fire-point, the divine centre in man, was something dangerous, a powerful poison which required very careful handling if it was to be changed into the panacea. The process of individuation, likewise, has its own specific dangers. Dorn expresses the standpoint of the alchemists in his fine saying: There is nothing in nature that does not contain as much evil as good.112
[50] In Khunrath113 the scintilla is the same as the elixir: Now the elixir is well and truly called a shining splendour, or perfect scintilla of him who alone is the Mighty and Strong. . . . It is the true Aqua Permanens, eternally living.114 The radical moisture is animated . . . by a fiery spark of the World-Soul, for the spirit of the Lord filleth the whole world.115 He also speaks of a plurality of sparks: There are . . . fiery sparks of the World-Soul, that is of the light of nature, dispersed or scattered at Gods comm and in and through the fabric of the great world into all fruits of the elements everywhere.116 The scintilla is associated with the doctrine of the Anthropos: The Son of the Great World . . . is filled, animated and impregnated . . . with a fiery spark of Ruach Elohim, the spirit, breath, wind or blowing of the triune God, from . . . the Body, Spirit, and Soul of the World, or . . . Sulphur and Salt, Mercury and the universal fiery spark of the light of nature.117 The fiery sparks of the World-Soul were already in the chaos, the prima materia, at the beginning of the world.118 Khunrath rises to Gnostic heights when he exclaims: And our Catholick Mercury, by virtue of his universal fiery spark of the light of nature, is beyond doubt Proteus, the sea god of the ancient pagan sages, who hath the key to the sea and . . . power over all things: son of Oceanos and Tethys.119 Many centuries lie between Monomos and Khunrath. The teachings of Monomos were completely unknown in the Middle Ages,120 and yet Khunrath hit upon very similar thoughts which can hardly be ascribed to tradition.
2.04 - Positive Aspects of the Mother-Complex, #The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
prone to gross material corruption, has put on an ethereal in-
corruptibility. The richly varied allegories of the Mother of
2.08 - The Branches of The Archetypal Man, #General Principles of Kabbalah, #Rabbi Moses Luzzatto, #Kabbalah
latent corruption. Even after the vessels were later
emended, the original break remained. Until complete
--
freed from corruption, is now as corrupt as the beast in
the field. This condition has its roots in the state of the
--
ing, and the corruption of the primordial Kings pro
vided the source for the decadence and corruption in
man and in his deeds.
2.0 - THE ANTICHRIST, #Twilight of the Idols, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy
The most lamentable example of this was the corruption of Pascal, who
believed in the perversion of his reason through original sin, whereas
--
thoroughly conscious of the corruption in question precisely in those
quarters in which hitherto people have aspired with most determination
--
understand corruption in the sense of _decadence._ What I maintain is
this, that all the values upon which mankind builds its highest hopes
--
against the latter's corruption, but against caste, privilege, order,
formality. It was the lack of faith in "higher men," it was a "Nay"
--
--The Gospels are invaluable as a testimony of the corruption which
was already persistent _within_ the first Christian communities. That
--
a masterpiece of art in psychological corruption. The gospels stand
alone. Altogether the Bible allows of no comparison. The _first_ thing
--
other and crowd together. It was not, as some believe, the corruption
of antiquity, of _noble_ antiquity, which made Christianity possible:
--
_corruptest_ form of corruption, to resist the Christians.... These
stealthy canker-worms, which under the shadow of night, mist and
--
_not_ Paganism, but "Christianity," that is to say the corruption of
souls through the concept of guilt, through the concept of punishment
--
_great_ means of corruption. As a matter of fact choice ought to be
just as much out of the question between Islam and Christianity, as
--
saw the corruption of the Papacy when the very reverse stared him in
the face: the old corruption, the _peceatum originate,_ Christianity
_no_ longer sat upon the Papal chair! But Life! The triumph of
--
of all conceivable corruptions, it has had the will to the last
imaginable corruption. The Christian Church allowed nothing to escape
from its corruption; it converted every value into its opposite, every
truth into a He, and every honest impulse into an ignominy of the
2.10 - The Primordial Kings Their Shattering, #General Principles of Kabbalah, #Rabbi Moses Luzzatto, #Kabbalah
Countenance, there is no corruption, and no destruction,
in existence; for corruption and darkness only come into
existence when He completely conceals His Face from
--
in itself is nothing more than monstrous corruption and
absolute loss, when it is introduced into the sum total of
2.11 - The Shattering And Fall of The Primordial Kings, #General Principles of Kabbalah, #Rabbi Moses Luzzatto, #Kabbalah
stitute two evils: one is corruption and loss, and the other
is debasement. You may see an intimation of the break
--
in that the immense and powerful sources of corruption
took root in them. They then acquired the full might of
--
and corruption was not much increased in them. They
are related to annulment, but not to death. In his in
ferior status, man is subject to great corruption; for had
Adam been created in his perfect state, that evil which
2.12 - The Position of The Sefirot, #General Principles of Kabbalah, #Rabbi Moses Luzzatto, #Kabbalah
ject to corruption and destruction. Emndation will
result only when they are gathered together by the Whole,
2.15 - Selection of Sparks Made for The Purpose of The Emendation, #General Principles of Kabbalah, #Rabbi Moses Luzzatto, #Kabbalah
evil through them. (Recall that it is the corruption of
the roots that produces all the evils in the creation.) But
--
for the corruption and become instead the roots of a
darkness which is capable of being emended through
--
which leads to corruption and which constitutes the
actual collectivity of shells themselves. The means of
2.17 - December 1938, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: No. There was not so much scope for corruption at least we didn't know of such scandals. It is the same thing with other municipal administrations. In New York and Chicago the whole machinery is corrupt. Sometimes the head of the institution is like that. Sometimes a mayor comes up with the intention of cleaning out the whole, but one does not know after the cleansing which one was better. One of the mayors of Chicago was a great criminal but all judges and police-officers were in his pay. In France also it is the same thing. It is not surprising that people get disgusted with Democracy.
England is comparatively less corrupt. The English are the only people who know how to work the parliamentary system. Parliamentary government is in their blood.
2.19 - Feb-May 1939, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: Yes. It is the High Command and Gandhi's dictatorship that has kept the country together. This sort of corruption may be found in America and even in France, but you will not find it in England. The public life there is honest and sincere. They may tell lies and may break their promises, but bribery or appropriation of money hardly exists in their public or political administration. As they say, "These things are not done." If a political leader does that sort of thing he is finished for life. Thomas, you know, is wiped out, nobody hears of him now. The judges make no distinction between a rich criminal and a poor one.
5 FEBRUARY 1939
2.20 - The Infancy and Maturity of ZO, Father and Mother, Israel The Ancient and Understanding, #General Principles of Kabbalah, #Rabbi Moses Luzzatto, #Kabbalah
the first corruption still prevails. Yet, as bad as this
order of corruption may be it is still a step away from
complete destruction. At this point, although the Creator
proceeds to correct the matter, the corruption of order
still remains, fqr during the entire period of preparation
--
manifested during that period is the corruption of the
good orders. Yet this is not total destruction, whereas
--
in the state of the first corruption (when the Sefirot
of ZO were all issued in one pillar) final destruction
--
of emendation; here there is no corruption and no dark
ness.
2.24 - The Evolution of the Spiritual Man, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The wide and supple method of evolutionary Nature providing the amplest scope and preserving the true intention of the religious seeking of the human being can be recognised in the development of religion in India, where any number of religious formulations, cults and disciplines have been allowed, even encouraged to subsist side by side and each man was free to accept and follow that which was congenial to his thought, feeling, temperament, build of the nature. It is right and reasonable that there should be this plasticity, proper to an experimental evolution: for religion's real business is to prepare man's mind, life and bodily existence for the spiritual consciousness to take it up; it has to lead him to that point where the inner spiritual light begins fully to emerge. It is at this point that religion must learn to subordinate itself, not to insist on its outer characters, but give full scope to the inner spirit itself to develop its own truth and reality. In the meanwhile it has to take up as much of man's mentality, vitality, physicality as it can and give all his activities a turn towards the spiritual direction, the revelation of a spiritual meaning in them, the imprint of a spiritual refinement, the beginning of a spiritual character. It is in this attempt that the errors of religion come in, for they are caused by the very nature of the matter with which it is dealing, - that inferior stuff invades the very forms that are meant to serve as intermediaries between the spiritual and the mental, vital or physical consciousness, and often it diminishes, degrades and corrupts them: but it is in this attempt that lies religion's greatest utility as an intercessor between spirit and nature. Truth and error live always together in the human evolution and the truth is not to be rejected because of its accompanying errors, though these have to be eliminated, - often a difficult business and, if crudely done, resulting in surgical harm inflicted on the body of religion; for what we see as error is very frequently the symbol or a disguise or a corruption or malformation of a truth which is lost in the brutal radicality of the operation, - the truth is cut out along with the error. Nature herself very commonly permits the good corn and the tares and weeds to grow together for a long time, because only so is her own growth, her free evolution possible.
Evolutionary Nature in her first awakening of man to a rudimentary spiritual consciousness must begin with a vague sense of the Infinite and the Invisible surrounding the physical being, a sense of the limitation and impotence of human mind and will and of something greater than himself concealed in the world, of Potencies beneficent or maleficent which determine the results of his action, a Power that is behind the physical world he lives in and has perhaps created it and him, or Powers that inform and rule her movements while they themselves perhaps are ruled by the greater Unknown that is beyond them. He had to determine what they are and find means of communication so that he might propitiate them or call them to his aid; he sought also for means by which he could find out and control the springs of the hidden movements of Nature. This he could not do at once by his reason because his reason could at first deal only with physical facts, but this was the domain of the Invisible and needed a supraphysical vision and knowledge; he had to do it by an extension of the faculty of intuition and instinct which was already there in the animal. This faculty, prolonged in the thinking being and mentalised, must have been more sensitive and active in early man, though still mostly on a lower scale, for he had to rely on it largely for all his first necessary discoveries: he had to rely also on the aid of subliminal experience; for the subliminal too must have been more active, more ready to upsurge in him, more capable of formulating its phenomena on the surface, before he learned to depend completely on his intellect and senses. The intuitions that he thus received by contact with Nature, his mind systematised and so created the early forms of religion. This active and ready power of intuition also gave him the sense of supraphysical forces behind the physical, and his instinct and a certain subliminal or supernormal experience of supraphysical beings with whom he could somehow communicate turned him towards the discovery of effective and canalising means for a dynamic utilisation of this knowledge; so were created magic and the other early forms of occultism. At some time it must have dawned on him that he had something in him which was not physical, a soul that survived the body; certain supernormal experiences which became active because of the pressure to know the invisible, must have helped to formulate his first crude ideas of this entity within him. It would only be later that he began to realise that what he perceived in the action of the universe was also there in some form within him and that in him also were elements that responded to invisible powers and forces for good or for evil; so would begin his religio-ethical formations and his possibilities of spiritual experience. An amalgam of primitive intuitions, occult ritual, religio-social ethics, mystical knowledge or experiences symbolised in myth but with their sense preserved by a secret initiation and discipline is the early, at first very superficial and external stage of human religion. In the beginning these elements were, no doubt, crude and poor and defective, but they acquired depth and range and increased in some cultures to a great amplitude and significance.
2.25 - List of Topics in Each Talk, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
| 03-02-39 | Yoga, experiences, fear, health, ancestral religion; Subhas, Tagore, Nehru, Gandhi; British politics, Palestine; Roosevelt, Hitler, England and France; corruption in public life |
| 05-02-39 | Nivedita; Jainism; Sri Aurobindo's experiences; European war, Roosevelt; Indian socialists |
2.30 - The Uniting of the Names 45 and 52, #General Principles of Kabbalah, #Rabbi Moses Luzzatto, #Kabbalah
All the darkness and corruption that evil incurs has
its source in the Name 52, while all the emendations have
2.4.1 - Human Relations and the Spiritual Life, #Letters On Yoga IV, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
So long as the whole consciousness is not clear of doubtful stuff and the realisation of oneness confirmed in the supreme purity, the expression of the all-love is not advisable. It is by holding it in oneself that it becomes a real part of the nature, established and purified by joining with it the other realisations still to come. At present it is only a first touch and to dissipate it by expression would be very imprudent. The sex and vital might easily become active I have known cases of very good Yogis in whom the vivaprema became the vivakma, all-love becoming all-lust. This has happened with many both in Europe and the East. Even apart from that it is always best to solidify and to confirm rather than to throw out and disperse. When the sadhana has progressed and the knowledge from above comes to enlighten and guide the love, then it will be another matter. My insistence on rejection of all untransformed vital movements is based on experience, mine and others and that of past Yogas like the Vaishnava movement of Chaitanya (not to speak of the old Buddhist Sahaja dharma) which ended in much corruption. A wide movement such as that of all-love can only take place when the ground of Nature has been solidly prepared for it. I have no objection to your mixing with others, but only under a continual guard and control by a vigilant mind and will.
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3.01 - INTRODUCTION, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
[104] The alchemists endeavours to unite the opposites culminate in the chymical marriage, the supreme act of union in which the work reaches its consummation. After the hostility of the four elements has been overcome, there still remains the last and most formidable opposition, which the alchemist expressed very aptly as the relationship between male and female. We are inclined to think of this primarily as the power of love, of passion, which drives the two opposite poles together, forgetting that such a vehement attraction is needed only when an equally strong resistance keeps them apart. Although enmity was put only between the serpent and the woman (Genesis 3 : 15), this curse nevertheless fell upon the relationship of the sexes in general. Eve was told: Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And Adam was told: Cursed is the ground for thy sake . . . because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife (3 : 16f.). Primal guilt lies between them, an interrupted state of enmity, and this appears unreasonable only to our rational mind but not to our psychic nature. Our reason is often influenced far too much by purely physical considerations, so that the union of the sexes seems to it the only sensible thing and the urge for union the most sensible instinct of all. But if we conceive of nature in the higher sense as the totality of all phenomena, then the physical is only one of her aspects, the other is pneumatic or spiritual. The first has always been regarded as feminine, the second as masculine. The goal of the one is union, the goal of the other is discrimination. Because it overvalues the physical, our contemporary reason lacks spiritual orientation, that is, pneuma. The alchemists seem to have had an inkling of this, for how otherwise could they have come upon that strange myth of the country of the King of the Sea, where only like pairs with like and the land is unfruitful?1 It was obviously a realm of innocent friendship, a kind of paradise or golden age, to which the Philosophers, the representatives of the physical, felt obliged to put an end with their good advice. But what happened was not by any means a natural union of the sexes; on the contrary it was a royal incest, a sinful deed that immediately led to imprisonment and death and only afterwards restored the fertility of the country. As a parable the myth is certainly ambiguous; like alchemy in general, it can be understood spiritually as well as physically, tam moralis quam chymica.2 The physical goal of alchemy was gold, the panacea, the elixir of life; the spiritual one was the rebirth of the (spiritual) light from the darkness of Physis: healing self-knowledge and the deliverance of the pneumatic body from the corruption of the flesh.
[105] A subtle feature of the Visio Arislei is that the very one who is meditating a pairing of the sexes is king of the land of innocence. Thus the rex marinus says: Truly I have a son and a daughter, and therefore I am king over my subjects, because they possess nothing of these things. Yet I have borne a son and a daughter in my brain.3 Hence the king is a potential traitor to the paradisal state of innocence because he can generate in his head, and he is king precisely because he is capable of this sin against the previous state of innocence. Since he can be different from them he is more than any of his subjects and therefore rightly their king, although, from the physical standpoint, he is counted a bad ruler.4
3.02 - SOL, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
[114] The miraculous power of the sun, says Dorn, is due to the fact that all the simple elements are contained in it, as they are in heaven and in the other heavenly bodies. We say that the sun is a single element, he continues, tacitly identifying it with the quintessence. This view is explained by a remarkable passage from the Consilium coniugii: The Philosophers maintained that the father of the gold and silver is the animating principle [animal] of earth and water, or man or part of a man, such as hair, blood, menstruum, etc.25 The idea at the back of this is that primitive conception of a universal power of growth, healing, magic, and prestige,26 which is to be found as much in the sun as in men and plants, so that not only the sun but man too, and especially the enlightened man, the adept, can generate the gold by virtue of this universal power. It was clear to Dorn (and to other alchemists as well) that the gold was not made by the usual chemical procedures,27 for which reason he called gold-making (chrysopoeia) a miracle. The miracle was performed by a natura abscondita (hidden nature), a metaphysical entity perceived not with the outward eyes, but solely by the mind.28 It was infused from heaven,29 provided that the adept had approached as closely as possible to things divine and at the same time had extracted from the substances the subtlest powers fit for the miraculous act. There is in the human body a certain aethereal substance, which preserves its other elemental parts and causes them to continue,30 he says. This substance or virtue is hindered in its operations by the corruption of the body; but the Philosophers, through a kind of divine inspiration, knew that this virtue and heavenly vigour can be freed from its fetters, not by its contrary . . . but by its like.31 Dorn calls it veritas. It is the supreme power, an unconquerable fortress, which hath but very few friends, and is besieged by innumerable enemies. It is defended by the immaculate Lamb, and signifies the heavenly Jerusalem in the inner man. In this fortress is the true and indubitable treasure, which is not eaten into by moths, nor dug out by thieves, but remaineth for ever, and is taken hence after death.32
[115] For Dorn, then, the spark of divine fire implanted in man becomes what Goe the in his original version of Faust called Fausts entelechy, which was carried away by the angels. This supreme treasure the animal man understandeth not. . . . We are made like stones, having eyes and seeing not.33
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[118] To the alchemical way of thinking the shadow is no mere privatio lucis; just as the bell and its clapper are of a tangible substantiality, so too are light and shadow. Only thus can the saying of Hermes be understood. In its entirety it runs: Son, extract from the ray its shadow, and the corruption that arises from the mists which gather about it, befoul it and veil its light; for it is consumed by necessity and by its redness.43 Here the shadow is thought of quite concretely; it is a mist that is capable not only of obscuring the sun but of befouling it (coinquinarea strong expression). The redness (rubedo) of the suns light is a reference to the red sulphur in it, the active burning principle, destructive in its effects. In man the natural sulphur, Dorn says, is identical with an elemental fire which is the cause of corruption, and this fire is enkindled by an invisible sun unknown to many, that is, the sun of the Philosophers. The natural sulphur tends to revert to its first nature, so that the body becomes sulphurous and fitted to receive the fire that corrupts man back to his first essence.44 The sun is evidently an instrument in the physiological and psychological drama of return to the prima materia, the death that must be undergone if man is to get back to the original condition of the simple elements and attain the incorrupt nature of the pre-worldly paradise. For Dorn this process was spiritual and moral as well as physical.
[119] Sol appears here in a dubious, indeed a sulphurous light: it corrupts, obviously because of the sulphur it contains.45
3.03 - SULPHUR, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
[138] In view of the significance of sulphur it is worth our while to take a look at its effects as described by the alchemists. Above all, it burns and consumes: The little power of this sulphur is sufficient to consume a strong body.110 The strong body is the sun, as is clear from the saying: Sulphur blackens the sun and consumes it. Then, it causes or signifies the putrefactio, which in our day was never seen, says the Rosarium.111 A third capacity is that of coagulating,112 and a fourth and fifth those of tincturing (tingere, colorare) and maturing (maturare).113 Its putrefying effect is also understood as its ability to corrupt. Sulphur is the cause of imperfection in all metals, the corrupter of perfection, causing the blackness in every operation; too much sulphurousness is the cause of corruption, it is bad and not well mixed, of an evil, stinking odour and of feeble strength. Its substance is dense and tough, and its corruptive action is due on the one hand to its combustibility and on the other to its earthy feculence. It hinders perfection in all its works.114
[139] These unfavourable accounts evidently impressed one of the adepts so much that, in a marginal note, he added diabolus to the causae corruptionis.115 This remark is illuminating: it forms the counterpoint to the luminous role of sulphur, for sulphur is a Lucifer or Phosphorus (light-bringer), from the most beautiful star in the chymic firmament down to the candelulae,little bits of sulphurous tow such as old women sell for lighting fires.116 In addition to so many other qualities, sulphur shares this extreme paradox with Mercurius, besides having like him a connection with Venus, though here the allusion is veiled and more discreet: Our Venus is not the common sulphur, which burns and is consumed with the combustion of the fire and of the corruption; but the whiteness of the Venus of the Sages is consumed with the combustion of the white and the red [albedinis et rubedinis], and this combustion is the entire whitening [dealbatio] of the whole work. Therefore two sulphurs are mentioned and two quicksilvers,117 and these the Philosophers have named one and one,118 and they rejoice in one another,119 and the one contains the other.120
[140] Another allusion to Venus occurs in one of the parables in De sulphure,121 about an alchemist who is seeking the sulphur. His quest leads him to the grove of Venus, and there he learns through a voice, which later turns out to be Saturns, that Sulphur is held a prisoner at the comm and of his own mother. He is praised as the artificer of a thousand things, as the heart of all things, as that which endows living things with understanding, as the begetter of every flower and blossom on herb and tree, and finally as the painter of all colours.122 This might well be a description of Eros. In addition we learn that he was imprisoned because in the view of the alchemists he had shown himself too obliging towards his mother. Although we are not told who his mother was, we may conjecture that it was Venus herself who shut up her naughty Cupid.123 This interpretation is corroborated by the fact, firstly, that Sulphur, unknown to the alchemist, was in the grove of Venus124 (woods, like trees, have a maternal significance); secondly, that Saturn introduced himself as the governor of the prison, and all alchemists with knowledge of astrology would have been familiar with the secret nature of Saturn;125 thirdly, that after the disappearance of the voice the alchemist, falling asleep, saw in the same grove a fountain and near it the personified Sulphur; and, finally, that the vision ends with the chymical embrace in the bath. Here Venus is undoubtedly the amor sapientiae who puts a check on Sulphurs roving charms. The latter may well derive from the fact that his seat in the Uroboros is in the tail of the dragon.126 Sulphur is the masculine element par excellence, the sperma homogeneum;127 and since the dragon is said to impregnate himself, his tail is the masculine and his mouth the feminine organ. Like Beya,128 who engulfed her brother in her own body and dissolved him into atoms, the dragon devours himself from the tail upwards until his whole body has been swallowed into his head.129 Being the inner fire of Mercurius,130 Sulphur obviously partakes of his most dangerous and most evil nature, his violence being personified in the dragon and the lion, and his concupiscence in Hermes Kyllenios.131 The dragon whose nature sulphur shares is often spoken of as the dragon of Babel or, more accurately, the dragons head (caput draconis), which is a most pernicious poison, a poisonous vapour breathed out by the flying dragon. The dragons head comes with great swiftness from Babylon. However, the winged dragon that stands for quicksilver becomes a poison-breathing monster only after its union with the wingless dragon, which corresponds to sulphur.132 Sulphur here plays an evil role that accords well with the sinful Babel. Furthermore, this dragon is equated with the human-headed serpent of paradise, which had the imago et similitudo Dei in its head, this being the deeper reason why the dragon devours its hated body. His head lives in eternity, and therefore it is called glorious life, and the angels serve him.133 This is a reference to Matthew 4: 11: Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
3.03 - The Consummation of Mysticism, #Let Me Explain, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
subsequent corruption. There they shed, in their meeting,
the mutual externality and the incoherences which form the
3.04 - LUNA, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
[172] Psychologically, this means that the union of consciousness (Sol) with its feminine counterpart the unconscious (Luna) has undesirable results to begin with: it produces poisonous animals such as the dragon, serpent, scorpion, basilisk, and toad;264 then the lion, bear, wolf, dog,265 and finally the eagle266 and the raven. The first to appear are the cold-blooded animals, then warm-blooded predators, and lastly birds of prey or ill-omened scavengers. The first progeny of the matrimonium luminarium are all, therefore, rather unpleasant. But that is only because there is an evil darkness in both parents which comes to light in the children, as indeed often happens in real life. I remember, for instance, the case of a twenty-year-old bank clerk who embezzled several hundred francs. His old father, the chief cashier at the same bank, was much pitied, because for forty years he had discharged his highly responsible duties with exemplary loyalty. Two days after the arrest of his son he decamped to South America with a million. So there must have been something in the family. We have seen in the case of Sol that he either possesses a shadow or is even a Sol niger. As to the position of Luna, we have already been told what this is when we discussed the new moon. In the Epistola Solis ad Lunam crescentem267 Sol cautiously says: If you do me no hurt, O moon.268 Luna has promised him complete dissolution while she herself coagulates, i.e., becomes firm, and is clothed with his blackness (induta fuero nigredine tua).269 She assumes in the friendliest manner that her blackness comes from him. The matrimonial wrangle has already begun. Luna is the shadow of the sun, and with corruptible bodies she is consumed, and through her corruption . . . is the Lion eclipsed.270
[173] According to the ancient view, the moon stands on the border-line between the eternal, aethereal things and the ephemeral phenomena of the earthly, sublunar realm.271 Macrobius says: The realm of the perishable begins with the moon and goes downwards. Souls coming into this region begin to be subject to the numbering of days and to time. . . . There is no doubt that the moon is the author and contriver of mortal bodies.272 Because of her moist nature, the moon is also the cause of decay.273 The loveliness of the new moon, hymned by the poets and Church Fathers, veils her dark side, which however could not remain hidden from the fact-finding eye of the empiricist.274 The moon, as the star nearest to the earth, partakes of the earth and its sufferings, and her analogy with the Church and the Virgin Mary as mediators has the same meaning.275 She partakes not only of the earths sufferings but of its daemonic darkness as well.276
3.05 - SAL, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
[246] These quotations clearly allude to the sharp taste of salt and sea-water. The reason why the taste is described as bitter and not simply as salt may lie first of all in the inexactness of the language, since amarus also means sharp, biting, harsh, and is used metaphorically for acrimonious speech or a wounding joke. Besides this, the language of the Vulgate had an important influence as it was one of the main sources for medieval Latin. The moral use which the Vulgate consistently makes of amarus and amaritudo gives them, in alchemy as well, a nuance that cannot be passed over. This comes out clearly in Ripleys remark that each thing in its first matter is corrupt and bitter. The juxtaposition of these two attri butes indicates the inner connection between them: corruption and bitterness are on the same footing, they denote the state of imperfect bodies, the initial state of the prima materia. Among the best known synonyms for the latter are the chaos and the sea, in the classical, mythological sense denoting the beginning of the world, the sea in particular being conceived as the
, matrix of all creatures.439 The prima materia is often called aqua pontica. The salt that comes from the mineral of the sea is by its very nature bitter, but the bitterness is due also to the impurity of the imperfect body. This apparent contradiction is explained by the report of Plutarch that the Egyptians regarded the sea as something impure and untrustworthy (
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[254] After these remarkswhich seemed to me necessaryon the salt-spirit, as Khunrath calls it, let us turn back to the amaritudo. As the bitter salt comes from the impure sea, it is understandable that the Gloria mundi should call it mostly black and evil-smelling in the beginning.450 The blackness and bad smell, described by the alchemists as the stench of the graves, pertain to the underworld and to the sphere of moral darkness. This impure quality is common also to the corruptio, which, as we saw, Ripley equates with bitterness. Vigenerus describes salt as corruptible, in the sense that the body is subject to corruption and decay and does not have the fiery and incorruptible nature of the spirit.451
[255] The moral use of qualities that were originally physical is clearly dependent, particularly in the case of a cleric like Ripley, on ecclesiastical language. About this I can be brief, as I can rely on Rahners valuable Antenna Crucis II: Das Meer der Welt. Here Rahner brings together all the patristic allegories that are needed to understand the alchemical symbolism. The patristic use of mare is defined by St. Augustine: Mare saeculum est (the sea is the world).452 It is the essence of the world, as the element . . . subject to the devil. St. Hilary says: By the depths of the sea is meant the seat of hell.453 The sea is the gloomy abyss, the remains of the original pit,454 and hence of the chaos that covered the earth. For St. Augustine this abyss is the realm of power allotted to the devil and demons after their fall.455 It is on the one hand a deep that cannot be reached or comprehended456 and on the other the depths of sin.457 For Gregory the Great the sea is the depths of eternal death.458 Since ancient times it was the abode of water-demons.459 There dwells Leviathan (Job 3 : 8),460 who in the language of the Fathers signifies the devil. Rahner documents the patristic equations: diabolus = draco = Leviathan = cetus magnus = aspis (adder, asp) = draco.461 St. Jerome says: The devil surrounds the seas and the ocean on all sides.462 The bitterness of salt-water is relevant in this connection, as it is one of the peculiarities of hell and damnation which must be fully tasted by the meditant in Loyolas Exercises. Point 4 of Exercise V says he must, in imagination, taste with the taste bitter things, as tears, sadness, and the worm of conscience.463 This is expressed even more colourfully in the Spiritual Exercises of the Jesuit Sebastian Izquierdo (1686): Fourthly, the taste will be tormented with a rabid hunger and thirst, with no hope of alleviation; and its food will be bitter wormwood, and its drink water of gall.464
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)468 of the Red Sea is the crossing of the water of corruption, which is Kronos. The other side of the Red Sea is the other side of Creation. The arrival in the desert is a genesis outside of generation (
). There the gods of destruction and the god of salvation are all together.469 The Red Sea is a water of death for those that are unconscious, but for those that are conscious it is a baptismal water of rebirth and transcendence.470 By unconscious are meant those who have no gnosis, i.e., are not enlightened as to the nature and destiny of man in the cosmos. In modern language it would be those who have no knowledge of the contents of the personal and collective unconscious. The personal unconscious is the shadow and the inferior function,471 in Gnostic terms the sinfulness and impurity that must be washed away by baptism. The collective unconscious expresses itself in the mythological teachings, characteristic of most mystery religions, which reveal the secret knowledge concerning the origin of all things and the way to salvation. Unconscious people who attempt to cross the sea without being purified and without the guidance of enlightenment are drowned; they get stuck in the unconscious and suffer a spiritual death in so far as they cannot get beyond their one-sidedness. To do this they would have to be more conscious of what is unconscious to them and their age, above all of the inner opposite, namely those contents to which the prevailing views are in any way opposed. This continual process of getting to know the counterposition in the unconscious I have called the transcendent function,472 because the confrontation of conscious (rational) data with those that are unconscious (irrational) necessarily results in a modification of standpoint. But an alteration is possible only if the existence of the other is admitted, at least to the point of taking conscious cognizance of it. A Christian of today, for instance, no longer ought to cling obstinately to a one-sided credo, but should face the fact that Christianity has been in a state of schism for four hundred years, with the result that every single Christian has a split in his psyche. Naturally this lesion cannot be treated or healed if everyone insists on his own standpoint. Behind those barriers he can rejoice in his absolute and consistent convictions and deem himself above the conflict, but outside them he keeps the conflict alive by his intransigence and continues to deplore the pig-headedness and stiff-neckedness of everybody else. It seems as if Christianity had been from the outset the religion of chronic squabblers, and even now it does everything in its power never to let the squabbles rest. Remarkably enough, it never stops preaching the gospel of neighbourly love.
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[293] This text describes the ascent of the soul of the arcane substance, the incombustible sulphur. The soul as Luna attains its plenilunium, its sunlike brilliance, then wanes into the novilunium and sinks down into the embrace of the terrestrial sulphur, which here signifies death and corruption. We are reminded of the gruesome conjunction at the new moon in Maiers Scrutinium chymicum, where the woman and the dragon embrace in the grave.550 The description Dorn gives in his Physica Trismegisti is also to the point: In the end it will come to pass that this earthly, spagyric birth clothes itself with heavenly nature by its ascent, and then by its descent visibly puts on the nature of the centre of the earth, but nonetheless the nature of the heavenly centre which it acquired by the ascent is secretly preserved.551 This birth (foetura) conquers the subtile and spiritual sickness in the human mind and also all bodily defects, within as well as without. The medicament is produced in the same way as the world was created. Elsewhere Dorn remarks that the foetus spagyricus is forced by the fire to rise up to heaven (caelum), by which he means from the bottom of the vessel to the top, and from there it descends again after attaining the necessary degree of ripeness, and returns to earth: This spirit becomes corporeal again, after having become spirit from a body.552
[294] As if in contradiction to the Tabula smaragdina, whose authority he follows here, Dorn writes in his Philosophia speculativa: No one ascends into the heaven which ye seek, unless he who descends from the heaven which ye do not seek, enlighten him.553 Dorn was perhaps the first alchemist to find certain statements of his art problematical,554 and it was for this reason that he provided his foetus spagyricus, who behaves in an all too Basilidian manner, with a Christian alibi. At the same time he was conscious that the artifex was indissolubly one with the opus.555 His speculations are not to be taken lightly as they are occasionally of the greatest psychological interest, e.g.: The descent to the four and the ascent to the monad are simultaneous.556 The four are the four elements and the monad is the original unity which reappears in the denarius (the number 10), the goal of the opus; it is the unity of the personality projected into the unity of the stone. The descent is analytic, a separation into the four components of wholeness; the ascent synthetic, a putting together of the denarius. This speculation accords with the psychological fact that the confrontation of conscious and unconscious produces a dissolution of the personality and at the same time regroups it into a whole. This can be seen very clearly in moments of psychic crisis, for it is just in these moments that the symbol of unity, for instance the mandala, occurs in a dream. Where danger is, there / Arises salvation also, says Hlderlin.
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[337] Khunrath says: And the Light was made Salt, a body of salt, the salt of wisdom.663 The same author remarks that the point in the midst of the salt corresponds to the Tartarus of the greater world, which is hell.664 This coincides with the conception of the fire hidden in the salt. Salt must have the paradoxical double nature of the arcane substance. Thus the Gloria mundi says that in the salt are two salts, namely sulphur and the radical moisture, the two most potent opposites imaginable, for which reason it was also called the Rebis.665 Vigenerus asserts that salt consists of two substances, since all salts partake of sulphur and quicksilver.666 These correspond to Khunraths king and queen, the two waters, red and white.667 During the work the salt assumes the appearance of blood.668 It is certain, says Dorn, that a salt, the natural balsam of the body, is begotten from human blood. It has within it both corruption and preservation against corruption, for in the natural order there is nothing that does not contain as much evil as good.669 Dorn was a physician, and his remark is characteristic of the empirical standpoint of the alchemists.
[338] The dark nature of salt accounts for its blackness and foetid smell.670 At the dissolution of living bodies it is the last residue of corruption, but it is the prime agent in generation.671 Mylius expressly identifies salt with the uroboros-dragon.672 We have already mentioned its identification with the sea of Typhon; hence one could easily identify it with the sea-monster Leviathan.673 At all events there is an amusing relationship between salt and the Leviathan in Abraham Eleazar, who says with reference to Job 40 : 15:674 For Behemoth is a wild ox, whom the Most High has salted up with Leviathan and preserved for the world to come,675 evidently as food for the inhabitants of paradise,676 or whatever the world to come may mean.
[339] Another direful aspect of salt is its relation to the malefic Saturn, as is implied by Grasseus in that passage about the white dove and the philosophical lead. Speaking of the identity of sea and salt, Vigenerus points out that the Pythagoreans called the sea the tear of Kronos, because of its bitter saltness.677 On account of its relation to Typhon salt is also endowed with a murderous quality,678 as we saw in the chapter on Sulphur, where Sal inflicts on Sulphur an incurable wound. This offers a curious parallel to Kundrys wounding of Amfortas in Parsifal. In the parable of Sulphur Sal plays the sinister new-moon role of Luna.
3.06 - Death, #The Practice of Psycho therapy, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
As the legend tells us, the picture represents the putrefactio, the corruption,
the decay of a once living creature. Yet the picture is also entitled
3.07 - The Adept, #Questions And Answers 1929-1931, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Even the Gods esteem one whose senses are controlled as horses by the charioteer, one who is purged of all pride and freed from all corruption.
One who fulfils his duty is as immovable as the earth itself. He is as firm as a celestial pillar, pure as an unmuddied lake; and for him the cycle of births is completed.
3.09 - Of Silence and Secrecy, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
principally of corruptions of Greek and Egyptian names.2 For
example, we find Osorronophris for Asar Un-Nefer.3 The conjurations given by Dr. Dee (vide Equinox I (8)) are in a language called
3.09 - The Return of the Soul, #The Practice of Psycho therapy, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
of the stone, their corruption, their caput mortuum. You must not despise
this blackness, or black colour, but persevere in it in patience, in suffering,
3.10 - Punishment, #Questions And Answers 1929-1931, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mental capacity seems to have grown, mental power seems to have developed, men seem to be much more capable of playing with ideas, of having mental comm and over all principles, but at the same time they have lost the simple and healthy candour of people who lived closer to Nature and knew less how to play with ideas. Thus humanity as a whole seems to have reached a very dangerous turning-point. Those who are trying to find a solution to the general corruption preach a return to the simplicity of yore, but of course that is quite impossible: you cannot go back.
We must go farther on, we must advance, climb greater heights and go beyond the arid search for pleasure and personal welfare, not through fear of punishment, even punishment after death, but through the development of a new sense of beauty, a thirst for truth and light, through understanding that it is only by widening yourself, illumining yourself, setting yourself ablaze with the ardour for progress, that you can find both integral peace and enduring happiness.
3.17 - Of the License to Depart, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
from 777, \yqhc hwrb dow \ycycrtb alkm, Malkah be-Tarshishim ve-Aad beRuah Shehaqim, which does not add to 3321; it possibly is a corruption of a form
used in the Golden Dawn, given by Regardie as \yljc twjwr dow \ysycrtb aklm,
3.2.04 - The Conservative Mind and Eastern Progress, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The arrival of a new radical idea in the minds of men is the sign of a great coming change in human life and society; it may be combated, the reaction of the old idea may triumph for a time, but the struggle never leaves either the thoughts and sentiments or the habits and institutions of the society as they were when it commenced. Whether it knows it or not, it has gone forward and the change is irretrievable. Either new forms replace the old institutions or the old while preserving the aspect of continuity have profoundly changed within, or else these have secured for themselves a period of greater rigidity, increasing corruption, progressive deterioration of spirit and waning of real force which only assures them in the future a more complete catastrophe and absolute disappearance. The past can arrive at the most at a partial survival or an euthanasia, provided it knows how to compromise liberally with the future.
The conservative mind is unwilling to recognise this law though it is observable throughout human history and we can easily cull examples with full hands from all ages and all climes; and it is protected in its refusal to see by the comparative rarity of rapid revolutions and great cataclysmal changes; it is blinded by the disguise which Nature so often throws over her processes of mutation. If we look casually at European history in this light the attention is only seized by a few conspicuous landmarks, the evolution and end of Athenian democracy, the transition from the Roman republic to the empire, the emergence of feudal Europe out of the ruins of Rome, the Christianisation of Europe, the Reformation and Renascence together preparing a new society, the French Revolution, the present rapid movement towards a socialistic State and the replacing of competition by organised cooperation. Because our view of European history is chiefly political, we do not see the constant mutation of society and of thought in the same relief; but we can recognise two great cycles of change, one of the ancient races leading from the primitive ages to the cultured society of the Graeco-Roman world, the other from the semi-barbarism of feudal Christendom to the intellectual, materialistic and civilised society of modern times.
3.2.08 - Bhakti Yoga and Vaishnavism, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The human vital consciousness has moved always between these two poles, the ordinary vital life which cannot satisfy and the recoil from it to the ascetic solution. India has gone fully through that see-saw; now Europe is beginning once more after a full trial to feel the failure of the mere vital egoistic life. The traditional Yogasto which you appealare founded upon the movement between these two poles. On one side are Shankara and Buddha and most go, if not by the same road, yet in that direction; on the other are Vaishnava or Tantric lines which try to combine asceticism with some sublimation of the vital impulse. And where did these lines end? They fell back to the other pole, to a vital invasion, even corruption and a loss of their spirit. At the present day the general movement is towards an attempt at reconciliation, and you have alluded sometimes to some of the protagonists of this attempt and asked me my opinion about them, yours being unfavourable. But these men are not mere charlatans, and if there is anything wrong with them (on which I do not pronounce), it can only be because they are unable to resist the magnetic pull of this lower pole of the egoistic vital desire-nature. And if they are unable to resist, it is because they have not found the true force which will not only neutralise that pull and prevent deterioration and downward lapse, but transform and utilise and satisfy in their own deeper truth, instead of destroying or throwing away, the life-force and the embodiment in matter; for that can only be done by the supermind power and by no other.
You appeal to the Vaishnava-Tantric traditions, to Chaitanya, Ramprasad, Ramakrishna. I know something about them and, if I did not try to repeat them, it is because I do not find in them the solution, the reconciliation I am seeking. Your quotation from Ramprasad does not assist me in the leastand it does not support your thesis either. Ramprasad is not speaking of an embodied, but of a bodiless and invisible Divineor visible only in a subtle form to the inner experience. When he speaks of maintaining his claim or case against the Mother until she lifts him into her lap, he is not speaking of any outer vital or physical contact, but of an inner psychic experience; precisely, he is protesting against her keeping him in the external vital and physical nature and insists on her taking him on the psychospiritual plane into spiritual union with her. All that is very good and very beautiful, but it is not enough; the union has indeed to be realised in the inner psycho-spiritual experience first, because without that nothing sound or lasting can be done; but also there must be a realisation of the Divine in the outer consciousness and life, in the vital and physical planes on their own essential lines. It is that which, without your mind understanding it or how it is to be done, you are asking for, and I too; only I see the necessity of a vital transformation, while you seem to think and to demand that it should be done without any radical transformation, leaving the vital as it is. In the beginning, before I discovered the secret of the supermind, I myself tried to seek the reconciliation through an association of the spiritual consciousness with the vital, but my experience and all experience shows that this leads to nothing definite and final,it ends where it began, midway between the two poles of human nature. An association is not enough, a transformation is indispensable.
The tradition of later Vaishnava bhakti is an attempt to sublimate the vital impulses through love by turning human love towards the Divine. It made a strong and intense effort and had many rich and beautiful experiences; but its weakness was just there, that it remained valid only as an inner experience turned towards the inner Divine, but it stopped at that point. Chaitanyas prema was nothing but a psychic divine love with a strong sublimated vital manifestation. But the moment Vaishnavism before or after him made an attempt at greater externalisation, we know what happeneda vitalistic deterioration, much corruption and decline. You cannot appeal to Chaitanyas example as against psychic or divine love; it was not something merely vital-human; in its essence, though not in its form, it was very much the first step in the transformation, which we ask of the sadhaks, to make their love psychic and use the vital not for its own sake, but as an expression of the souls realisation. It is the first step and perhaps for some it may be sufficient, for we are not asking everybody to become supramental; but for any full manifestation on the physical plane the supramental is indispensable.
In this later Vaishnava tradition the sadhana takes the form of an application of human vital love in all its principal turns to the Divine; viraha, abhimna, even complete separation (like the departure of Krishna to Mathura) are made prominent elements of this Yoga. But all that was only meantin the sadhana itself, not in the Vaishnava poemsas a passage of which the end is milana or complete union; but the stress laid on the untoward elements by some would almost seem to make strife, separation, abhimna, the whole means if not the very object of this kind of prema-yoga. Again, this method was only applied to the inner, not to a physically embodied Divine and had a reference to certain states and reactions of the inner consciousness in its seeking after the Divine. In the relations with the embodied Divine manifestation, or, I may add, of the disciple with the Guru, such things might rise as a result of human imperfection, but they were not made part of the theory of the relations. I do not think they formed a regular and authorised part of the relations of the bhaktas to Chaitanya or of the disciples at Dakshineshwar towards Ramakrishna! On the contrary, the relation of the disciple to the Guru in the Guruvada is supposed always to be that of worship, respect, complete happy confidence, unquestioning acceptance of the guidance. The application of the unchanged vital relations to the embodied Divine or the Guru may lead and has led to movements which are not conducive to the progress of the Yoga.
3.4.2 - The Inconscient and the Integral Yoga, #Letters On Yoga IV, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The extreme acuteness of your difficulties is due to the Yoga having come down against the bedrock of Inconscience which is the fundamental basis of all resistance in the individual and in the world to the victory of the Spirit and the Divine Work that is leading toward that victory. The difficulties themselves are general in the Asram as well as in the outside world. Doubt, discouragement, diminution or loss of faith, waning of the vital enthusiasm for the ideal, perplexity and a baffling of the hope for the future are the common features of the difficulty. In the world outside there are much worse symptoms such as the general increase of cynicism, a refusal to believe in anything at all, a decrease of honesty, an immense corruption, a preoccupation with food, money, comfort, pleasure to the exclusion of higher things and a general expectation of worse and worse things awaiting the world. All that, however acute, is a temporary phenomenon for which those who know anything about the workings of the world-energy and the workings of the Spirit were prepared. I myself foresaw that this worst would come, the darkness of night before the dawn; therefore I am not discouraged. I know what is preparing behind the darkness and can see and feel the first signs of its coming. Those who seek for the Divine have to stand firm and persist in their seeking; after a time, the darkness will fade and begin to disappear and the Light will come.
This letter was written in April 1944, the one that follows it in June 1944. The final letter in the group was written in April 1947.Ed.
3.7.1.04 - Rebirth and Soul Evolution, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
There are theories of existence which accept the individual soul, but not soul evolution. There is, for instance, that singular dogma of a soul without a past but with a future, created by the birth of the body but indestructible by the death of the body. But this is a violent and irrational assumption, an imagination unverified and without verisimilitude. It involves the difficulty of a creature beginning in time but enduring through all eternity, an immortal being dependent for its existence on an act of physical generation, yet itself always and entirely unphysical and independent of the body which results from the generation. These are objections insuperable to the reason. But there is too the difficulty that this soul inherits a past for which it is in no way responsible, or is burdened with mastering propensities imposed on it not by its own act, and is yet responsible for its future which is treated as if it were in no way determined by that often deplorable inheritance, damnosa hereditas, or that unfair creation, and were entirely of its own making. We are made helplessly what we are and are yet responsible for what we are,or at least for what we shall be hereafter, which is inevitably determined to a large extent by what we are originally. And we have only this one chance. Plato and the Hottentot, the fortunate child of saints or Rishis and the born and trained criminal plunged from beginning to end in the lowest fetid corruption of a great modern city have equally to create by the action or belief of this one unequal life all their eternal future. This is a paradox which offends both the soul and the reason, the ethical sense and the spiritual intuition.
There is too the kindred idea, behind which a truth obscurely glimmers, that the soul of man is something high, pure and great which has fallen into the material existence and by its use of its nature and its acts in the body must redeem itself, must return to its own celestial nature. But it is evident that this one earthly life is not sufficient for all to effect that difficult return, but rather most may and do miss it entirely; and we have then either to suppose that an immortal soul can perish or be doomed to eternal perdition or else that it has more existences than this poor precarious one apparently given to it, lives or states of being which intervene between its fall and the final working out of a sure redemption. But the first supposition is subject to all the difficulties of that other paradox. Apart from the problem of the reason of the descent, it is difficult to see how straight from celestial being these different souls should have lapsed immediately to such immense differences of gradation in their fall and in such a way that each is responsible for the otherwise cruel and unequal conditions under which he has to determine so summarily his eternal future. Each must surely have had a past which made him responsible for his present conditions, if he is to be held thus strictly to account for all their results and the use he makes of his often too scanty, grudging and sometimes quite hopeless opportunity. The very nature of our humanity supposes a varying constituent past for the soul as well as a resultant future.
3 - Commentaries and Annotated Translations, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
which, aided by the corruption of nirukta, has led to the present
confusion and degradation of its meaning.
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language, however remote, is a corruption formed by detrition
and perversion of the original language into a Prakrit or the
4.03 - THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE KING, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
[357] Among the older medieval treatises there is the so-called Allegoria Merlini.32 So far as the name Merlinus is concerned, I must leave it an open question whether it refers to the magician Merlin33 or is a corruption of Merculinus.34 The allegory tells us of a certain king who made ready for battle. As he was about to mount his horse he wished for a drink of water. A servant asked him what water he would like, and the king answered: I demand the water which is closest to my heart, and which likes me above all things. When the servant brought it the king drank so much that all his limbs Avere filled and all his veins inflated, and he himself became discoloured. His soldiers urged him to mount his horse, but he said he could not: I am heavy and my head hurts me, and it seems to me as though all my limbs were falling apart. He demanded to be placed in a heated chamber where he could sweat the water out. But when, after a while, they opened the chamber he lay there as if dead. They summoned the Egyptian and the Alexandrian physicians, who at once accused one another of incompetence. Finally the Alexandrian physicians gave way to the Egyptian physicians, who tore the king into little pieces, ground them to powder, mixed them with their moistening medicines, and put the king back in his heated chamber as before. After some time they fetched him out again half-dead. When those present saw this, they broke out into lamentation, crying: Alas, the king is dead. The physicians said soothingly that he was only sleeping. They then washed him with sweet water until the juice of the medicines departed from him, and mixed him with new substances. Then they put him back in the chamber as before. When they took him out this time he was really dead. But the physicians said: We have killed him that he may become better and stronger in this world after his resurrection on the day of judgment. The kings relatives, however, considered them mountebanks, took their medicines away from them, and drove them out of the kingdom. They now wanted to bury the corpse, but the Alexandrian physicians, who had heard of these happenings, counselled them against it and said they would revive the king. Though the relatives were very mistrustful they let them have a try. The Alexandrian physicians took the body, ground it to powder a second time, washed it well until nothing of the previous medicines remained, and dried it. Then they took one part of sal ammoniac and two parts of Alexandrian nitre, mixed them with the pulverized corpse, made it into a paste with a little linseed oil, and placed it in a crucible-shaped chamber with holes bored in the bottom; beneath it they placed a clean crucible and let the corpse stand so for an hour. Then they heaped fire upon it and melted it, so that the liquid ran into the vessel below. Whereupon the king rose up from death and cried in a loud voice: Where are my enemies? I shall kill them all if they do not submit to me! All the kings and princes of other countries honoured and feared him. And when they wished to see something of his wonders, they put an ounce of well-purified mercury in a crucible, and scattered over it as much as a millet-seed of finger-nails or hair or of their blood, blew up a light charcoal fire, let the mercury cool down with these, and found the stone, as I do know.
[358] This parable contains the primitive motif of the murder or sacrifice of the king for the purpose of renewing his kingly power and increasing the fertility of the land. Originally it took the form of killing the old and impotent king. In this tale the king was afflicted with a dropsy both real and metaphorical: he suffered from a general plethora and a total oedema because he drank too much of the special water. One would be inclined to think that the water closest to his heart which liked him above all things was eau de vie and that he suffered from cirrhosis of the liver, were it not that the extraction of the moist psyche from the elements was a preoccupation of alchemy long before the distillation of alcohol.35 The idea was to extract the pneuma or psyche or virtue from matter (e.g., from gold) in the form of a volatile or liquid substance, and thereby to mortify the body. This aqua permanens36 was then used to revive or reanimate the dead body and, paradoxically, to extract the soul again.37 The old body had to die; it was either sacrificed or simply killed, just as the old king had either to die or to offer sacrifice to the gods (much as Pharaoh offered libations to his own statue). Something of this kind was celebrated at the Sed festival. Moret thinks the Sed ceremony was a kind of humanized regicide.38
4.04 - THE REGENERATION OF THE KING, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
Though I was borne without corruption
And nourished neath the Pinions of the Sunne.68
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[375] It will not have escaped the reader how primitive the idea of Gods ageing and need of renewal is. It does in fact derive from ancient Egypt, though one is at a loss to imagine from what sources, other than the Bible, a Canon of Bridlington in the fifteenth century could have borrowed such a theology. His writings at any rate allow no conjectures in this respect. There is something of a clue, however, in the alchemical tradition itself, in the idea of a corrupt arcane substance whose corruption is due to original sin. A similar idea appears in the Grail tradition of the sick king, which has close connections with the transformation mystery of the Mass. The king is the forbear of Parsifal, whom one could describe as a redeemer figure, just as in alchemy the old king has a redeemer son or becomes a redeemer himself (the lapis is the same at the beginning and at the end). Further, we must consider certain medieval speculations concerning Gods need of improvement and the transformation of the wrathful God of the Old Testament into the God of Love in the New: for, like the unicorn, he was softened by love in the lap of a virgin. Ideas of this kind are found as early as Bonaventure, the Franciscan saint, who died in 1274.82 We should also remember that, in the figurative language of the Church, God the Father was represented as an old man and his birth as a rejuvenation in the Son. In a hymn to the Church as an analogy of the Mother of God Paulinus of Nola says:
Sister and wife at once; for without the use of the body
--
And mark that Nature in the beginning of her origin intends to make the Sun or the Moon, but cannot, because of Venus, [who is] a corrupt [and] mixed quicksilver, or because of the foetid earth. Wherefore, as a child in its mothers womb accidentally contracts a weakness and a corruption by reason of the place, although the sperm was clean, [and] the child is nevertheless leprous and unclean because of the corrupt womb, so it is with all imperfect metals, which are corrupted by Venus and the foetid earth.204
[418] Lastly, I would mention the kings daughter in the play in the Chymical Wedding, who was chosen as the bride but because of her coquetry was made captive by the King of the Moors. She agrees to be his concubine, and thus proves herself a regular meretrix. Rosencreutzs visit to the sleeping Venus shows that this two-faced goddess is somehow secretly connected with the opus.205
5.01 - EPILOGUE, #The Phenomenon of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
of the foregoing, for sickness and corruption invariably result
from some unhappy chance. It is an aggravated and doubly
5.4.01 - Notes on Root-Sounds, #Vedic and Philological Studies, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
putrefaction, corruption, sore, gangrene Substance
disease of the eyes.
6.08 - THE CONTENT AND MEANING OF THE FIRST TWO STAGES, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
[743] Their spirit was their own belief in the lighta spirit which drew the soul to itself from its imprisonment in the body; but the soul brought with it the darkness of the chthonic spirit, the unconscious. The separation was so important because the dark deeds of the soul had to be checked. The unio mentalis signified, therefore, an extension of consciousness and the governance of the souls motions by the spirit of truth. But since the soul made the body to live and was the principle of all realization, the philosophers could not but see that after the separation the body and its world were dead.217 They therefore called this state the grave, corruption, mortification, and so on, and the problem then arose of reanimation, that is, of reuniting the soul with the inanimate body. Had they brought about this reanimation in a direct way, the soul would simply have snapped back a foreign and possibly more advanced civilization, or through an expansion of consciousness brought about by new discoveries and new knowledge, then the rite loses its meaning and degenerates into mere superstition. Examples of this on a grand scale are the extinction of the ancient Egyptian civilization and the dying out of the gods of Greece and Rome. A similar phenomenon can be observed in China today.
[744] The demand that arises under such conditions is for a new interpretation, in accord with the spirit of the age, of the archetypes that compensate the altered situation of consciousness. Christianity, for instance, was a new and more suitable formulation of the archetypal myth, which in its turn gave the rite its vitality. The archetype is a living idea that constantly produces new interpretations through which that idea unfolds. This was correctly recognized by Cardinal Newman in regard to Christianity.218 Christian doctrine is a new interpretation and development of its earlier stages, as we can see very clearly from the ancient tradition of the God-man. This tradition is continued in the unfolding of ecclesiastical dogma, and it is naturally not only the archetypes mentioned in the canonical writings of the New Testament that develop, but also their near relatives, of which we previously knew only the pagan forerunners. An example of this is the newest dogma concerning the Virgin; it refers unquestionably to the mother goddess who was constantly associated with the young dying son. She is not even purely pagan, since she was very distinctly prefigured in the Sophia of the Old Testament. For this reason the definition of the new dogma does not really go beyond the depositum fidei, for the mother goddess is naturally implied in the archetype of the divine son and accordingly underwent a consistent development in the course of the centuries.219 The depositum fidei corresponds in empirical reality to the treasure-house of the archetypes, the gazophylacium of the alchemists, and the collective unconscious of modern psychology.
Aeneid, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Byr'sa "the Hide," a Greek corruption of the Phoenician Bosra,
the citadel of Carthage. From this corruption, there arose the legend of the Phoenician colonists buying from the Libyans a
stretch of land as large as could be encompassed by a bull's hide.
BOOK II. - A review of the calamities suffered by the Romans before the time of Christ, showing that their gods had plunged them into corruption and vice, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
object:BOOK II. - A review of the calamities suffered by the Romans before the time of Christ, showing that their gods had plunged them into corruption and vice
author class:Saint Augustine of Hippo
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IN THIS BOOK AUGUSTINE REVIEWS THOSE CALAMITIES WHICH THE ROMANS SUFFERED BEFORE THE TIME OF CHRIST, AND WHILE THE WORSHIP OF THE FALSE GODS WAS UNIVERSALLY PRACTISED; AND DEMONSTRATES THAT, FAR FROM BEING PRESERVED FROM MISFORTUNE BY THE GODS, THE ROMANS HAVE BEEN BY THEM OVERWHELMED WITH THE ONLY, OR AT LEAST THE GREATEST, OF ALL CALAMITIES THE corruption OF MANNERS, AND THE VICES OF THE SOUL.
1. Of the limits which must be put to the necessity of replying to an adversary.
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19. Of the corruption which had grown upon the Roman republic before Christ abolished the worship of the gods.
Here, then, is this Roman republic, "which has changed little by little from the fair and virtuous city it was, and has become utterly wicked and dissolute." It is not I who am the first to say this, but their own authors, from whom we learned it for a fee, and who wrote it long before the coming of Christ. You see how, before the coming of Christ, and after the destruction of Carthage, "the primitive manners, instead of undergoing insensible alteration, as hitherto they had done, were swept away as by a torrent; and how depraved by luxury and avarice the youth were." Let them now, on their part, read to us any laws given by their gods to the Roman people, and directed against luxury and avarice. And would that they had only been silent on the subjects of chastity and modesty, and had not demanded from the people indecent and shameful practices, to which they lent a pernicious patronage by their so-called divinity. Let them read our commandments in the Prophets, Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, or Epistles; let them peruse the large number of precepts against avarice and luxury which are everywhere read to the congregations that meet for this purpose, and[Pg 72] which strike the ear, not with the uncertain sound of a philosophical discussion, but with the thunder of God's own oracle pealing from the clouds. And yet they do not impute to their gods the luxury and avarice, the cruel and dissolute manners, that had rendered the republic utterly wicked and corrupt, even before the coming of Christ; but whatever affliction their pride and effeminacy have exposed them to in these latter days, they furiously impute to our religion. If the kings of the earth and all their subjects, if all princes and judges of the earth, if young men and maidens, old and young, every age, and both sexes; if they whom the Baptist addressed, the publicans and the soldiers, were all together to hearken to and observe the precepts of the Christian religion regarding a just and virtuous life, then should the republic adorn the whole earth with its own felicity, and attain in life everlasting to the pinnacle of kingly glory. But because this man listens, and that man scoffs, and most are enamoured of the blandishments of vice rather than the wholesome severity of virtue, the people of Christ, whatever be their conditionwhe ther they be kings, princes, judges, soldiers, or provincials, rich or poor, bond or free, male or femaleare enjoined to endure this earthly republic, wicked and dissolute as it is, that so they may by this endurance win for themselves an eminent place in that most holy and august assembly of angels and republic of heaven, in which the will of God is the law.
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But if our adversaries do not care how foully and disgracefully the Roman republic be stained by corrupt practices, so long only as it holds together and continues in being, and if they therefore pooh-pooh the testimony of Sallust to its "utterly wicked and profligate" condition, what will they make of Cicero's statement, that even in his time it had become entirely extinct, and that there remained extant no Roman republic at all? He introduces Scipio (the Scipio who had destroyed Carthage) discussing the republic, at a time when already there were presentiments of its speedy ruin by that corruption which Sallust describes. In fact, at the time when the discussion took place, one of the Gracchi, who, according to Sallust, was the first great instigator of seditions, had already been put to death. His death, indeed, is mentioned in the same book. Now Scipio, in the end of the second book, says: "As, among the different sounds which proceed from lyres, flutes, and the human voice, there must be maintained a certain harmony which a cultivated ear cannot endure to hear disturbed or jarring, but which may be elicited in full and absolute concord by the modulation even of voices very unlike one another; so, where reason is allowed to modulate the diverse elements of the state, there is obtained a perfect concord from the upper, lower, and middle classes as from various sounds; and what musicians call harmony in singing, is concord in matters of state, which is the strictest bond and best security of any republic, and which by no ingenuity can be retained where justice has become extinct." Then, when he had expatiated somewhat more fully, and had more copiously illustrated the benefits of its presence and the ruinous effects of its absence upon a state, Pilus, one of the company present at the discussion, struck in and demanded that the question should be more thoroughly sifted, and that[Pg 75] the subject of justice should be freely discussed for the sake of ascertaining what truth there was in the maxim which was then becoming daily more current, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice." Scipio expressed his willingness to have this maxim discussed and sifted, and gave it as his opinion that it was baseless, and that no progress could be made in discussing the republic unless it was established, not only that this maxim, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice," was false, but also that the truth is, that it cannot be governed without the most absolute justice. And the discussion of this question, being deferred till the next day, is carried on in the third book with great animation. For Pilus himself undertook to defend the position that the republic cannot be governed without injustice, at the same time being at special pains to clear himself of any real participation in that opinion. He advocated with great keenness the cause of injustice against justice, and endeavoured by plausible reasons and examples to demonstrate that the former is beneficial, the latter useless, to the republic. Then, at the request of the company, Llius attempted to defend justice, and strained every nerve to prove that nothing is so hurtful to a state as injustice; and that without justice a republic can neither be governed, nor even continue to exist.
When this question has been handled to the satisfaction of the company, Scipio reverts to the original thread of discourse, and repeats with commendation his own brief definition of a republic, that it is the weal of the people. "The people" he defines as being not every assemblage or mob, but an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law, and by a community of interests. Then he shows the use of definition in debate; and from these definitions of his own he gathers that a republic, or "weal of the people," then exists only when it is well and justly governed, whether by a monarch, or an aristocracy, or by the whole people. But when the monarch is unjust, or, as the Greeks say, a tyrant; or the aristocrats are unjust, and form a faction; or the people themselves are unjust, and become, as Scipio for want of a better name calls them, themselves the tyrant, then the republic is not only blemished (as had been proved the day[Pg 76] before), but by legitimate deduction from those definitions, it altogether ceases to be. For it could not be the people's weal when a tyrant factiously lorded it over the state; neither would the people be any longer a people if it were unjust, since it would no longer answer the definition of a people"an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law, and by a community of interests."
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But, firstly, if it be so, then they cannot complain against the Christian religion, as if it were that which gave offence to the gods and caused them to abandon Rome, since the Roman immorality had long ago driven from the altars of the city a cloud of little gods, like as many flies. And yet where was this host of divinities, when, long before the corruption of the primitive morality, Rome was taken and burnt by the Gauls? Perhaps they were present, but asleep? For at that time the whole city fell into the hands of the enemy, with the single exception of the Capitoline hill; and this too would have been[Pg 79] taken, had not the watchful geese aroused the sleeping gods! And this gave occasion to the festival of the goose, in which Rome sank nearly to the superstition of the Egyptians, who worship beasts and birds. But of these adventitious evils which are inflicted by hostile armies or by some disaster, and which attach rather to the body than the soul, I am not meanwhile disputing. At present I speak of the decay of morality, which at first almost imperceptibly lost its brilliant hue, but afterwards was wholly obliterated, was swept away as by a torrent, and involved the republic in such disastrous ruin, that though the houses and walls remained standing, the leading writers do not scruple to say that the republic was destroyed. Now, the departure of the gods "from each fane, each sacred shrine," and their abandonment of the city to destruction, was an act of justice, if their laws inculcating justice and a moral life had been held in contempt by that city. But what kind of gods were these, pray, who declined to live with a people who worshipped them, and whose corrupt life they had done nothing to reform?
23. That the vicissitudes of this life are dependent not on the favour or hostility of demons, but on the will of the true God.
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It is thus apparent, that when the republic was being destroyed by profligate manners, its gods did nothing to hinder its destruction by the direction or correction of its manners, but rather accelerated its destruction by increasing the demoralization and corruption that already existed. They need not pretend that their goodness was shocked by the iniquity of the city, and that they withdrew in anger. For they were there, sure enough; they are detected, convicted: they were equally unable to break silence so as to guide others, and to keep silence so as to conceal themselves. I do not dwell on the fact that the inhabitants of Minturn took pity on Marius, and commended him to the goddess[Pg 81] Marica in her grove, that she might give him success in all things, and that from the abyss of despair in which he then lay he forthwith returned unhurt to Rome, and entered the city the ruthless leader of a ruthless army; and they who wish to know how bloody was his victory, how unlike a citizen, and how much more relentlessly than any foreign foe he acted, let them read the histories. But this, as I said, I do not dwell upon; nor do I attri bute the bloody bliss of Marius to, I know not what Minturnian goddess [Marica], but rather to the secret providence of God, that the mouths of our adversaries might be shut, and that they who are not led by passion, but by prudent consideration of events, might be delivered from error. And even if the demons have any power in these matters, they have only that power which the secret decree of the Almighty allots to them, in order that we may not set too great store by earthly prosperity, seeing it is oftentimes vouchsafed even to wicked men like Marius; and that we may not, on the other hand, regard it as an evil, since we see that many good and pious worshippers of the one true God are, in spite of the demons, pre-eminently successful; and, finally, that we may not suppose that these unclean spirits are either to be propitiated or feared for the sake of earthly blessings or calamities: for as wicked men on earth cannot do all they would, so neither can these demons, but only in so far as they are permitted by the decree of Him whose judgments are fully comprehensible, justly reprehensible by none.
24. Of the deeds of Sylla, in which the demons boasted that he had their help.
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Where and when those initiated in the mysteries of Clestis received any good instructions, we know not. What we do know is, that before her shrine, in which her image is set, and amidst a vast crowd gathering from all quarters, and standing closely packed together, we were intensely interested spectators of the games which were going on, and saw, as we pleased to turn the eye, on this side a grand display of harlots, on the other the virgin goddess: we saw this virgin worshipped with prayer and with obscene rites. There we saw no shamefaced mimes, no actress overburdened with modesty: all that the obscene rites demanded was fully complied with. We were plainly shown what was pleasing to the virgin deity, and the matron who witnessed the spectacle returned home from the temple a wiser woman. Some, indeed, of the more prudent women turned their faces from the immodest movements of the players, and learned the art of wickedness by a furtive regard. For they were restrained, by the modest demeanour due to men, from looking boldly at the immodest gestures; but much more were they restrained from condemning with chaste[Pg 87] heart the sacred rites of her whom they adored. And yet this licentiousnesswhich, if practised in one's home, could only be done there in secretwas practised as a public lesson in the temple; and if any modesty remained in men, it was occupied in marvelling that wickedness which men could not unrestrainedly commit should be part of the religious teaching of the gods, and that to omit its exhibition should incur the anger of the gods. What spirit can that be, which by a hidden inspiration stirs men's corruption, and goads them to adultery, and feeds on the full-fledged iniquity, unless it be the same that finds pleasure in such religious ceremonies, sets in the temples images of devils, and loves to see in play the images of vices; that whispers in secret some righteous sayings to deceive the few who are good, and scatters in public invitations to profligacy, to gain possession of the millions who are wicked?
27. That the obscenities of those plays which the Romans consecrated in order to propitiate their gods, contri buted largely to the overthrow of public order.
BOOK III. - The external calamities of Rome, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
Gods, then, so great as Apollo and Neptune, in ignorance of the cheat that was to defraud them of their wages, built the walls of Troy for nothing but thanks and thankless people.[120] There may be some doubt whether it is not a worse crime to believe such persons to be gods, than to cheat such gods. Even Homer himself did not give full credence to the story; for while he represents Neptune, indeed, as hostile to the Trojans, he introduces Apollo as their champion, though the story implies that both were offended by that fraud. If, therefore,[Pg 93] they believe their fables, let them blush to worship such gods; if they discredit the fables, let no more be said of the "Trojan perjury;" or let them explain how the gods hated Trojan, but loved Roman perjury. For how did the conspiracy of Catiline, even in so large and corrupt a city, find so abundant a supply of men whose hands and tongues found them a living by perjury and civic broils? What else but perjury corrupted the judgments pronounced by so many of the senators? What else corrupted the people's votes and decisions of all causes tried before them? For it seems that the ancient practice of taking oaths has been preserved even in the midst of the greatest corruption, not for the sake of restraining wickedness by religious fear, but to complete the tale of crimes by adding that of perjury.
3. That the gods could not be offended by the adultery of Paris, this crime being so common among themselves.
BOOK II. -- PART III. ADDENDA. SCIENCE AND THE SECRET DOCTRINE CONTRASTED, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
for all we know, a RELAPSE INTO SAVAGERY or a corruption of something that was more rational
and intelligible in former stages." ("India," 1883, F. Max Muller.)
Book of Imaginary Beings (text), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
of corruption, are to her as the delight of roses and Lilies.
All savours, even to the banquet-table of the Harpys of
BOOK V. - Of fate, freewill, and God's prescience, and of the source of the virtues of the ancient Romans, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
He who hears these words of Cato or of Sallust probably thinks that such praise bestowed on the ancient Romans was applicable to all of them, or, at least, to very many of them. It is not so; otherwise the things which Cato himself writes, and which I have quoted in the second book of this work, would not be true. In that passage he says, that even from the very beginning of the state wrongs were committed by the more powerful, which led to the separation of the people from the fathers, besides which there were other internal dissensions; and the only time at which there existed a just and moderate administration was after the banishment of the kings, and that no longer than whilst they had cause to be afraid of Tarquin, and were carrying on the grievous war which had[Pg 203] been undertaken on his account against Etruria; but afterwards the fathers oppressed the people as slaves, flogged them as the kings had done, drove them from their land, and, to the exclusion of all others, held the government in their own hands alone. And to these discords, whilst the fathers were wishing to rule, and the people were unwilling to serve, the second Punic war put an end; for again great fear began to press upon their disquieted minds, holding them back from those distractions by another and greater anxiety, and bringing them back to civil concord. But the great things which were then achieved were accomplished through the administration of a few men, who were good in their own way. And by the wisdom and forethought of these few good men, which first enabled the republic to endure these evils and mitigated them, it waxed greater and greater. And this the same historian affirms, when he says that, reading and hearing of the many illustrious achievements of the Roman people in peace and in war, by land and by sea, he wished to understand what it was by which these great things were specially sustained. For he knew that very often the Romans had with a small company contended with great legions of the enemy; and he knew also that with small resources they had carried on wars with opulent kings. And he says that, after having given the matter much consideration, it seemed evident to him that the pre-eminent virtue of a few citizens had achieved the whole, and that that explained how poverty overcame wealth, and small numbers great multitudes. But, he adds, after that the state had been corrupted by luxury and indolence, again the republic, by its own greatness, was able to bear the vices of its magistrates and generals. Wherefore even the praises of Cato are only applicable to a few; for only a few were possessed of that virtue which leads men to pursue after glory, honour, and power by the true way,that is, by virtue itself. This industry at home, of which Cato speaks, was the consequence of a desire to enrich the public treasury, even though the result should be poverty at home; and therefore, when he speaks of the evil arising out of the corruption of morals, he reverses the expression, and says, "Poverty in the state, riches at home."
[Pg 204]
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Nevertheless they do not mention with thanksgiving what God has very recently, and within our own memory, wonderfully and mercifully done, but as far as in them lies they attempt, if possible, to bury it in universal oblivion. But should we be silent about these things, we should be in like manner ungrateful. When Radagaisus, king of the Goths, having taken up his position very near to the city, with a vast and savage army, was already close upon the Romans, he was in one day so speedily and so thoroughly beaten, that, whilst not even one Roman was wounded, much less slain, far more than a hundred thousand of his army were prostrated, and he himself and his sons, having been captured, were forthwith put to death, suffering the punishment they deserved. For had so impious a man, with so great and so impious a host, entered the city, whom would he have spared? what tombs of the martyrs would he have respected? in his treatment of what person would he have manifested the fear of God? whose blood would he have refrained from shedding? whose chastity would he have wished to preserve inviolate? But how loud would they not have been in the praises of their gods! How insultingly they would have boasted, saying that Radagaisus had conquered, that he had been able to achieve such great things, because he propitiated and won over the gods by daily sacrifices,a thing which the Christian religion[Pg 222] did not allow the Romans to do! For when he was approaching to those places where he was overwhelmed at the nod of the Supreme Majesty, as his fame was everywhere increasing, it was being told us at Carthage that the pagans were believing, publishing, and boasting, that he, on account of the help and protection of the gods friendly to him, because of the sacrifices which he was said to be daily offering to them, would certainly not be conquered by those who were not performing such sacrifices to the Roman gods, and did not even permit that they should be offered by any one. And now these wretched men do not give thanks to God for His great mercy, who, having determined to chastise the corruption of men, which was worthy of far heavier chastisement than the corruption of the barbarians, tempered His indignation with such mildness as, in the first instance, to cause that the king of the Goths should be conquered in a wonderful manner, lest glory should accrue to demons, whom he was known to be supplicating, and thus the minds of the weak should be overthrown; and then, afterwards, to cause that, when Rome was to be taken, it should be taken by those barbarians who, contrary to any custom of all former wars, protected, through reverence for the Christian religion, those who fled for refuge to the sacred places, and who so opposed the demons themselves, and the rites of impious sacrifices, that they seemed to be carrying on a far more terrible war with them than with men. Thus did the true Lord and Governor of things both scourge the Romans mercifully, and, by the marvellous defeat of the worshippers of demons, show that those sacrifices were not necessary even for the safety of present things; so that, by those who do not obstinately hold out, but prudently consider the matter, true religion may not be deserted on account of the urgencies of the present time, but may be more clung to in most confident expectation of eternal life.
24. What was the happiness of the Christian emperors, and how far it was true happiness.
BOOK XIII. - That death is penal, and had its origin in Adam's sin, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
But it is necessary, they say, that the natural weight of earthly bodies either keep them on earth or draw them to it; and therefore they cannot be in heaven. Our first parents were indeed on earth, in a well-wooded and fruitful spot, which has been named Paradise. But let our adversaries a little more carefully consider this subject of earthly weight, because it has important bearings, both on the ascension of the body of Christ, and also on the resurrection body of the saints. If human skill can by some contrivance fabricate vessels that float, out of metals which sink as soon as they are placed on the water, how much more credible is it that God, by some occult mode of operation, should even more certainly effect that these earthy masses be emancipated from the downward pressure of their weight? This cannot be impossible to that God by whose almighty will, according to[Pg 541] Plato, neither things born perish, nor things composed dissolve, especially since it is much more wonderful that spiritual and bodily essences be conjoined than that bodies be adjusted to other material substances. Can we not also easily believe that souls, being made perfectly blessed, should be endowed with the power of moving their earthy but incorruptible bodies as they please, with almost spontaneous movement, and of placing them where they please with the readiest action? If the angels transport whatever terrestrial creatures they please from any place they please, and convey them whither they please, is it to be believed that they cannot do so without toil and the feeling of burden? Why, then, may we not believe that the spirits of the saints, made perfect and blessed by divine grace, can carry their own bodies where they please, and set them where they will? For, though we have been accustomed to notice, in bearing weights, that the larger the quantity the greater the weight of earthy bodies is, and that the greater the weight the more burdensome it is, yet the soul carries the members of its own flesh with less difficulty when they are massive with health, than in sickness when they are wasted. And though the hale and strong man feels heavier to other men carrying him than the lank and sickly, yet the man himself moves and carries his own body with less feeling of burden when he has the greater bulk of vigorous health, than when his frame is reduced to a minimum by hunger or disease. Of such consequence, in estimating the weight of earthly bodies, even while yet corruptible and mortal, is the consideration not of dead weight, but of the healthy equilibrium of the parts. And what words can tell the difference between what we now call health and future immortality? Let not the philosophers, then, think to upset our faith with arguments from the weight of bodies; for I don't care to inquire why they cannot believe an earthly body can be in heaven, while the whole earth is suspended on nothing. For perhaps the world keeps its central place by the same law that attracts to its centre all heavy bodies. But this I say, if the lesser gods, to whom Plato committed the creation of man and the other terrestrial creatures, were able, as he affirms, to withdraw from the fire its quality of burning, while[Pg 542] they left it that of lighting, so that it should shine through the eyes; and if to the supreme God Plato also concedes the power of preserving from death things that have been born, and of preserving from dissolution things that are composed of parts so different as body and spirit;are we to hesitate to concede to this same God the power to operate on the flesh of him whom He has endowed with immortality, so as to withdraw its corruption but leave its nature, remove its burdensome weight but retain its seemly form and members? But concerning our belief in the resurrection of the dead, and concerning their immortal bodies, we shall speak more at large, God willing, in the end of this work.
19. Against the opinion of those who do not believe that the primitive men would have been immortal if they had not sinned.
At present let us go on, as we have begun, to give some explanation regarding the bodies of our first parents. I say then, that, except as the just consequence of sin, they would not have been subjected even to this death, which is good to the good,this death, which is not exclusively known and believed in by a few, but is known to all, by which soul and body are separated, and by which the body of an animal which was but now visibly living is now visibly dead. For though there can be no manner of doubt that the souls of the just and holy dead live in peaceful rest, yet so much better would it be for them to be alive in healthy, well-conditioned bodies, that even those who hold the tenet that it is most blessed to be quit of every kind of body, condemn this opinion in spite of themselves. For no one will dare to set wise men, whether yet to die or already dead,in other words, whether already quit of the body, or shortly to be so,above the immortal gods, to whom the Supreme, in Plato, promises as a munificent gift life indissoluble, or in eternal union with their bodies. But this same Plato thinks that nothing better can happen to men than that they pass through life piously and justly, and, being separated from their bodies, be received into the bosom of the gods, who never abandon theirs; "that, oblivious of the past, they may revisit the upper air, and conceive the longing to return again to the body."[597] Virgil[Pg 543] is applauded for borrowing this from the Platonic system. Assuredly Plato thinks that the souls of mortals cannot always be in their bodies, but must necessarily be dismissed by death; and, on the other hand, he thinks that without bodies they cannot endure for ever, but with ceaseless alternation pass from life to death, and from death to life. This difference, however, he sets between wise men and the rest, that they are carried after death to the stars, that each man may repose for a while in a star suitable for him, and may thence return to the labours and miseries of mortals when he has become oblivious of his former misery, and possessed with the desire of being embodied. Those, again, who have lived foolishly transmigrate into bodies fit for them, whether human or bestial. Thus he has appointed even the good and wise souls to a very hard lot indeed, since they do not receive such bodies as they might always and even immortally inhabit, but such only as they can neither permanently retain nor enjoy eternal purity without. Of this notion of Plato's, we have in a former book already said[598] that Porphyry was ashamed in the light of these Christian times, so that he not only emancipated human souls from a destiny in the bodies of beasts, but also contended for the liberation of the souls of the wise from all bodily ties, so that, escaping from all flesh, they might, as bare and blessed souls, dwell with the Father time without end. And that he might not seem to be outbid by Christ's promise of life everlasting to His saints, he also established purified souls in endless felicity, without return to their former woes; but, that he might contradict Christ, he denies the resurrection of incorruptible bodies, and maintains that these souls will live eternally, not only without earthly bodies, but without any bodies at all. And yet, whatever he meant by this teaching, he at least did not teach that these souls should offer no religious observance to the gods who dwelt in bodies. And why did he not, unless because he did not believe that the souls, even though separate from the body, were superior to those gods? Wherefore, if these philosophers will not dare (as I think they will not) to set human souls above the gods who are most blessed, and yet are tied eternally[Pg 544] to their bodies, why do they find that absurd which the Christian faith preaches,[599] namely, that our first parents were so created that, if they had not sinned, they would not have been dismissed from their bodies by any death, but would have been endowed with immortality as the reward of their obedience, and would have lived eternally with their bodies; and further, that the saints will in the resurrection inhabit those very bodies in which they have here toiled, but in such sort that neither shall any corruption or unwieldiness be suffered to attach to their flesh, nor any grief or trouble to cloud their felicity?
20. That the flesh now resting in peace shall be raised to a perfection not enjoyed by the flesh of our first parents.
Thus the souls of departed saints are not affected by the death which dismisses them from their bodies, because their flesh rests in hope, no matter what indignities it receives after sensation is gone. For they do not desire that their bodies be forgotten, as Plato thinks fit, but rather, because they remember what has been promised by Him who deceives no man, and who gave them security for the safe keeping even of the hairs of their head, they with a longing patience wait in hope of the resurrection of their bodies, in which they have suffered many hardships, and are now to suffer never again. For if they did not "hate their own flesh," when it, with its native infirmity, opposed their will, and had to be constrained by the spiritual law, how much more shall they love it, when it shall even itself have become spiritual! For as, when the spirit serves the flesh, it is fitly called carnal, so, when the flesh serves the spirit, it will justly be called spiritual. Not that it is converted into spirit, as some fancy from the words, "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in in corruption,"[600] but because it is subject to the spirit with a perfect and marvellous readiness of obedience, and responds in all things to the will that has entered on immortality,all reluctance, all corruption, and all slowness being removed. For the body will not only be better than it was here in its best estate of health, but it will surpass the[Pg 545] bodies of our first parents ere they sinned. For, though they were not to die unless they should sin, yet they used food as men do now, their bodies not being as yet spiritual, but animal only. And though they decayed not with years, nor drew nearer to death,a condition secured to them in God's marvellous grace by the tree of life, which grew along with the forbidden tree in the midst of Paradise,yet they took other nourishment, though not of that one tree, which was interdicted not because it was itself bad, but for the sake of commending a pure and simple obedience, which is the great virtue of the rational creature set under the Creator as his Lord. For, though no evil thing was touched, yet if a thing forbidden was touched, the very disobedience was sin. They were, then, nourished by other fruit, which they took that their animal bodies might not suffer the discomfort of hunger or thirst; but they tasted the tree of life, that death might not steal upon them from any quarter, and that they might not, spent with age, decay. Other fruits were, so to speak, their nourishment, but this their sacrament. So that the tree of life would seem to have been in the terrestrial Paradise what the wisdom of God is in the spiritual, of which it is written, "She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her."[601]
21. Of Paradise, that it can be understood in a spiritual sense without sacrificing the historic truth of the narrative regarding the real place.
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For as those bodies of ours, that have a living soul, though not as yet a quickening spirit, are called soul-informed bodies, and yet are not souls but bodies, so also those bodies are called spiritual,yet God forbid we should therefore suppose them to be spirits and not bodies,which, being quickened by the Spirit, have the substance, but not the unwieldiness and corruption of flesh. Man will then be not earthly but heavenly,not because the body will not be that very body which was made of earth, but because by its heavenly endowment it will be a fit inhabitant of heaven, and this not by losing its nature, but by changing its quality. The first man, of the earth earthy, was made a living soul, not a quickening spirit,which rank was reserved for him as the reward of obedience. And therefore his body, which required meat and drink to satisfy hunger and thirst, and which had no absolute and indestructible[Pg 548] immortality, but by means of the tree of life warded off the necessity of dying, and was thus maintained in the flower of youth,this body, I say, was doubtless not spiritual, but animal; and yet it would not have died but that it provoked God's threatened vengeance by offending. And though sustenance was not denied him even outside Paradise, yet, being forbidden the tree of life, he was delivered over to the wasting of time, at least in respect of that life which, had he not sinned, he might have retained perpetually in Paradise, though only in an animal body, till such time as it became spiritual in acknowledgment of his obedience.
Wherefore, although we understand that this manifest death, which consists in the separation of soul and body, was also signified by God when He said, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,"[608] it ought not on that account to seem absurd that they were not dismissed from the body on that very day on which they took the forbidden and death-bringing fruit. For certainly on that very day their nature was altered for the worse and vitiated, and by their most just banishment from the tree of life they were involved in the necessity even of bodily death, in which necessity we are born. And therefore the apostle does not say, "The body indeed is doomed to die on account of sin," but he says, "The body indeed is dead because of sin." Then he adds, "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."[609] Then accordingly shall the body become a quickening spirit which is now a living soul; and yet the apostle calls it "dead," because already it lies under the necessity of dying. But in Paradise it was so made a living soul, though not a quickening spirit, that it could not properly be called dead, for, save through the commission of sin, it could not come under the power of death. Now, since God by the words, "Adam, where art thou?" pointed to the death of the soul, which results when He abandons it, and since in the words, "Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return,"[610] He signified the death of the body, which results when the soul departs from[Pg 549] it, we are led, therefore, to believe that He said nothing of the second death, wishing it to be kept hidden, and reserving it for the New Testament dispensation, in which it is most plainly revealed. And this He did in order that, first of all, it might be evident that this first death, which is common to all, was the result of that sin which in one man became common to all.[611] But the second death is not common to all, those being excepted who were "called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren."[612] Those the grace of God has, by a Mediator, delivered from the second death.
Thus the apostle states that the first man was made in an animal body. For, wishing to distinguish the animal body which now is from the spiritual, which is to be in the resurrection, he says, "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in in corruption: it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." Then, to prove this, he goes on, "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." And to show what the animated body is, he says, "Thus it was written, The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit."[613] He wished thus to show what the animated body is, though Scripture did not say of the first man Adam, when his soul was created by the breath of God, "Man was made in an animated body," but "Man was made a living soul."[614] By these words, therefore, "The first man was made a living soul," the apostle wishes man's animated body to be understood. But how he wishes the spiritual body to be understood he shows when he adds, "But the last Adam was made a quickening spirit," plainly referring to Christ, who has so risen from the dead that He cannot die any more. He then goes on to say, "But that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual." And here he much more clearly asserts that he referred to the animal body when he said that the first man[Pg 550] was made a living soul, and to the spiritual when he said that the last man was made a quickening spirit. The animal body is the first, being such as the first Adam had, and which would not have died had he not sinned, being such also as we now have, its nature being changed and vitiated by sin to the extent of bringing us under the necessity of death, and being such as even Christ condescended first of all to assume, not indeed of necessity, but of choice; but afterwards comes the spiritual body, which already is worn by anticipation by Christ as our head, and will be worn by His members in the resurrection of the dead.
Then the apostle subjoins a notable difference between these two men, saying, "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."[615] So he elsewhere says, "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ;"[616] but in very deed this shall be accomplished when that which is animal in us by our birth shall have become spiritual in our resurrection. For, to use his words again, "We are saved by hope."[617] Now we bear the image of the earthly man by the propagation of sin and death, which pass on us by ordinary generation; but we bear the image of the heavenly by the grace of pardon and life eternal, which regeneration confers upon us through the Mediator of God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. And He is the heavenly Man of Paul's passage, because He came from heaven to be clothed with a body of earthly mortality, that He might clo the it with heavenly immortality. And he calls others heavenly, because by grace they become His members, that, together with them, He may become one Christ, as head and body. In the same epistle he puts this yet more clearly: "Since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,"[618]that is to say, in a spiritual body which shall be made a quickening spirit. Not[Pg 551] that all who die in Adam shall be members of Christ,for the great majority shall be punished in eternal death,but he uses the word "all" in both clauses, because, as no one dies in an animal body except in Adam, so no one is quickened a spiritual body save in Christ. We are not, then, by any means to suppose that we shall in the resurrection have such a body as the first man had before he sinned, nor that the words, "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy," are to be understood of that which was brought about by sin; for we are not to think that Adam had a spiritual body before he fell, and that, in punishment of his sin, it was changed into an animal body. If this be thought, small heed has been given to the words of so great a teacher, who says, "There is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body; as it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul." Was it after sin he was made so? or was not this the primal condition of man from which the blessed apostle selects his testimony to show what the animal body is?
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There is no ground, then, for our objecting, when the apostle so expressly distinguishes the animal body from the spiritual,that is to say, the body in which we now are from that in which we are to be. He says, "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."[632] Of all which words of his we have previously spoken. The animal body, accordingly, in which the apostle says that the first man Adam was made, was not so made that it could not die at all, but so that it should not die unless he should have sinned. That body, indeed, which shall be made spiritual and immortal by the quickening Spirit shall not be able to die at all; as the soul has been created immortal, and therefore, although by sin it may be said to die, and does lose a certain life of its own, namely, the Spirit of God, by whom it was enabled to live wisely and blessedly, yet it does not cease living a kind of life, though a miserable, because it is immortal by creation. So, too, the rebellious angels, though by sinning they did in a sense die, because they forsook God, the Fountain of life, which while they drank they were able to live wisely and well, yet they could not so die as to utterly cease living and[Pg 557] feeling, for they are immortals by creation. And so, after the final judgment, they shall be hurled into the second death, and not even there be deprived of life or of sensation, but shall suffer torment. But those men who have been embraced by God's grace, and are become the fellow-citizens of the holy angels who have continued in bliss, shall never more either sin or die, being endued with spiritual bodies; yet, being clothed with immortality, such as the angels enjoy, of which they cannot be divested even by sinning, the nature of their flesh shall continue the same, but all carnal corruption and unwieldiness shall be removed.
There remains a question which must be discussed, and, by the help of the Lord God of truth, solved: If the motion of concupiscence in the unruly members of our first parents arose out of their sin, and only when the divine grace deserted them; and if it was on that occasion that their eyes were opened to see, or, more exactly, notice their nakedness, and that they covered their shame because the shameless motion of their members was not subject to their will,how, then, would they have begotten children had they remained sinless as they were created? But as this book must be concluded, and so large a question cannot be summarily disposed of, we may relegate it to the following book, in which it will be more conveniently treated.
BOOK XII. - Of the creation of angels and men, and of the origin of evil, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
All natures, then, inasmuch as they are, and have therefore a rank and species of their own, and a kind of internal harmony, are certainly good. And when they are in the places assigned to them by the order of their nature, they preserve such being as they have received. And those things which have not received everlasting being, are altered for better or for worse, so as to suit the wants and motions of those things to which the Creator's law has made them subservient; and[Pg 487] thus they tend in the divine providence to that end which is embraced in the general scheme of the government of the universe. So that, though the corruption of transitory and perishable things brings them to utter destruction, it does not prevent their producing that which was designed to be their result. And this being so, God, who supremely is, and who therefore created every being which has not supreme existence (for that which was made of nothing could not be equal to Him, and indeed could not be at all had He not made it), is not to be found fault with on account of the creature's faults, but is to be praised in view of the natures He has made.
6. What the cause of the blessedness of the good angels is, and what the cause of the misery of the wicked.
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With good cause, therefore, does the true religion recognise and proclaim that the same God who created the universal cosmos, created also all the animals, souls as well as bodies. Among the terrestrial animals man was made by Him in His[Pg 520] own image, and, for the reason I have given, was made one individual, though he was not left solitary. For there is nothing so social by nature, so unsocial by its corruption, as this race. And human nature has nothing more appropriate, either for the prevention of discord, or for the healing of it, where it exists, than the remembrance of that first parent of us all, whom God was pleased to create alone, that all men might be derived from one, and that they might thus be admonished to preserve unity among their whole multitude. But from the fact that the woman was made for him from his side, it was plainly meant that we should learn how dear the bond between man and wife should be. These works of God do certainly seem extraordinary, because they are the first works. They who do not believe them, ought not to believe any prodigies; for these would not be called prodigies did they not happen out of the ordinary course of nature. But, is it possible that anything should happen in vain, however hidden be its cause, in so grand a government of divine providence? One of the sacred Psalmists says, "Come, behold the works of the Lord, what prodigies He hath wrought in the earth."[571] Why God made woman out of man's side, and what this first prodigy prefigured, I shall, with God's help, tell in another place. But at present, since this book must be concluded, let us merely say that in this first man, who was created in the beginning, there was laid the foundation, not indeed evidently, but in God's foreknowledge, of these two cities or societies, so far as regards the human race. For from that man all men were to be derivedsome of them to be associated with the good angels in their reward, others with the wicked in punishment; all being ordered by the secret yet just judgment of God. For since it is written, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,"[572] neither can His grace be unjust, nor His justice cruel.
[Pg 521]
BOOK XIV. - Of the punishment and results of mans first sin, and of the propagation of man without lust, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
3. That sin is caused not by the flesh, but by the soul, and that the corruption contracted from sin is not sin, but sin's punishment.
But if any one says that the flesh is the cause of all vices and ill conduct, inasmuch as the soul lives wickedly only because it is moved by the flesh, it is certain he has not carefully considered the whole nature of man. For "the corruptible body, indeed, weigheth down the soul."[9] Whence, too, the apostle, speaking of this corruptible body, of which he had shortly before said, "though our outward man perish,"[10] says, "We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up in life."[11] We are then burdened with this corruptible body; but knowing that the cause of this burdensomeness is not the nature and substance of the body, but its corruption, we do not desire to be deprived of the body, but to be clothed with its immortality. For then, also, there will be a body, but it shall no longer be a burden, being no longer corruptible. At present, then, "the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon[Pg 5] many things," nevertheless they are in error who suppose that all the evils of the soul proceed from the body.
Virgil, indeed, seems to express the sentiments of Plato in the beautiful lines, where he says,
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yet we believe quite otherwise. For the corruption of the body, which weighs down the soul, is not the cause but the punishment of the first sin; and it was not the corruptible flesh that made the soul sinful, but the sinful soul that made the flesh corruptible. And though from this corruption of the flesh there arise certain incitements to vice, and indeed vicious desires, yet we must not attri bute to the flesh all the vices of a wicked life, in case we thereby clear the devil of all these, for he has no flesh. For though we cannot call the devil a fornicator or drunkard, or ascribe to him any sensual indulgence (though he is the secret instigator and prompter of those who sin in these ways), yet he is exceedingly proud and envious. And this viciousness has so possessed him, that on account of it he is reserved in chains of darkness to everlasting punishment.[14] Now these vices, which have dominion over the devil, the apostle attri butes to the flesh, which certainly the devil has not. For he says "hatred, variance, emulations, strife, envying" are the works of the flesh; and of all these evils pride is the origin and head, and it rules in the devil though he has no flesh. For who shows more hatred to the saints? who is more at[Pg 6] variance with them? who more envious, bitter, and jealous? And since he exhibits all these works, though he has no flesh, how are they works of the flesh, unless because they are the works of man, who is, as I said, spoken of under the name of flesh? For it is not by having flesh, which the devil has not, but by living according to himself,that is, according to man,that man became like the devil. For the devil too, wished to live according to himself when he did not abide in the truth; so that when he lied, this was not of God, but of himself, who is not only a liar, but the father of lies, he being the first who lied, and the originator of lying as of sin.
4. What it is to live according to man, and what to live according to God.
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If any one finds a difficulty in understanding why other sins do not alter human nature as it was altered by the transgression of those first human beings, so that on account of it this nature is subject to the great corruption we feel and see, and to death, and is distracted and tossed with so many furious and contending emotions, and is certainly far different from what it was before sin, even though it were then lodged in an animal body,if, I say, any one is moved by this, he ought not to think that that sin was a small and light one because it was committed about food, and that not bad nor noxious, except because it was forbidden; for in that spot of singular felicity God could not have created and planted any evil thing. But by the precept He gave, God commended obedience, which is, in a sort, the mother and guardian of all the virtues in the reasonable creature, which was so created that submission is advantageous to it, while the fulfilment of its own will in preference to the Creator's is destruction. And as this commandment enjoining abstinence from one kind of food in the midst of great abundance of other kinds was so easy to keep,so light a burden to the memory,and, above all, found no resistance to its observance in lust, which only afterwards sprung up as the penal consequence of sin, the iniquity of violating it was all the greater in proportion to the ease with which it might have been kept.
13. That in Adam's sin an evil will preceded the evil act.
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In Paradise, then, man lived as he desired so long as he desired what God had commanded. He lived in the enjoyment of God, and was good by God's goodness; he lived without any want, and had it in his power so to live eternally. He had food that he might not hunger, drink that he might not thirst, the tree of life that old age might not waste him. There was in his body no corruption, nor seed of corruption, which could produce in him any unpleasant sensation. He feared no inward disease, no outward accident. Soundest health blessed his body, absolute tranquillity his soul. As in Paradise there was no excessive heat or cold, so its inhabitants were exempt from the vicissitudes of fear and desire. No sadness of any kind was there, nor any foolish joy; true gladness ceaselessly flowed from the presence of God, who was loved "out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned."[123] The honest love of husb and and wife made a sure harmony between them. Body and spirit worked harmoniously together, and the commandment was kept without labour. No[Pg 45] languor made their leisure wearisome; no sleepiness interrupted their desire to labour.[124] In tanta facilitate rerum et felicitate hominum, absit ut suspicemur, non potuisse prolem seri sine libidinis morbo: sed eo voluntatis nutu moverentur illa membra quo ctera, et sine ardoris illecebroso stimulo cum tranquillitate animi et corporis nulla corruptione integritatis infunderetur gremio maritus uxoris. Neque enim quia experientia probari non potest, ideo credendum non est; quando illas corporis partes non ageret turbidus calor, sed spontanea potestas, sicut opus esset, adhiberet; ita tunc potuisse utero conjugis salva integritate feminei genitalis virile semen immitti, sicut nunc potest eadem integritate salva ex utero virginis fluxus menstrui cruoris emitti. Eadem quippe via posset illud injici, qua hoc potest ejici. Ut enim ad pariendum non doloris gemitus, sed maturitatis impulsus feminea viscera relaxaret: sic ad ftandum et concipiendum non libidinis appetitus, sed voluntarius usus naturam utramque conjungeret. We speak of things which are now shameful, and although we try, as well as we are able, to conceive them as they were before they became shameful, yet necessity compels us rather to limit our discussion to the bounds set by modesty than to extend it as our moderate faculty of discourse might suggest. For since that which I have been speaking of was not experienced even by those who might have experienced it,I mean our first parents (for sin and its merited banishment from Paradise anticipated this passionless generation on their part),when sexual intercourse is spoken of now, it suggests to men's thoughts not such a placid obedience to the will as is conceivable in our first parents, but such violent acting of lust as they themselves have experienced. And therefore modesty shuts my mouth, although my mind conceives the matter clearly. But Almighty God, the supreme and supremely good Creator of all natures, who aids and rewards good wills, while He abandons and condemns the bad, and rules both, was not destitute of a plan by which He might people His city with the fixed number of citizens which His wisdom had foreordained even out of the condemned[Pg 46] human race, discriminating them not now by merits, since the whole mass was condemned as if in a vitiated root, but by grace, and showing, not only in the case of the redeemed, but also in those who were not delivered, how much grace He has bestowed upon them. For every one acknowledges that he has been rescued from evil, not by deserved, but by gratuitous goodness, when he is singled out from the company of those with whom he might justly have borne a common punishment, and is allowed to go scathless. Why, then, should God not have created those whom He foresaw would sin, since He was able to show in and by them both what their guilt merited, and what His grace bestowed, and since, under His creating and disposing hand, even the perverse disorder of the wicked could not pervert the right order of things?
27. Of the angels and men who sinned, and that their wickedness did not disturb the order of God's providence.
BOOK XIX. - A review of the philosophical opinions regarding the Supreme Good, and a comparison of these opinions with the Christian belief regarding happiness, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
But the families which do not live by faith seek their peace in the earthly advantages of this life; while the families which live by faith look for those eternal blessings which are promised, and use as pilgrims such advantages of time and of earth as do not fascinate and divert them from God, but rather aid them to endure with greater ease, and to keep down the number of those burdens of the corruptible body which weigh upon the soul. Thus the things necessary for this mortal life are used by both kinds of men and families alike, but each has its own peculiar and widely different aim in using them. The earthly city, which does not live by faith, seeks an earthly peace, and the end it proposes, in the well-ordered concord of civic obedience and rule, is the combination of men's wills to attain the things which are helpful to this life. The heavenly city, or rather the part of it which sojourns on earth and lives by faith, makes use of this peace only because it must, until this mortal condition which necessitates it shall pass away. Consequently, so long as it lives like a captive and a stranger in the earthly city, though it[Pg 327] has already received the promise of redemption, and the gift of the Spirit as the earnest of it, it makes no scruple to obey the laws of the earthly city, whereby the things necessary for the maintenance of this mortal life are administered; and thus, as this life is common to both cities, so there is a harmony between them in regard to what belongs to it. But, as the earthly city has had some philosophers whose doctrine is condemned by the divine teaching, and who, being deceived either by their own conjectures or by demons, supposed that many gods must be invited to take an interest in human affairs, and assigned to each a separate function and a separate department,to one the body, to another the soul; and in the body itself, to one the head, to another the neck, and each of the other members to one of the gods; and in like manner, in the soul, to one god the natural capacity was assigned, to another education, to another anger, to another lust; and so the various affairs of life were assigned,cattle to one, corn to another, wine to another, oil to another, the woods to another, money to another, navigation to another, wars and victories to another, marriages to another, births and fecundity to another, and other things to other gods: and as the celestial city, on the other hand, knew that one God only was to be worshipped, and that to Him alone was due that service which the Greeks call , and which can be given only to a god, it has come to pass that the two cities could not have common laws of religion, and that the heavenly city has been compelled in this matter to dissent, and to become obnoxious to those who think differently, and to stand the brunt of their anger and hatred and persecutions, except in so far as the minds of their enemies have been alarmed by the multitude of the Christians and quelled by the manifest protection of God accorded to them. This heavenly city, then, while it sojourns on earth, calls citizens out of all nations, and gathers together a society of pilgrims of all languages, not scrupling about diversities in the manners, laws, and institutions whereby earthly peace is secured and maintained, but recognising that, however various these are, they all tend to one and the same end of earthly peace. It therefore is so far from rescinding and abolishing these diversities, that it even[Pg 328] preserves and adopts them, so long only as no hindrance to the worship of the one supreme and true God is thus introduced. Even the heavenly city, therefore, while in its state of pilgrimage, avails itself of the peace of earth, and, so far as it can without injuring faith and godliness, desires and maintains a common agreement among men regarding the acquisition of the necessaries of life, and makes this earthly peace bear upon the peace of heaven; for this alone can be truly called and esteemed the peace of the reasonable creatures, consisting as it does in the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God and of one another in God. When we shall have reached that peace, this mortal life shall give place to one that is eternal, and our body shall be no more this animal body which by its corruption weighs down the soul, but a spiritual body feeling no want, and in all its members subjected to the will. In its pilgrim state the heavenly city possesses this peace by faith; and by this faith it lives righteously when it refers to the attainment of that peace every good action towards God and man; for the life of the city is a social life.
18. How different the uncertainty of the New Academy is from the certainty of the Christian faith.
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For in his book called , in which he collects and comments upon the responses which he pretends were uttered by the gods concerning divine things, he says I give his own words as they have been translated from the Greek: "To one who inquired what god he should propitiate in order to recall his wife from Christianity, Apollo replied in the following verses." Then the following words are given as those of Apollo: "You will probably find it easier to write lasting characters on the water, or lightly fly like a bird through the air, than to restore right feeling in your impious wife once she has polluted herself. Let her remain as she pleases in her foolish deception, and sing false laments to her dead God, who was condemned by right-minded judges, and perished ignominiously by a violent death." Then after these verses of Apollo (which we have given in a Latin version that does not preserve the metrical form), he goes on to say: "In these verses Apollo exposed the incurable corruption of the Christians, saying that the Jews, rather than the Christians, recognised God." See how he misrepresents Christ, giving the Jews the preference to the Christians in the recognition of God. This was his explanation of Apollo's verses, in which he says that Christ was put to death by right-minded or just judges,in other words, that He deserved to die. I leave the responsibility of this oracle regarding Christ on the lying interpreter of Apollo, or on this philosopher who believed it or possibly himself invented it; as to its agreement with Porphyry's opinions or with other oracles, we shall in a little have something to say. In this passage, however, he says that the Jews, as the interpreters of God, judged justly in pronouncing Christ to be worthy of the most shameful death. He should have listened, then, to this God of the Jews to whom he bears this testimony, when that God says, "He that sacrificeth to any other god save to the Lord alone shall be utterly destroyed." But let us come to still plainer expressions, and hear how great a God Porphyry thinks the God of the Jews is. Apollo, he says, when asked whether word, i.e. reason, or law is the better thing, replied in the following verses. Then[Pg 335] he gives the verses of Apollo, from which I select the following as sufficient: "God, the Generator, and the King prior to all things, before whom heaven and earth, and the sea, and the hidden places of hell tremble, and the deities themselves are afraid, for their law is the Father whom the holy Hebrews honour." In this oracle of his god Apollo, Porphyry avowed that the God of the Hebrews is so great that the deities themselves are afraid before Him. I am surprised, therefore, that when God said, He that sacrificeth to other gods shall be utterly destroyed, Porphyry himself was not afraid lest he should be destroyed for sacrificing to other gods.
This philosopher, however, has also some good to say of Christ, oblivious, as it were, of that contumely of his of which we have just been speaking; or as if his gods spoke evil of Christ only while asleep, and recognised Him to be good, and gave Him His deserved praise, when they awoke. For, as if he were about to proclaim some marvellous thing passing belief, he says, "What we are going to say will certainly take some by surprise. For the gods have declared that Christ was very pious, and has become immortal, and that they cherish his memory: that the Christians, however, are polluted, contaminated, and involved in error. And many other such things," he says, "do the gods say against the Christians." Then he gives specimens of the accusations made, as he says, by the gods against them, and then goes on: "But to some who asked Hecate whether Christ were a God, she replied, You know the condition of the disembodied immortal soul, and that if it has been severed from wisdom it always errs. The soul you refer to is that of a man foremost in piety: they worship it because they mistake the truth." To this so-called oracular response he adds the following words of his own: "Of this very pious man, then, Hecate said that the soul, like the souls of other good men, was after death dowered with immortality, and that the Christians through ignorance worship it. And to those who ask why he was condemned to die, the oracle of the goddess replied, The body, indeed, is always exposed to torments, but the souls of the pious abide in heaven. And the soul you inquire about has been the fatal cause of error to other souls which were not fated to receive the gifts[Pg 336] of the gods, and to have the knowledge of immortal Jove. Such souls are therefore hated by the gods; for they who were fated not to receive the gifts of the gods, and not to know God, were fated to be involved in error by means of him you speak of. He himself, however, was good, and heaven has been opened to him as to other good men. You are not, then, to speak evil of him, but to pity the folly of men: and through him men's danger is imminent."
BOOK X. - Porphyrys doctrine of redemption, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
However, he pursues this subject, and, still in the character of an inquirer, mentions some things which no sober judgment could attri bute to any but malicious and deceitful powers.[Pg 399] He asks why, after the better class of spirits have been invoked, the worse should be commanded to perform the wicked desires of men; why they do not hear a man who has just left a woman's embrace, while they themselves make no scruple of tempting men to incest and adultery; why their priests are commanded to abstain from animal food for fear of being polluted by the corporeal exhalations, while they themselves are attracted by the fumes of sacrifices and other exhalations; why the initiated are forbidden to touch a dead body, while their mysteries are celebrated almost entirely by means of dead bodies; why it is that a man addicted to any vice should utter threats, not to a demon or to the soul of a dead man, but to the sun and moon, or some of the heavenly bodies, which he intimidates by imaginary terrors, that he may wring from them a real boon,for he threatens that he will demolish the sky, and such like impossibilities,that those gods, being alarmed, like silly children, with imaginary and absurd threats, may do what they are ordered. Porphyry further relates that a man Chremon, profoundly versed in these sacred or rather sacrilegious mysteries, had written that the famous Egyptian mysteries of Isis and her husb and Osiris had very great influence with the gods to compel them to do what they were ordered, when he who used the spells threatened to divulge or do away with these mysteries, and cried with a threatening voice that he would scatter the members of Osiris if they neglected his orders. Not without reason is Porphyry surprised that a man should utter such wild and empty threats against the gods,not against gods of no account, but against the heavenly gods, and those that shine with sidereal light, and that these threats should be effectual to constrain them with resistless power, and alarm them so that they fulfil his wishes. Not without reason does he, in the character of an inquirer into the reasons of these surprising things, give it to be understood that they are done by that race of spirits which he previously described as if quoting other people's opinions,spirits who deceive not, as he said, by nature, but by their own corruption, and who simulate gods and dead men, but not, as he said, demons, for demons they really are. As to his idea that by means of herbs, and stones, and animals, and[Pg 400] certain incantations and noises, and drawings, sometimes fanciful, and sometimes copied from the motions of the heavenly bodies, men create upon earth powers capable of bringing about various results, all that is only the mystification which these demons practise on those who are subject to them, for the sake of furnishing themselves with merriment at the expense of their dupes. Either, then, Porphyry was sincere in his doubts and inquiries, and mentioned these things to demonstrate and put beyond question that they were the work, not of powers which aid us in obtaining life, but of deceitful demons; or, to take a more favourable view of the philosopher, he adopted this method with the Egyptian who was wedded to these errors, and was proud of them, that he might not offend him by assuming the attitude of a teacher, nor discompose his mind by the altercation of a professed assailant, but, by assuming the character of an inquirer, and the humble attitude of one who was anxious to learn, might turn his attention to these matters, and show how worthy they are to be despised and relinquished. Towards the conclusion of his letter, he requests Anebo to inform him what the Egyptian wisdom indicates as the way to blessedness. But as to those who hold intercourse with the gods, and pester them only for the sake of finding a runaway slave, or acquiring property, or making a bargain of a marriage, or such things, he declares that their pretensions to wisdom are vain. He adds that these same gods, even granting that on other points their utterances were true, were yet so ill-advised and unsatisfactory in their disclosures about blessedness, that they cannot be either gods or good demons, but are either that spirit who is called the deceiver, or mere fictions of the imagination.
12. Of the miracles wrought by the true God through the ministry of the holy angels.
BOOK XVII. - The history of the city of God from the times of the prophets to Christ, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
Farther, what is added, "He raiseth up the poor from the earth," I understand of none better than of Him who, as was said a little ago, "was made poor for us, when He was rich, that by His poverty we might be made rich." For He raised Him from the earth so quickly that His flesh did not see corruption. Nor shall I divert from Him what is added, "And raiseth up the poor from the dunghill." For indeed he who is the poor man is also the beggar.[366] But by the dunghill from which he is lifted up we are with the greatest reason to understand the persecuting Jews, of whom the apostle says, when telling that when he belonged to them he persecuted the Church, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ; and I have counted them not only loss, but even dung, that I might win Christ."[367] Therefore that poor one is raised up from the earth above all the rich, and that beggar is lifted up from that dunghill above all the wealthy, "that he may sit among the mighty of the people," to whom He says, "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones,"[368] "and to make them inherit the throne of glory." For these mighty ones had said, "Lo, we have forsaken all and followed Thee." They had most mightily vowed this vow.
But whence do they receive this, except from Him of whom it is here immediately said, "Giving the vow to him that voweth?" Otherwise they would be of those mighty ones whose bow is weakened. "Giving," she saith, "the vow to him that voweth." For no one could vow anything acceptable to God, unless he received from Him that which he might vow. There follows, "And He hath blessed the years of the just," to wit, that he may live for ever with Him to whom it is said, "And Thy years shall have no end." For there the years abide; but here they pass away, yea, they perish: for before they come they are not, and when they shall have come they shall not be, because they bring their[Pg 176] own end with them. Now of these two, that is, "giving the vow to him that voweth," and "He hath blessed the years of the just," the one is what we do, the other what we receive. But this other is not received from God, the liberal giver, until He, the helper, Himself has enabled us for the former; "for man is not mighty in strength." "The Lord shall make his adversary weak," to wit, him who envies the man that vows, and resists him, lest he should fulfil what he has vowed. Owing to the ambiguity of the Greek, it may also be understood "his own adversary." For when God has begun to possess us, immediately he who had been our adversary becomes His, and is conquered by us; but not by our own strength, "for man is not mighty in strength." Therefore "the Lord shall make His own adversary weak, the Lord is holy," that he may be conquered by the saints, whom the Lord, the Holy of holies, hath made saints. For this reason, "let not the prudent glory in his prudence, and let not the mighty glory in his might, and let not the rich glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this,to understand and know the Lord, and to do judgment and justice in the midst of the earth." He in no small measure understands and knows the Lord who understands and knows that even this, that he can understand and know the Lord, is given to him by the Lord. "For what hast thou," saith the apostle, "that thou hast not received? But if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?"[369] That is, as if thou hadst of thine own self whereof thou mightest glory. Now, he does judgment and justice who lives aright. But he lives aright who yields obedience to God when He commands. "The end of the commandment," that is, to which the commandment has reference, "is charity out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned." Moreover, this "charity," as the Apostle John testifies, "is of God."[370] Therefore to do justice and judgment is of God. But what is "in the midst of the earth?" For ought those who dwell in the ends of the earth not to do judgment and justice? Who would say so? Why, then, is it added, "In the midst of the earth?"[Pg 177] For if this had not been added, and it had only been said, "To do judgment and justice," this commandment would rather have pertained to both kinds of men,both those dwelling inland and those on the sea-coast. But lest any one should think that, after the end of the life led in this body, there remains a time for doing judgment and justice which he has not done while he was in the flesh, and that the divine judgment can thus be escaped, "in the midst of the earth" appears to me to be said of the time when every one lives in the body; for in this life every one carries about his own earth, which, on a man's dying, the common earth takes back, to be surely returned to him on his rising again. Therefore "in the midst of the earth," that is, while our soul is shut up in this earthly body, judgment and justice are to be done, which shall be profitable for us hereafter, when "every one shall receive according to that he hath done in the body, whether good or bad."[371] For when the apostle there says "in the body," he means in the time he has lived in the body. Yet if any one blaspheme with malicious mind and impious thought, without any member of his body being employed in it, he shall not therefore be guiltless because he has not done it with bodily motion, for he will have done it in that time which he has spent in the body. In the same way we may suitably understand what we read in the psalm, "But God, our King before the worlds, hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth;"[372] so that the Lord Jesus may be understood to be our God who is before the worlds, because by Him the worlds were made, working our salvation in the midst of the earth, for the Word was made flesh and dwelt in an earthly body.
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But the Jews do not expect that the Christ whom they expect will die; therefore they do not think ours to be Him whom the law and the prophets announced, but feign to themselves I know not whom of their own, exempt from the suffering of death. Therefore, with wonderful emptiness and blindness, they contend that the words we have set down signify, not death and resurrection, but sleep and awaking again. But the 16th Psalm also cries to them, "Therefore my heart is jocund, and my tongue hath exulted; moreover, my flesh also shall rest in hope: for Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou give Thine Holy One to see corruption."[470] Who but He that rose again the third day could say His flesh had rested in this hope; that His soul, not being left in hell, but speedily returning to it, should revive it, that it should not be corrupted as corpses are wont to be, which they can in no wise say of David the prophet and king? The 68th Psalm also cries out, "Our God is the God[Pg 208] of salvation: even of the Lord the exit was by death."[471] What could be more openly said? For the God of salvation is the Lord Jesus, which is interpreted Saviour, or Healing One. For this reason this name was given, when it was said before He was born of the virgin: "Thou shalt bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins."[472] Because His blood was shed for the remission of their sins, it behoved Him to have no other exit from this life than death. Therefore, when it had been said, "Our God is the God of salvation," immediately it was added, "Even of the Lord the exit was by death," in order to show that we were to be saved by His dying. But that saying is marvellous, "Even of the Lord," as if it was said, Such is that life of mortals, that not even the Lord Himself could go out of it otherwise save through death.
19. Of the 69th Psalm, in which the obstinate unbelief of the Jews is declared.
BOOK XV. - The progress of the earthly and heavenly cities traced by the sacred history, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
As to another customary inquiry of the scrupulous about the very minute creatures, not only such as mice and lizards, but also locusts, beetles, flies, fleas, and so forth, whether there were not in the ark a larger number of them than was determined by God in His command, those persons who are moved by this difficulty are to be reminded that the words "every creeping thing of the earth" only indicate that it was not needful to preserve in the ark the animals that can live in the water, whether the fishes that live submerged in it, or the sea-birds that swim on its surface. Then, when it is said[Pg 102] "male and female," no doubt reference is made to the repairing of the races, and consequently there was no need for those creatures being in the ark which are born without the union of the sexes from inanimate things, or from their corruption; or if they were in the ark, they might be there as they commonly are in houses, not in any determinate numbers; or if it was necessary that there should be a definite number of all those animals that cannot naturally live in the water, that so the most sacred mystery which was being enacted might be bodied forth and perfectly figured in actual realities, still this was not the care of Noah or his sons, but of God. For Noah did not catch the animals and put them into the ark, but gave them entrance as they came seeking it. For this is the force of the words, "They shall come unto thee,"[1]not, that is to say, by man's effort, but by God's will. But certainly we are not required to believe that those which have no sex also came; for it is expressly and definitely said, "They shall be male and female."[220] For there are some animals which are born out of corruption, but yet afterwards they themselves copulate and produce offspring, as flies; but others, which have no sex, like bees. Then, as to those animals which have sex, but without ability to propagate their kind, like mules and she-mules, it is probable that they were not in the ark, but that it was counted sufficient to preserve their parents, to wit, the horse and the ass; and this applies to all hybrids. Yet, if it was necessary for the completeness of the mystery, they were there; for even this species has "male and female."
Another question is commonly raised regarding the food of the carnivorous animals,whether, without transgressing the comm and which fixed the number to be preserved, there were necessarily others included in the ark for their sustenance; or, as is more probable, there might be some food which was not flesh, and which yet suited all. For we know how many animals whose food is flesh eat also vegetable products and fruits, especially figs and chestnuts. What wonder is it, therefore, if that wise and just man was instructed by God what would suit each, so that without flesh he prepared and[Pg 103] stored provision fit for every species? And what is there which hunger would not make animals eat? Or what could not be made sweet and wholesome by God, who, with a divine facility, might have enabled them to do without food at all, had it not been requisite to the completeness of so great a mystery that they should be fed? But none but a contentious man can suppose that there was no prefiguring of the church in so manifold and circumstantial a detail. For the nations have already so filled the church, and are comprehended in the framework of its unity, the clean and unclean together, until the appointed end, that this one very manifest fulfilment leaves no doubt how we should interpret even those others which are somewhat more obscure, and which cannot so readily be discerned. And since this is so, if not even the most audacious will presume to assert that these things were written without a purpose, or that though the events really happened they mean nothing, or that they did not really happen, but are only allegory, or that at all events they are far from having any figurative reference to the church; if it has been made out that, on the other hand, we must rather believe that there was a wise purpose in their being committed to memory and to writing, and that they did happen, and have a significance, and that this significance has a prophetic reference to the church, then this book, having served this purpose, may now be closed, that we may go on to trace in the history subsequent to the deluge the courses of the two cities,the earthly, that lives according to men, and the heavenly, that lives according to God.
BOOK XXII. - Of the eternal happiness of the saints, the resurrection of the body, and the miracles of the early Church, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
The difficulties, too, about the corruption and dissolution[Pg 506] of dead bodies,that one is turned into dust, while another evaporates into the air; that some are devoured by beasts, some by fire, while some perish by shipwreck or by drowning in one shape or other, so that their bodies decay into liquid,these difficulties give them immoderate alarm, and they believe that all those dissolved elements cannot be gathered again and reconstructed into a body. They also make eager use of all the deformities and blemishes which either accident or birth has produced, and accordingly, with horror and derision, cite monstrous births, and ask if every deformity will be preserved in the resurrection. For if we say that no such thing shall be reproduced in the body of a man, they suppose that they confute us by citing the marks of the wounds which we assert were found in the risen body of the Lord Christ. But of all these, the most difficult question is, into whose body that flesh shall return which has been eaten and assimilated by another man constrained by hunger to use it so; for it has been converted into the flesh of the man who used it as his nutriment, and it filled up those losses of flesh which famine had produced. For the sake, then, of ridiculing the resurrection, they ask, Shall this return to the man whose flesh it first was, or to him whose flesh it afterwards became? And thus, too, they seek to give promise to the human soul of alternations of true misery and false happiness, in accordance with Plato's theory; or, in accordance with Porphyry's, that, after many transmigrations into different bodies, it ends its miseries, and never more returns to them, not, however, by obtaining an immortal body, but by escaping from every kind of body.
13. Whether abortions, if they are numbered among the dead, shall not also have a part in the resurrection.
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From the words, "Till we all come to a perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ,"[992] and from the words, "Conformed to the image of the Son of God,"[993] some conclude that women shall not rise women, but that all shall be men, because God made man only of earth, and woman of the man. For my part, they seem to be wiser who make no doubt that both sexes shall rise. For there shall be no lust, which is now the cause of confusion. For before they sinned, the man and the woman were naked, and were not ashamed. From those bodies, then, vice shall be withdrawn, while nature shall be preserved. And the sex of woman is not a vice, but nature. It shall then indeed be superior to carnal intercourse and child-bearing; nevertheless the female members shall remain adapted not to the old uses, but to a new beauty, which, so far from provoking lust, now extinct, shall excite praise to the wisdom and clemency of God, who both made what was not and delivered from corruption what He made. For at the beginning of the human race the woman was made of a rib taken from the side of the man while he slept; for it seemed fit that even then Christ and His Church should[Pg 510] be foreshadowed in this event. For that sleep of the man was the death of Christ, whose side, as He hung lifeless upon the cross, was pierced with a spear, and there flowed from it blood and water, and these we know to be the sacraments by which the Church is "built up." For Scripture used this very word, not saying "He formed" or "framed," but "built her up into a woman;"[994] whence also the apostle speaks of the edification of the body of Christ,[995] which is the Church. The woman, therefore, is a creature of God even as the man; but by her creation from man unity is commended; and the manner of her creation prefigured, as has been said, Christ and the Church. He, then, who created both sexes will restore both. Jesus Himself also, when asked by the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, which of the seven brothers should have to wife the woman whom all in succession had taken to raise up seed to their brother, as the law enjoined, says, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God."[996] And though it was a fit opportunity for His saying, She about whom you make inquiries shall herself be a man, and not a woman, He said nothing of the kind; but "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."[997] They shall be equal to the angels in immortality and happiness, not in flesh, nor in resurrection, which the angels did not need, because they could not die. The Lord then denied that there would be in the resurrection, not women, but marriages; and He uttered this denial in circumstances in which the question mooted would have been more easily and speedily solved by denying that the female sex would exist, if this had in truth been foreknown by Him. But, indeed, He even affirmed that the sex should exist by saying, "They shall not be given in marriage," which can only apply to females; "Neither shall they marry," which applies to males. There shall therefore be those who are in this world accustomed to marry and be given in marriage, only they shall there make no such marriages.
[Pg 511]
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From all that we have thus considered, and discussed with such poor ability as we can command, we gather this conclusion, that in the resurrection of the flesh the body shall be of that size which it either had attained or should have attained in the flower of its youth, and shall enjoy the beauty that arises from preserving symmetry and proportion in all its members. And it is reasonable to suppose that, for the preservation of this beauty, any part of the body's substance, which, if placed in one spot, would produce a deformity, shall be distributed through the whole of it, so that neither any part, nor the symmetry of the whole, may be lost, but only the general stature of the body somewhat increased by the distribution in all the parts of that which, in one place, would have been unsightly. Or if it is contended that each will rise with the same stature as that of the body he died in, we shall not obstinately dispute this, provided only there be no deformity, no infirmity, no languor, no corruption,nothing of any kind which would ill become that kingdom in which the children of the resurrection and of the promise shall be equal to the angels of God, if not in body and age, at least in happiness.
21. Of the new spiritual body into which the flesh of the saints shall be transformed.
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How can I tell of the rest of creation, with all its beauty and utility, which the divine goodness has given to man to please his eye and serve his purposes, condemned though he is, and hurled into these labours and miseries? Shall I speak of the manifold and various loveliness of sky, and earth, and sea; of the plentiful supply and wonderful qualities of the light; of sun, moon, and stars; of the shade of trees; of the colours and perfume of flowers; of the multitude of birds, all differing in plumage and in song; of the variety of animals, of which the smallest in size are often the most wonderful,the works of ants and bees astonishing us more than the huge bodies of whales? Shall I speak of the sea, which itself is so grand a spectacle, when it arrays itself as it were in vestures of various colours, now running through every shade of green, and again becoming purple or blue? Is it not delightful to look at it in storm, and experience the soothing complacency which it inspires, by suggesting that we ourselves are not tossed and shipwrecked?[1022] What shall I say of the numberless kinds of food to alleviate hunger, and the variety of seasonings to stimulate appetite which are scattered everywhere by nature, and for which we are not indebted to the art of cookery? How many natural appliances are there for preserving and restoring health! How grateful is the alternation of day and night! how pleasant the breezes that cool the air! how abundant the supply of clothing furnished us by trees and animals! Who can enumerate all the blessings we enjoy? If I were to attempt to detail and unfold only these few which I have indicated in the mass, such an enumeration would fill a volume. And all these are but the solace of the[Pg 529] wretched and condemned, not the rewards of the blessed. What then shall these rewards be, if such be the blessings of a condemned state? What will He give to those whom He has predestined to life, who has given such things even to those whom He has predestined to death? What blessings will He in the blessed life shower upon those for whom, even in this state of misery, He has been willing that His only-begotten Son should endure such sufferings even to death? Thus the apostle reasons concerning those who are predestined to that kingdom: "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also give us all things?"[1023] When this promise is fulfilled, what shall we be? What blessings shall we receive in that kingdom, since already we have received as the pledge of them Christ's dying? In what condition shall the spirit of man be, when it has no longer any vice at all; when it neither yields to any, nor is in bondage to any, nor has to make war against any, but is perfected, and enjoys undisturbed peace with itself? Shall it not then know all things with certainty, and without any labour or error, when unhindered and joyfully it drinks the wisdom of God at the fountainhead? What shall the body be, when it is in every respect subject to the spirit, from which it shall draw a life so sufficient, as to stand in need of no other nutriment? For it shall no longer be animal, but spiritual, having indeed the substance of flesh, but without any fleshly corruption.
25. Of the obstinacy of those individuals who impugn the resurrection of the body, though, as was predicted, the whole world believes it.
The foremost of the philosophers agree with us about the spiritual felicity enjoyed by the blessed in the life to come; it is only the resurrection of the flesh they call in question, and with all their might deny. But the mass of men, learned and unlearned, the world's wise men and its fools, have believed, and have left in meagre isolation the unbelievers, and have turned to Christ, who in His own resurrection demonstrated the reality of that which seems to our adversaries absurd. For the world has believed this which God predicted, as it was also predicted that the world would believe,a prediction[Pg 530] not due to the sorceries of Peter,[1024] since it was uttered so long before. He who has predicted these things, as I have already said, and am not ashamed to repeat, is the God before whom all other divinities tremble, as Porphyry himself owns, and seeks to prove, by testimonies from the oracles of these gods, and goes so far as to call Him God the Father and King. Far be it from us to interpret these predictions as they do who have not believed, along with the whole world, in that which it was predicted the world would believe in. For why should we not rather understand them as the world does, whose belief was predicted, and leave that handful of unbelievers to their idle talk and obstinate and solitary infidelity? For if they maintain that they interpret them differently only to avoid charging Scripture with folly, and so doing an injury to that God to whom they bear so notable a testimony, is it not a much greater injury they do Him when they say that His predictions must be understood otherwise than the world believed them, though He Himself praised, promised, accomplished this belief on the world's part? And why cannot He cause the body to rise again, and live for ever? or is it not to be believed that He will do this, because it is an undesirable thing, and unworthy of God? Of His omnipotence, which effects so many great miracles, we have already said enough. If they wish to know what the Almighty cannot do, I shall tell them He cannot lie. Let us therefore believe what He can do, by refusing to believe what He cannot do. Refusing to believe that He can lie, let them believe that He will do what He has promised to do; and let them believe it as the world has believed it, whose faith He predicted, whose faith He praised, whose faith He promised, whose faith He now points to. But how do they prove that the resurrection is an undesirable thing? There shall then be no corruption, which is the only evil thing about the body. I have already said enough about the order of the elements, and the other fanciful objections men raise; and in the thirteenth book I have, in my own judgment, sufficiently illustrated the facility of movement which the incorruptible body shall enjoy, judging from the ease and vigour we experience even now, when the body[Pg 531] is in good health. Those who have either not read the former books, or wish to refresh their memory, may read them for themselves.
26. That the opinion of Porphyry, that the soul, in order to be blessed, must be separated from every kind of body, is demolished by Plato, who says that the supreme God promised the gods that they should never be ousted from their bodies.
BOOK XXI. - Of the eternal punishment of the wicked in hell, and of the various objections urged against it, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
For my own part, I do not wish all the marvels I have cited to be rashly accepted, for I do not myself believe them implicitly, save those which have either come under my own observation, or which any one can readily verify,such as the lime which is heated by water and cooled by oil; the magnet which by its mysterious and insensible suction attracts the iron, but has no effect on a straw; the peacock's flesh which triumphs over the corruption from which not the flesh of Plato is exempt; the chaff so chilling that it prevents snow from melting, so heating that it forces apples to ripen; the glowing fire, which, in accordance with its glowing appearance, whitens the stones it bakes, while, contrary to its glowing appearance, it begrimes most things it burns (just as dirty stains are made by oil, however pure it be, and as the lines drawn by white silver are black); the charcoal, too, which by the action of fire is so completely changed from its original, that a finely marked piece of wood becomes hideous, the tough becomes brittle, the decaying incorruptible. Some of these things I know in common with many other persons, some of them in common with all men; and there are many others which I have not room to insert in this book. But of those which I have cited, though I have not myself seen, but only read about them, I have been unable to find trustworthy witnesses from whom I could ascertain whether they are facts, except in the case of that fountain in which burning torches are extinguished and extinguished torches lit, and of the apples of Sodom, which are ripe to appearance, but are filled with dust. And indeed I have not met with any who said they had seen that fountain in Epirus, but with some who knew there was a similar fountain in Gaul not far from Grenoble. The fruit of the trees of Sodom, however, is not only spoken of in books worthy of credit, but so many persons[Pg 428] say that they have seen it that I cannot doubt the fact. But the rest of the prodigies I receive without definitely affirming or denying them; and I have cited them because I read them in the authors of our adversaries, and that I might prove how many things many among themselves believe, because they are written in the works of their own literary men, though no rational explanation of them is given, and yet they scorn to believe us when we assert that Almighty God will do what is beyond their experience and observation; and this they do even though we assign a reason for His work. For what better and stronger reason for such things can be given than to say that the Almighty is able to bring them to pass, and will bring them to pass, having predicted them in those books in which many other marvels which have already come to pass were predicted? Those things which are regarded as impossible will be accomplished according to the word, and by the power of that God who predicted and effected that the incredulous nations should believe incredible wonders.
8. That it is not contrary to nature that, in an object whose nature is known, there should be discovered an alteration of the properties which have been known as its natural properties.
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Let no man then so understand the words of the Psalmist, "Shall God forget to be gracious? shall He shut up in His anger His tender mercies?"[908] as if the sentence of God were true of good men, false of bad men, or true of good men and wicked angels, but false of bad men. For the Psalmist's words refer to the vessels of mercy and the children of the promise, of whom the prophet himself was one; for when he had said, "Shall God forget to be gracious? shall He shut up in His anger His tender mercies?" and then immediately subjoins, "And I said, Now I begin: this is the change wrought by[Pg 454] the right hand of the Most High,"[909] he manifestly explained what he meant by the words, "Shall He shut up in His anger His tender mercies?" For God's anger is this mortal life, in which man is made like to vanity, and his days pass as a shadow.[910] Yet in this anger God does not forget to be gracious, causing His sun to shine and His rain to descend on the just and the unjust;[911] and thus He does not in His anger cut short His tender mercies, and especially in what the Psalmist speaks of in the words, "Now I begin: this change is from the right hand of the Most High;" for He changes for the better the vessels of mercy, even while they are still in this most wretched life, which is God's anger, and even while His anger is manifesting itself in this miserable corruption; for "in His anger He does not shut up His tender mercies." And since the truth of this divine canticle is quite satisfied by this application of it, there is no need to give it a reference to that place in which those who do not belong to the city of God are punished in eternal fire. But if any persist in extending its application to the torments of the wicked, let them at least understand it so that the anger of God, which has threatened the wicked with eternal punishment, shall abide, but shall be mixed with mercy to the extent of alleviating the torments which might justly be inflicted; so that the wicked shall neither wholly escape, nor only for a time endure these threatened pains, but that they shall be less severe and more endurable than they deserve. Thus the anger of God shall continue, and at the same time He will not in this anger shut up His tender mercies. But even this hypothesis I am not to be supposed to affirm because I do not positively oppose it.[912]
As for those who find an empty threat rather than a truth in such passages as these: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire;" and "These shall go away into eternal punishment;"[913] and "They shall be tormented for ever and ever;"[914] and "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched,"[915]such persons, I say, are most emphatically and abundantly refuted, not by me so much as by the divine[Pg 455] Scripture itself. For the men of Nineveh repented in this life, and therefore their repentance was fruitful, inasmuch as they sowed in that field which the Lord meant to be sown in tears that it might afterwards be reaped in joy. And yet who will deny that God's prediction was fulfilled in their case, if at least he observes that God destroys sinners not only in anger but also in compassion? For sinners are destroyed in two ways,either, like the Sodomites, the men themselves are punished for their sins, or, like the Ninevites, the men's sins are destroyed by repentance. God's prediction, therefore, was fulfilled,the wicked Nineveh was overthrown, and a good Nineveh built up. For its walls and houses remained standing; the city was overthrown in its depraved manners. And thus, though the prophet was provoked that the destruction which the inhabitants dreaded, because of his prediction, did not take place, yet that which God's foreknowledge had predicted did take place, for He who foretold the destruction knew how it should be fulfilled in a less calamitous sense.
BOOK XX. - Of the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
"And I saw," he says, "a great city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned[Pg 378] for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, but neither shall there be any more pain: because the former things have passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new."[750] This city is said to come down out of heaven, because the grace with which God formed it is of heaven. Wherefore He says to it by Isaiah, "I am the Lord that formed thee."[751] It is indeed descended from heaven from its commencement, since its citizens during the course of this world grow by the grace of God, which cometh down from above through the laver of regeneration in the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. But by God's final judgment, which shall be administered by His Son Jesus Christ, there shall by God's grace be manifested a glory so pervading and so new, that no vestige of what is old shall remain; for even our bodies shall pass from their old corruption and mortality to new in corruption and immortality. For to refer this promise to the present time, in which the saints are reigning with their King a thousand years, seems to me excessively barefaced, when it is most distinctly said, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, but there shall be no more pain." And who is so absurd, and blinded by contentious opinionativeness, as to be audacious enough to affirm that in the midst of the calamities of this mortal state, God's people, or even one single saint, does live, or has ever lived, or shall ever live, without tears or pain,the fact being that the holier a man is, and the fuller of holy desire, so much the more abundant is the tearfulness of his supplication? Are not these the utterances of a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem: "My tears have been my meat day and night;"[752] and "Every night shall I make my bed to swim; with my tears shall I water my couch;"[753] and "My groaning is not hid from Thee;"[754] and[Pg 379] "My sorrow was renewed?"[755] Or are not those God's children who groan, being burdened, not that they wish to be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality may be swallowed up of life?[756] Do not they even who have the first-fruits of the Spirit groan within themselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of their body?[757] Was not the Apostle Paul himself a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem, and was he not so all the more when he had heaviness and continual sorrow of heart for his Israelitish brethren?[758] But when shall there be no more death in that city, except when it shall be said, "O death, where is thy contention?[759] O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin."[760] Obviously there shall be no sin when it can be said, "Where is"But as for the present it is not some poor weak citizen of this city, but this same Apostle John himself who says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."[761] No doubt, though this book is called the Apocalypse, there are in it many obscure passages to exercise the mind of the reader, and there are few passages so plain as to assist us in the interpretation of the others, even though we take pains; and this difficulty is increased by the repetition of the same things, in forms so different, that the things referred to seem to be different, although in fact they are only differently stated. But in the words, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, but there shall be no more pain," there is so manifest a reference to the future world and the immortality and eternity of the saints,for only then and only there shall such a condition be realized,that if we think this obscure, we need not expect to find anything plain in any part of Scripture.
18. What the Apostle Peter predicted regarding the last judgment.
BS 1 - Introduction to the Idea of God, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Nietzsche believed that Christianity died of its own hand, and that it spent a very long time trying to attune people to the necessity of the truth, absent the corruption, and all that thats always part of any human endeavour. The truth the spirit of truth that was developed by Christianity turned on the roots of Christianity. Everyone woke up and said, or thought, something like, how is it that we came to believe any of this? Its like waking up one day and noting that you really dont know why you put a Christmas tree up, but youve been doing it for a long time, and thats what people do. There are reasons Christmas trees came about. The ritual lasts long after the reasons have been forgotten.
Nietzsche was a critic of Christianity, and also a champion of its disciplinary capacity. The other thing that Nietzsche believed was that it was not possible to be free unless you had been a slave. By that, he meant that you dont go from childhood to full-fledged adult individuality: you go from child to a state of discipline, which you might think is akin to self-imposed slavery. That would be the best scenario, where you have to discipline yourself to become something specific, before you might be able to reattain the generality you had as a child. He believed that Christianity had played that role for Western civilization. But, in the late 1800s, he announced that God was dead.
COSA - BOOK II, #The Confessions of Saint Augustine, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
I will now call to mind my past foulness, and the carnal corruptions of
my soul; not because I love them, but that I may love Thee, O my God.
COSA - BOOK IV, #The Confessions of Saint Augustine, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
that man, forsooth, flesh and blood, and proud corruption, might be
blameless; while the Creator and Ordainer of heaven and the stars is
COSA - BOOK IX, #The Confessions of Saint Augustine, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
of my heart emptied that abyss of corruption. And this Thy whole gift
was, to nill what I willed, and to will what Thou willedst. But where
COSA - BOOK VII, #The Confessions of Saint Augustine, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
evil itself was"; that is, whence corruption comes, by which Thy
substance can by no means be impaired. For corruption does no ways
impair our God; by no will, by no necessity, by no unlooked-for chance:
--
corrupted. For corruption injures, but unless it diminished goodness, it
could not injure. Either then corruption injures not, which cannot be;
or which is most certain, all which is corrupted is deprived of good.
COSA - BOOK X, #The Confessions of Saint Augustine, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
the world, once and again, through fear of adversity, and corruption of
joy! Woe to the adversities of the world, once and again, and the third
--
only not, through images of sense, commit those debasing corruptions,
even to pollution of the flesh, but not even to consent unto them. For
--
and redeem life from corruption, and crown me with mercy and pity, and
satisfy my desire with good things: who didst curb my pride with Thy
COSA - BOOK XI, #The Confessions of Saint Augustine, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
Thou shalt also redeem my life from corruption, and crown me with loving
kindness and tender mercies, and shalt satisfy my desire with good
COSA - BOOK XIII, #The Confessions of Saint Augustine, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
separated from earthly corruption. Let them praise Thy Name, let them
praise Thee, the supercelestial people, Thine angels, who have no need
ENNEAD 02.09 - Against the Gnostics; or, That the Creator and the World are Not Evil., #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02, #Plotinus, #Christianity
They also pride themselves on expelling diseases. If this were done through temperance, by a well regulated life, as do the philosophers, this claim might be respected. But they insist that diseases are demons, which they can expel by their words, and they boast of this in order to achieve reputation among the common people, that is always inclined to stand in awe of magic. They could not persuade rational individuals that diseases do not have natural causes, such as fatigue, satiety, lack of food, corruption, or some change depending on an interior or exterior principle. This is proved by the nature of diseases. Sometimes628 a disease is expelled by moving the bowels, or by the administration of some potion; diet and bleeding are also often resorted to. Is this because the demon is hungry, or the potion destroys him? When a person is healed on the spot, the demon either remains or departs. If he remain, how does his presence not hinder recovery? If he depart, why? What has happened to him? Was he fed by the disease? In this case, the disease was something different from the demon. If he enter without any cause for the disease, why is the individual into whose body he enters not always sick? If he enter into a body that contains already a natural cause of disease, how far does he contri bute to the disease? The natural cause is sufficient to produce the disease. It would be ridiculous to suppose that the disease would have a cause, but that, as soon as this cause is active there would be a demon ready to come and assist it.
THE GENUINE VALUE OF GNOSTICISM SEEN IN ITS LOW MORAL ASPECTS.
ENNEAD 04.04 - Questions About the Soul., #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02, #Plotinus, #Christianity
32. Since the influence exteriorly exercised by the heavens on us, on animals, and on human affairs generally has been excluded from physical causes (of astrology) and from voluntary decisions of divinities, it remains for us to find some cause to which it may reasonably be attri buted. First, we will have to admit that this universe is a single living being, which contains within its own organism all living beings; and that it contains a single Soul, which is communicated to all its parts; namely, to all beings that form part of the universe. Now every being that is contained in the sense-world is a part of the universe. First, and unrestrictedly, it is a part of the universe by its body. Then, it is again part of the universe by its soul, but only so far as it participates (in the natural and vegetative power) of the universal Soul. The beings which only participate in (the natural and vegetative power) of the universal Soul are completely parts of the universe. Those who participate in another soul (the superior power of the universal Soul), are not completely parts of the universe (because they are independent by their rational souls); but they experience passions by the actions of the other beings, as far as they have something of the universe (so far as by their irrational souls, they participate in the natural and vegetative power of the universe), and in the proportion in which they possess some part of the universe. This universe is therefore a single living being that is self-sympathetic. The parts that seem distant are not any the less near, as, in each animal, the horns, nails, fingers, the organs at distance from each other, feel, in spite of the interval which separates them, the affection experienced by any other one of them. In fact,491 as soon as the parts are similar, even when they are separated by an interval instead of being placed by each others' side, they sympathize by virtue of this their similarity, and the action of the distant one is felt by all the others. Now in this universe which is a single living being, and which forms a single organism, there is nothing distant enough in place not to be near because of the nature of this being whose unity makes it self-sympathetic. When the suffering being resembles the acting one, it experiences a passion conformable to its nature; when on the contrary it differs, it experiences a passion that is foreign to its nature, and painful. It is therefore not surprising that though the universe be single, one of its parts can exert on another a harmful influence, since it often happens to ourselves that one of our parts wounds another by its action; as for instance, that the bile, setting anger in motion, should crush and tear some other part of the body. Now something analogous to this bile which excites anger, and to other parts that form the human body, is discovered in the universe. Even in plants there are certain things which form obstacles to others, and even destroy them. Now the world forms not only a single animal, but also a plurality of animals; each of them, as far as it has a share in the singleness of the universe, is preserved thereby; but, in so far as this animal enters into the multiplicity of some other animal, he can wound it, or be wounded by it, make use of it, or feed on it, because it differs from itself as much as it resembles itself; because the natural desire of self-preservation leads us to appropriate what is suitable to itself, and in its own interest to destroy what is contrary thereto. Finally, each being, fulfilling its part in the universe, is useful to those that can profit by its action, and wounds or destroys those who cannot support it; thus plants are scorched by the passage of fire, and the little animals are dragged along492 or trampled by the greater. This generation and this corruption, this betterment and deterioration of things render easy and natural the life of the universe considered as a single living being. Indeed, it would not otherwise have been possible that the particular beings it contains should have lived as if they were alone, should possess their ends in themselves, and should live only for themselves; since they are only parts, they must, as such, concur in the ends of the whole of which they are parts; and, so far as they are different, they could not each preserve its own life, because they are contained in the unity of the universal life; neither could they entirely remain in the same state, because the universe must possess permanence, and because of the universe, permanence consists in ever remaining in motion.
THE STARS' MOTIONS COMPARED TO A PREARRANGED DANCE.
ENNEAD 05.02 - Of Generation and of the Order of Things that Follow the First., #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04, #Plotinus, #Christianity
27. In the life of incorporeal entities, the procession operates in a manner such that the superior principle remains firm and substantial in its nature, imparting its existence to what is below it, without losing anything, or transforming itself into anything. Thus that which receives existence does not receive existence with decay or alteration; it is not begotten like generation (that is, the being of sense), which participates in decay and change. It is, therefore, non-begotten and incorruptible, because it is produced without generation or corruption.
28. Every begotten thing derives the cause of its generation from some other (being); for nothing is begotten causelessly. But, among begotten things, those which owe their being to a union of elements are on that very account perishable. As to those which, not being composite, owe their being to the simplicity1232 of their hypostatic substances, they are imperishable, inasmuch as they are indissoluble. When we say that they are begotten, we do not mean that they are composite, but only that they depend on some cause. Thus bodies are begotten doubly, first because they depend on a cause, and then because they are composite. Souls and intelligence, indeed, are begotten in the respect that they depend on a cause; but not in the respect that they are composite. Therefore, bodies, being doubly begotten, are dissoluble and perishable. The Soul and Intelligence, being unbegotten in the sense that they are not composite, are indissoluble and imperishable; for they are begotten only in the sense that they depend on a cause.
Epistle to the Romans, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Our Victory in Christ
For a Breath I Tarry, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
"It was stored against time and corruption in the place where I found it."
"Where was that?"
Gorgias, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
'While rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen.'
Guru Granth Sahib first part, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
So many waste away to death engaged in corruption.
So many take and take again, and then deny receiving.
--
This world is engrossed in corruption and cynicism. Only those who know God are saved.
Only those who are awakened by the Lord to drink in this Sublime Essence, come to know the Unspoken Speech of the Lord. ||2||
--
Eating them, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. ||1||Pause||
My mind is imbued with the Lord's Love; it is dyed a deep crimson. Truth and charity are my white clothes.
--
Wearing them, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. ||1||Pause||
The understanding of Your Way, Lord, is horses, saddles and bags of gold for me.
--
By such rides, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. ||1||Pause||
The Naam, the Name of the Lord, is the pleasure of houses and mansions. Your Glance of Grace is my family, Lord.
--
By such sleep, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. ||1||Pause||4||7||
Siree Raag, First Mehl:
--
but still, desires increase day and night, and the disease of egotism fills us with corruption.
That Carefree Lord cannot be appraised; His Real Value is known only through the Wisdom of the Guru's Teachings. ||2||
--
So weed out evil, wickedness and corruption; leave these behind, and let your soul meditate on God.
When chanting, austere meditation and self-discipline become your protectors, then the lotus blossoms forth, and the honey trickles out. ||2||
--
Their intellect and understanding are perverted; they just don't understand. They are filled with greed and corruption.
Through 8.4 million incarnations they wander lost and confused; through all their wandering and roaming, they are ruined.
--
In the corruption of the three qualities, there is blindness; in attachment to Maya, there is darkness.
The greedy people serve others, instead of the Lord, although they loudly announce their reading of scriptures.
They are burnt to death by their own corruption; they are not at home, on either this shore or the one beyond. ||3||
In attachment to Maya, they have forgotten the Father, the Cherisher of the World.
--
One whose mind and body are imbued with the Lord's Love gives up egotism and corruption.
Day and night, the Name of the One Lord, the Fearless and Formless One, dwells within the heart.
--
Serving the True Guru, the mind becomes immaculate and pure; egotism and corruption are discarded.
So abandon your selfishness, and remain dead while yet alive. Contemplate the Word of the Guru's Shabad.
--
Night and day, remain attuned to the Naam, and the pain of corruption shall be dispelled from within.
O Nanak, merging with the Shabad through the Name, one is immersed in the Name. ||4||22||55||
--
Acting in evil and corruption, people are immersed in corruption.
Without the Name, they find no place of rest. In the City of Death, they suffer in agony. ||3||
--
The virtuous obtain Truth; they give up their desires for evil and corruption.
Their minds are imbued with the Word of the Guru's Shabad; the Love of their Beloved is on their tongues.
--
They do not contemplate the Shabad; engrossed in corruption, they utter only empty words. ||3||
He Himself is everything; there is no other at all.
--
They attach their affections to brothers and friends, uselessly engrossed in corruption.
They vanish without a moment's delay; without God's Name, they are stunned and amazed. ||1||
--
Those who are attuned to Truth are saved; they renounce duality and corruption.
I am a sacrifice to those who are found to be Truthful in the True Court. ||2||
--
She does not find peace in this world or the next; she burns in falsehood and corruption.
Coming and going are very difficult for that bride who is abandoned and forgotten by her Husband Lord. ||4||
--
They act in harmony with the Will of the True Guru; they shed the poison of ego and corruption. ||5||
Acting in stubborn-mindedness, no one is saved; go and study the Simritees and the Shaastras.
IS - Chapter 1, #Invisible Cities, #Italo Calvino, #Fiction
formless ruin, that corruption'S gangrene has spread too far
10 be healed by our scepter, that the triumph over enemy
Liber 111 - The Book of Wisdom - LIBER ALEPH VEL CXI, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Time of the greatest possible corruption and Darkness, when every
Civilization and Every Religion had fallen into Ruin, by the malice of
--
instantly and without corruption the Child (as it were the Word of that
Will) is generated; and again immediately taketh up his Habitation
--
conquereth all, and their corruption and Disintegration is also the
Victory of BABALON.
Liber 46 - The Key of the Mysteries, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
lowers the selfish man beneath the brute; it is the corruption of
bodies and the emancipation of souls.
--
and sends us to sleep; but the sleep of inertia is corruption and
death. The faculties of the human soul are like the waves of the ocean.
Liber 71 - The Voice of the Silence - The Two Paths - The Seven Portals, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
its modern meaning on account of the corruptions that crept into the
practices used by those in "training." The prohibitions, relatively
--
energy and a corruption of moral strength. His business is, firstly, to
know himself; secondly, to order and control himself; thirdly, to
--
though etymologically the former is a corruption of the latter.
The craze for classification which obsesses the dual minds of the
--
everything to atman, to regard everything as a corruption of atman, if
you please, but a corruption which is unreal, because atman is the only
real thing. There is a similar instruction in Liber Legis: "Let there
Phaedo, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
The philosopher desires deathwhich the wicked world will insinuate that he also deserves: and perhaps he does, but not in any sense which they are capable of understanding. Enough of them: the real question is, What is the nature of that death which he desires? Death is the separation of soul and bodyand the philosopher desires such a separation. He would like to be freed from the dominion of bodily pleasures and of the senses, which are always perturbing his mental vision. He wants to get rid of eyes and ears, and with the light of the mind only to behold the light of truth. All the evils and impurities and necessities of men come from the body. And death separates him from these corruptions, which in life he cannot wholly lay aside. Why then should he repine when the hour of separation arrives? Why, if he is dead while he lives, should he fear that other death, through which alone he can behold wisdom in her purity?
Besides, the philosopher has notions of good and evil unlike those of other men. For they are courageous because they are afraid of greater dangers, and temperate because they desire greater pleasures. But he disdains this balancing of pleasures and pains, which is the exchange of commerce and not of virtue. All the virtues, including wisdom, are regarded by him only as purifications of the soul. And this was the meaning of the founders of the mysteries when they said, 'Many are the wand-bearers but few are the mystics.' (Compare Matt. xxii.: 'Many are called but few are chosen.') And in the hope that he is one of these mystics, Socrates is now departing. This is his answer to any one who charges him with indifference at the prospect of leaving the gods and his friends.
--
Difficulties of two kinds occur in the Phaedoone kind to be explained out of contemporary philosophy, the other not admitting of an entire solution. (1) The difficulty which Socrates says that he experienced in explaining generation and corruption; the assumption of hypotheses which proceed from the less general to the more general, and are tested by their consequences; the puzzle about greater and less; the resort to the method of ideas, which to us appear only abstract terms,these are to be explained out of the position of Socrates and Plato in the history of philosophy. They were living in a twilight between the sensible and the intellectual world, and saw no way of connecting them. They could neither explain the relation of ideas to phenomena, nor their correlation to one another. The very idea of relation or comparison was embarrassing to them. Yet in this intellectual uncertainty they had a conception of a proof from results, and of a moral truth, which remained unshaken amid the questionings of philosophy. (2) The other is a difficulty which is touched upon in the Republic as well as in the Phaedo, and is common to modern and ancient philosophy. Plato is not altogether satisfied with his safe and simple method of ideas. He wants to have proved to him by facts that all things are for the best, and that there is one mind or design which pervades them all. But this 'power of the best' he is unable to explain; and therefore takes refuge in universal ideas. And are not we at this day seeking to discover that which Socrates in a glass darkly foresaw?
Some resemblances to the Greek drama may be noted in all the Dialogues of Plato. The Phaedo is the tragedy of which Socrates is the protagonist and Simmias and Cebes the secondary performers, standing to them in the same relation as to Glaucon and Adeimantus in the Republic. No Dialogue has a greater unity of subject and feeling. Plato has certainly fulfilled the condition of Greek, or rather of all art, which requires that scenes of death and suffering should be clothed in beauty. The gathering of the friends at the commencement of the Dialogue, the dismissal of Xanthippe, whose presence would have been out of place at a philosophical discussion, but who returns again with her children to take a final farewell, the dejection of the audience at the temporary overthrow of the argument, the picture of Socrates playing with the hair of Phaedo, the final scene in which Socrates alone retains his composureare masterpieces of art. And the chorus at the end might have interpreted the feeling of the play: 'There can no evil happen to a good man in life or death.'
--
Socrates paused awhile, and seemed to be absorbed in reflection. At length he said: You are raising a tremendous question, Cebes, involving the whole nature of generation and corruption, about which, if you like, I will give you my own experience; and if anything which I say is likely to avail towards the solution of your difficulty you may make use of it.
I should very much like, said Cebes, to hear what you have to say.
Then I will tell you, said Socrates. When I was young, Cebes, I had a prodigious desire to know that department of philosophy which is called the investigation of nature; to know the causes of things, and why a thing is and is created or destroyed appeared to me to be a lofty profession; and I was always agitating myself with the consideration of questions such as these:Is the growth of animals the result of some decay which the hot and cold principle contracts, as some have said? Is the blood the element with which we think, or the air, or the fire? or perhaps nothing of the kindbut the brain may be the originating power of the perceptions of hearing and sight and smell, and memory and opinion may come from them, and science may be based on memory and opinion when they have attained fixity. And then I went on to examine the corruption of them, and then to the things of heaven and earth, and at last I concluded myself to be utterly and absolutely incapable of these enquiries, as I will satisfactorily prove to you. For I was fascinated by them to such a degree that my eyes grew blind to things which I had seemed to myself, and also to others, to know quite well; I forgot what I had before thought self-evident truths; e.g. such a fact as that the growth of man is the result of eating and drinking; for when by the digestion of food flesh is added to flesh and bone to bone, and whenever there is an aggregation of congenial elements, the lesser bulk becomes larger and the small man great. Was not that a reasonable notion?
Yes, said Cebes, I think so.
Sophist, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
3. There is no ground for disbelieving that the principal Sophists, Gorgias, Protagoras, Prodicus, Hippias, were good and honourable men. The notion that they were corrupters of the Athenian youth has no real foundation, and partly arises out of the use of the term 'Sophist' in modern times. The truth is, that we know little about them; and the witness of Plato in their favour is probably not much more historical than his witness against them. Of that national decline of genius, unity, political force, which has been sometimes described as the corruption of youth, the Sophists were one among many signs;in these respects Athens may have degenerated; but, as Mr. Grote remarks, there is no reason to suspect any greater moral corruption in the age of Demos thenes than in the age of Pericles. The Athenian youth were not corrupted in this sense, and therefore the Sophists could not have corrupted them. It is remarkable, and may be fairly set down to their credit, that Plato nowhere attri butes to them that peculiar Greek sympathy with youth, which he ascribes to Parmenides, and which was evidently common in the Socratic circle. Plato delights to exhibit them in a ludicrous point of view, and to show them always rather at a disadvantage in the company of Socrates. But he has no quarrel with their characters, and does not deny that they are respectable men.
The Sophist, in the dialogue which is called after him, is exhibited in many different lights, and appears and reappears in a variety of forms. There is some want of the higher Platonic art in the Eleatic Stranger eliciting his true character by a labourious process of enquiry, when he had already admitted that he knew quite well the difference between the Sophist and the Philosopher, and had often heard the question discussed;such an anticipation would hardly have occurred in the earlier dialogues. But Plato could not altogether give up his Socratic method, of which another trace may be thought to be discerned in his adoption of a common instance before he proceeds to the greater matter in hand. Yet the example is also chosen in order to damage the 'hooker of men' as much as possible; each step in the pedigree of the angler suggests some injurious reflection about the Sophist. They are both hunters after a living prey, nearly related to tyrants and thieves, and the Sophist is the cousin of the parasite and flatterer. The effect of this is heightened by the accidental manner in which the discovery is made, as the result of a scientific division. His descent in another branch affords the opportunity of more 'unsavoury comparisons.' For he is a retail trader, and his wares are either imported or home-made, like those of other retail traders; his art is thus deprived of the character of a liberal profession. But the most distinguishing characteristic of him is, that he is a disputant, and higgles over an argument. A feature of the Eristic here seems to blend with Plato's usual description of the Sophists, who in the early dialogues, and in the Republic, are frequently depicted as endeavouring to save themselves from disputing with Socrates by making long orations. In this character he parts company from the vain and impertinent talker in private life, who is a loser of money, while he is a maker of it.
Symposium translated by B Jowett, #Symposium, #Plato, #Philosophy
Some general considerations occur to our mind when we begin to reflect on this subject. (1) That good and evil are linked together in human nature, and have often existed side by side in the world and in man to an extent hardly credible. We cannot distinguish them, and are therefore unable to part them; as in the parable 'they grow together unto the harvest:' it is only a rule of external decency by which society can divide them. Nor should we be right in inferring from the prevalence of any one vice or corruption that a state or individual was demoralized in their whole character. Not only has the corruption of the best been sometimes thought to be the worst, but it may be remarked that this very excess of evil has been the stimulus to good (compare Plato, Laws, where he says that in the most corrupt cities individuals are to be found beyond all praise). (2) It may be observed that evils which admit of degrees can seldom be rightly estimated, because under the same name actions of the most different degrees of culpability may be included. No charge is more easily set going than the imputation of secret wickedness (which cannot be either proved or disproved and often cannot be defined) when directed against a person of whom the world, or a section of it, is predisposed to think evil. And it is quite possible that the malignity of Greek scandal, aroused by some personal jealousy or party enmity, may have converted the innocent friendship of a great man for a noble youth into a connexion of another kind. Such accusations were brought against several of the leading men of Hellas, e.g. Cimon, Alcibiades, Critias, Demos thenes, Epaminondas: several of the Roman emperors were assailed by similar weapons which have been used even in our own day against statesmen of the highest character. (3) While we know that in this matter there is a great gulf fixed between Greek and Christian Ethics, yet, if we would do justice to the Greeks, we must also acknowledge that there was a greater outspokenness among them than among ourselves about the things which nature hides, and that the more frequent mention of such topics is not to be taken as the measure of the prevalence of offences, or as a proof of the general corruption of society. It is likely that every religion in the world has used words or practised rites in one age, which have become distasteful or repugnant to another. We cannot, though for different reasons, trust the representations either of Comedy or Satire; and still less of Christian Apologists. (4) We observe that at Thebes and Lacedemon the attachment of an elder friend to a beloved youth was often deemed to be a part of his education; and was encouraged by his parentsit was only shameful if it degenerated into licentiousness. Such we may believe to have been the tie which united Asophychus and Cephisodorus with the great Epaminondas in whose companionship they fell (Plutarch, Amat.; Athenaeus on the authority of Theopompus). (5) A small matter: there appears to be a difference of custom among the Greeks and among ourselves, as between ourselves and continental nations at the present time, in modes of salutation. We must not suspect evil in the hearty kiss or embrace of a male friend 'returning from the army at Potidaea' any more than in a similar salutation when practised by members of the same family. But those who make these admissions, and who regard, not without pity, the victims of such illusions in our own day, whose life has been blasted by them, may be none the less resolved that the natural and healthy instincts of mankind shall alone be tolerated (Greek); and that the lesson of manliness which we have inherited from our fathers shall not degenerate into sentimentalism or effeminacy. The possibility of an honourable connexion of this kind seems to have died out with Greek civilization. Among the Romans, and also among barbarians, such as the Celts and Persians, there is no trace of such attachments existing in any noble or virtuous form.
(Compare Hoeck's Creta and the admirable and exhaustive article of Meier in Ersch and Grueber's Cyclopedia on this subject; Plutarch, Amatores; Athenaeus; Lysias contra Simonem; Aesch. c. Timarchum.)
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This, or something like this, was the speech of Phaedrus; and some other speeches followed which Aristodemus did not remember; the next which he repeated was that of Pausanias. Phaedrus, he said, the argument has not been set before us, I think, quite in the right form;we should not be called upon to praise Love in such an indiscriminate manner. If there were only one Love, then what you said would be well enough; but since there are more Loves than one,should have begun by determining which of them was to be the theme of our praises. I will amend this defect; and first of all I will tell you which Love is deserving of praise, and then try to hymn the praiseworthy one in a manner worthy of him. For we all know that Love is inseparable from Aphrodite, and if there were only one Aphrodite there would be only one Love; but as there are two goddesses there must be two Loves. And am I not right in asserting that there are two goddesses? The elder one, having no mother, who is called the heavenly Aphroditeshe is the daughter of Uranus; the younger, who is the daughter of Zeus and Dioneher we call common; and the Love who is her fellow-worker is rightly named common, as the other love is called heavenly. All the gods ought to have praise given to them, but not without distinction of their natures; and therefore I must try to distinguish the characters of the two Loves. Now actions vary according to the manner of their performance. Take, for example, that which we are now doing, drinking, singing and talkingthese actions are not in themselves either good or evil, but they turn out in this or that way according to the mode of performing them; and when well done they are good, and when wrongly done they are evil; and in like manner not every love, but only that which has a noble purpose, is noble and worthy of praise. The Love who is the offspring of the common Aphrodite is essentially common, and has no discrimination, being such as the meaner sort of men feel, and is apt to be of women as well as of youths, and is of the body rather than of the soulthe most foolish beings are the objects of this love which desires only to gain an end, but never thinks of accomplishing the end nobly, and therefore does good and evil quite indiscriminately. The goddess who is his mother is far younger than the other, and she was born of the union of the male and female, and partakes of both. But the offspring of the heavenly Aphrodite is derived from a mother in whose birth the female has no part,she is from the male only; this is that love which is of youths, and the goddess being older, there is nothing of wantonness in her. Those who are inspired by this love turn to the male, and delight in him who is the more valiant and intelligent nature; any one may recognise the pure enthusiasts in the very character of their attachments. For they love not boys, but intelligent beings whose reason is beginning to be developed, much about the time at which their beards begin to grow. And in choosing young men to be their companions, they mean to be faithful to them, and pass their whole life in company with them, not to take them in their inexperience, and deceive them, and play the fool with them, or run away from one to another of them. But the love of young boys should be forbidden by law, because their future is uncertain; they may turn out good or bad, either in body or soul, and much noble enthusiasm may be thrown away upon them; in this matter the good are a law to themselves, and the coarser sort of lovers ought to be restrained by force; as we restrain or attempt to restrain them from fixing their affections on women of free birth. These are the persons who bring a reproach on love; and some have been led to deny the lawfulness of such attachments because they see the impropriety and evil of them; for surely nothing that is decorously and lawfully done can justly be censured. Now here and in Lacedaemon the rules about love are perplexing, but in most cities they are simple and easily intelligible; in Elis and Boeotia, and in countries having no gifts of eloquence, they are very straightforward; the law is simply in favour of these connexions, and no one, whether young or old, has anything to say to their discredit; the reason being, as I suppose, that they are men of few words in those parts, and therefore the lovers do not like the trouble of pleading their suit. In Ionia and other places, and generally in countries which are subject to the barbarians, the custom is held to be dishonourable; loves of youths share the evil repute in which philosophy and gymnastics are held, because they are inimical to tyranny; for the interests of rulers require that their subjects should be poor in spirit (compare Arist. Politics), and that there should be no strong bond of friendship or society among them, which love, above all other motives, is likely to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by experience; for the love of Aristogeiton and the constancy of Harmodius had a strength which undid their power. And, therefore, the ill-repute into which these attachments have fallen is to be ascribed to the evil condition of those who make them to be ill-reputed; that is to say, to the self-seeking of the governors and the cowardice of the governed; on the other hand, the indiscriminate honour which is given to them in some countries is attri butable to the laziness of those who hold this opinion of them. In our own country a far better principle prevails, but, as I was saying, the explanation of it is rather perplexing. For, observe that open loves are held to be more honourable than secret ones, and that the love of the noblest and highest, even if their persons are less beautiful than others, is especially honourable. Consider, too, how great is the encouragement which all the world gives to the lover; neither is he supposed to be doing anything dishonourable; but if he succeeds he is praised, and if he fail he is blamed. And in the pursuit of his love the custom of mankind allows him to do many strange things, which philosophy would bitterly censure if they were done from any motive of interest, or wish for office or power. He may pray, and entreat, and supplicate, and swear, and lie on a mat at the door, and endure a slavery worse than that of any slavein any other case friends and enemies would be equally ready to prevent him, but now there is no friend who will be ashamed of him and admonish him, and no enemy will charge him with meanness or flattery; the actions of a lover have a grace which ennobles them; and custom has decided that they are highly commendable and that there no loss of character in them; and, what is strangest of all, he only may swear and forswear himself (so men say), and the gods will forgive his transgression, for there is no such thing as a lover's oath. Such is the entire liberty which gods and men have allowed the lover, according to the custom which prevails in our part of the world. From this point of view a man fairly argues that in Athens to love and to be loved is held to be a very honourable thing. But when parents forbid their sons to talk with their lovers, and place them under a tutor's care, who is appointed to see to these things, and their companions and equals cast in their teeth anything of the sort which they may observe, and their elders refuse to silence the reprovers and do not rebuke themany one who reflects on all this will, on the contrary, think that we hold these practices to be most disgraceful. But, as I was saying at first, the truth as I imagine is, that whether such practices are honourable or whether they are dishonourable is not a simple question; they are honourable to him who follows them honourably, dishonourable to him who follows them dishonourably. There is dishonour in yielding to the evil, or in an evil manner; but there is honour in yielding to the good, or in an honourable manner. Evil is the vulgar lover who loves the body rather than the soul, inasmuch as he is not even stable, because he loves a thing which is in itself unstable, and therefore when the bloom of youth which he was desiring is over, he takes wing and flies away, in spite of all his words and promises; whereas the love of the noble disposition is life-long, for it becomes one with the everlasting. The custom of our country would have both of them proven well and truly, and would have us yield to the one sort of lover and avoid the other, and therefore encourages some to pursue, and others to fly; testing both the lover and beloved in contests and trials, until they show to which of the two classes they respectively belong. And this is the reason why, in the first place, a hasty attachment is held to be dishonourable, because time is the true test of this as of most other things; and secondly there is a dishonour in being overcome by the love of money, or of wealth, or of political power, whether a man is frightened into surrender by the loss of them, or, having experienced the benefits of money and political corruption, is unable to rise above the seductions of them. For none of these things are of a permanent or lasting nature; not to mention that no generous friendship ever sprang from them. There remains, then, only one way of honourable attachment which custom allows in the beloved, and this is the way of virtue; for as we admitted that any service which the lover does to him is not to be accounted flattery or a dishonour to himself, so the beloved has one way only of voluntary service which is not dishonourable, and this is virtuous service.
For we have a custom, and according to our custom any one who does service to another under the idea that he will be improved by him either in wisdom, or in some other particular of virtuesuch a voluntary service, I say, is not to be regarded as a dishonour, and is not open to the charge of flattery. And these two customs, one the love of youth, and the other the practice of philosophy and virtue in general, ought to meet in one, and then the beloved may honourably indulge the lover. For when the lover and beloved come together, having each of them a law, and the lover thinks that he is right in doing any service which he can to his gracious loving one; and the other that he is right in showing any kindness which he can to him who is making him wise and good; the one capable of communicating wisdom and virtue, the other seeking to acquire them with a view to education and wisdom, when the two laws of love are fulfilled and meet in onethen, and then only, may the beloved yield with honour to the lover. Nor when love is of this disinterested sort is there any disgrace in being deceived, but in every other case there is equal disgrace in being or not being deceived. For he who is gracious to his lover under the impression that he is rich, and is disappointed of his gains because he turns out to be poor, is disgraced all the same: for he has done his best to show that he would give himself up to any one's 'uses base' for the sake of money; but this is not honourable. And on the same principle he who gives himself to a lover because he is a good man, and in the hope that he will be improved by his company, shows himself to be virtuous, even though the object of his affection turn out to be a villain, and to have no virtue; and if he is deceived he has committed a noble error. For he has proved that for his part he will do anything for anybody with a view to virtue and improvement, than which there can be nothing nobler. Thus noble in every case is the acceptance of another for the sake of virtue. This is that love which is the love of the heavenly godess, and is heavenly, and of great price to individuals and cities, making the lover and the beloved alike eager in the work of their own improvement. But all other loves are the offspring of the other, who is the common goddess. To you, Phaedrus, I offer this my contri bution in praise of love, which is as good as I could make extempore.
Tablets of Baha u llah text, #Tablets of Baha u llah, #Baha u llah, #Baha i
In these days truthfulness and sincerity are sorely afflicted in the clutches of falsehood, and justice is tormented by the scourge of injustice. The smoke of corruption hath enveloped the whole world in such wise that naught can be seen in any direction save regiments of soldiers and nothing is heard from any land but the clashing of swords. We beseech God, the True One, to strengthen the wielders of His power in that which will rehabilitate the world and bring tranquility to the nations.
The sixth Taráz
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of the Most Exalted Paradise is this: In all matters moderation is desirable. If a thing is carried to excess, it will prove a source of evil. Consider the civilization of the West, how it hath agitated and alarmed the peoples of the world. An infernal engine hath been devised, and hath proved so cruel a weapon of destruction that its like none hath ever witnessed or heard. The purging of such deeply-rooted and overwhelming corruptions cannot be effected unless the peoples of the world unite in pursuit of one common aim and embrace one universal faith. Incline your ears unto the Call of this Wronged One and adhere firmly to the Lesser Peace.
Strange and astonishing things exist in the earth but they are hidden from the minds and the understanding of men. These things are capable of changing the whole atmosphere of the earth and their contamination would prove lethal. Great God! We have observed an amazing thing. Lightning or a force similar to it is controlled by an operator and moveth at his command. Immeasurably exalted is the Lord of Power Who hath laid bare that which He purposed through the potency of His weighty and invincible command. The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, vol. 4 p. 225
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O my friend! In all circumstances one should seize upon every means which will promote security and tranquility among the peoples of the world. The Great Being saith: In this glorious Day whatever will purge you from corruption and will lead you towards peace and composure, is indeed the Straight Path.
Please God, the peoples of the world may be led, as the result of the high endeavors exerted by their rulers and the wise and learned amongst men, to recognize their best interests. How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst men? How long will discord agitate the face of society?
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This lowly one hath read the descriptions of the dialogue with the traveler which thou hast recounted in thy letter to my Lord, may my life be offered up for His sake. The explanations which were set forth awaken the people from the slumber of heedlessness. Indeed the actions of man himself breed a profusion of satanic power. For were men to abide by and observe the divine teachings, every trace of evil would be banished from the face of the earth. However, the widespread differences that exist among mankind and the prevalence of sedition, contention, conflict and the like are the primary factors which provoke the appearance of the satanic spirit. Yet the Holy Spirit hath ever shunned such matters. A world in which naught can be perceived save strife, quarrels and corruption is bound to become the seat of the throne, the very metropolis, of Satan.
177
Talks With Sri Aurobindo 1, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
SRI AUROBINDO: No, there was not so much scope for corruption; at least we
didn't know of such scandals. It is the same with other municipal governments. In New York and Chicago the whole machinery is corrupt. Sometimes the head of the institution is like that. Sometimes one or another
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spirit, there is not such corruption in public life as in France or America.
They can vehemently criticise one another in the press, even personally, but
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The topic of corruption in public life came up. Somebody said that in most
countries the people in political power confer favours on their own supporters and are open to bribes.
SRI AUROBINDO: You will never find such corruption in England. Public life
there is honest and sincere. Englishmen may tell lies and break their promises but bribery and appropriation of money hardly exist in their public or
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has failed. That is a proof of its corruption.
PURANI: It is astonishing how gangsters are so powerful there.
SRI AUROBINDO: Not only are there gangsters, but intrigue and corruption
even among the members of the Senate.
Talks With Sri Aurobindo 2, #Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
DR. MANILAL: In Bengal also there is much corruption.
SRI AUROBINDO: In the High Court?
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NIRODBARAN: Was there no corruption before?
SRI AUROBINDO: Not so much. Bengal and Pondicheny were the only
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SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, one has the impression that after this new Government, Bengal has become quite corrupt. There is one good thing about England: it is still free from corruption in public life. Of course England also
was at one time corrupt but it has come out of that. Victoria's time was especially admirable.
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bribery and corruption.
NIRODBARAN: What about your shoulder. Dr. Manilal?
The Act of Creation text, #The Act of Creation, #Arthur Koestler, #Psychology
generation, corruption, and decay never stopped, whereas on the other
side of the curtain fifty-five celestial intelligences were spinning round
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and God, and the corruption of Nineveh; in his turning his back on the
tragic essence of life precisely therein lies his sin, which leads to the
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yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When
my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer
The Book of Certitude - P1, #The Book of Certitude, #Baha u llah, #Baha i
As to the words-"Immediately after the oppression of those days"-they refer to the time when men shall become oppressed and afflicted, the time when the lingering traces of the Sun of Truth and the fruit of the Tree of knowledge and wisdom will have vanished from the midst of men, when the reins of mankind will have fallen into the grasp of the foolish and ignorant, when the portals of divine unity and understanding-the essential and highest purpose in creation-will have been closed, when certain knowledge will have given way to idle fancy, and corruption will have usurped the station of righteousness. Such a condition as this is witnessed in this day when the reins of every community have fallen into the grasp of foolish leaders, who lead after their own whims and desire. On their tongue the mention of God hath become an empty name; in their midst His holy Word a dead letter. Such is the sway of their desires, that the lamp of conscience and reason hath been quenched in their hearts, and this although the fingers of divine power have unlocked the portals of the knowledge of God, and the light of divine knowledge and heavenly grace hath illumined and inspired the essence of all created things, in such wise that in each and every thing a door of knowledge hath been opened, and within every atom traces of the sun hath been made manifest. And yet, in spite of all these manifold revelations of divine knowledge, which have encompassed the world, they still vainly imagine the door of knowledge to be closed, and the showers of mercy to be stilled. Clinging unto idle fancy, they have strayed far from the 'Urvatu'l-Vuthqá of divine knowledge. Their hearts seem not to be inclined to knowledge and the door thereof, neither think they of its manifestations, inasmuch as in idle fancy they have found the door that leadeth unto earthly riches, whereas in the manifestation of the Revealer of knowledge they find naught but the call to self-sacrifice. They therefore naturally hold fast unto the former, and flee from the latter. Though they recognize in their hearts the Law of God to be one and the same, yet from every direction they issue a new command, and in every season proclaim a fresh decree. No two are found to agree on one and the same law, for they seek no God but their own desire, and tread no path but the path of error. In leadership they have recognized the ultimate object of their endeavour, and account pride and haughtiness as the highest attainments of their heart's desire. They have placed their sordid machinations above the divine decree, have renounced resignation unto the will of God, busied themselves with selfish calculation, and walked in the way of the hypocrite. With all their power and strength they strive to secure themselves in their petty pursuits, fearful lest the least discredit undermine their authority or blemish the display of their magnificence. Were the eye to be anointed and illumined with the collyrium of the knowledge of God, it would surely discover that a number of voracious beasts have gathered and preyed upon the carrion of the souls of men. ["Such a condition as..."] The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh vol. 1 p. 166
What "oppression" is greater than that which hath been recounted? What "oppression" is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it? For opinions have sorely differed, and the ways unto the attainment of God have multiplied. This "oppression" is the essential feature of every Revelation. Unless it cometh to pass, the Sun of Truth will not be made manifest. For the break of the morn of divine guidance must needs follow the darkness of the night of error. For this reason, in all chronicles and traditions reference hath been made unto these things, namely that iniquity shall cover the surface of the earth and darkness shall envelop mankind. As the traditions referred to are well known, and as the purpose of this servant is to be brief, He will refrain from quoting the text of these traditions. ["What 'oppression' is greater..."] The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh vol. 1 p. 166
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This is one of the instances that have been referred to. Verily by "perverting" the text is not meant that which these foolish and abject souls have fancied, even as some maintain that Jewish and Christian divines have effaced from the Book such verses as extol and magnify the countenance of Muhammad, and instead thereof have inserted the contrary. How utterly vain and false are these words! Can a man who believeth in a book, and deemeth it to be inspired by God, mutilate it? Moreover, the Pentateuch had been spread over the surface of the earth, and was not confined to Mecca and Medina, so that they could privily corrupt and pervert its text. Nay, rather, by corruption of the text is meant that in which all Muslim divines are engaged today, that is the interpretation of God's holy Book in accordance with their idle imaginings and vain desires. And as the Jews, in the time of Muhammad, interpreted those verses of the Pentateuch, that referred to His Manifestation, after their own fancy, and refused to be satisfied with His holy utterance, the charge of "perverting" the text was therefore pronounced against them. Likewise, it is clear, how in this day, the people of the Qur'án have perverted the text of God's holy Book, concerning the signs of the expected Manifestation, and interpreted it according to their inclination and desires.
In yet another instance, He saith: "A part of them heard the Word of God, and then, after they had understood it, distorted it, and knew that they did so." 1 This verse, too, doth indicate that the meaning of the Word of God hath been perverted, not that the actual words have been effaced. To the truth of this testify they that are sound of mind. 1. Qur'án 2:75.
The Book of Job, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou are my mother, and my sister.
15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
The Book of the Prophet Isaiah, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption:
for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
The Divine Names Text (Dionysis), #The Divine Names, #unset, #Zen
For, even as our sun----not as calculating or choosing, but by its very being, enlightens all things able |33 to partake of its light in their own degree----so too the Good----as superior to a sun, as the archetype par excellence, is above an obscure image----by Its very existence sends to all things that be, the rays of Its whole goodness, according to their capacity. By reason of these (rays) subsisted all the intelligible and intelligent essences and powers and energies. By reason of these they are, and have their life, continuous and undiminished, purified from all corruption and death and matter, and generation; and separated from the unstable and fluctuating and vacillating mutability, and are conceived of as incorporeal and immaterial, and as minds they think in a manner supermundane, and are illuminated as to the reasons of things, in a manner peculiar to themselves; and they again convey to their kindred spirits things appropriate to them; and they have their abiding from Goodness; and thence comes to them stability and consistence and protection, and sanctuary of good things; and whilst aspiring to It, they have both being and good being; and being conformed to It, as is attainable, they are both patterns of good, and impart to those after them, as the Divine Law directs, the gifts which have passed through to themselves from the Good.
SECTION II.
The Dwellings of the Philosophers, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
resume their mercurial state, next to the original rebis and as such directed toward corruption.
For there is a fundamental law in hermetics expressed by the old adage: Corruptio unius est
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mollified and circulated in a matrass, Others still, Xir, Putrefaction, corruption, Cymmerian
Shadows, Abbyss, Hell, Dragons, generation, Ingress, Submersion, Complexion, Conjunction,
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(2) The corruption of the one is the generation of the other.
(3) Huginus a Barma: Le Regne de Satume change en Siecle dOr...\ Paris, P. Derieu, 1780.
the Eternal Wisdom, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
23) Say in yourselves, "In the midst of this world of corruption, I would resemble the lotus which remains intangible by the mire in which it is born." ~ Sutra in 42 articles
24) Thus strive by the faith of love to burn the veils of the demoniac nature over the soul that thou mayst purify thy mind and make it ready to understand. ~ Baha-ullah
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14) Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to his flesh, shall reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. ~ Galatians VI. 7. 8
15) For they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. To be carnally minded is death, to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ~ Romans VIII 3
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28) Why, O men born from the earth, do you yield yourselves to death, when it is permitted to you to obtain immortality? Return to yourselves, O you who walk in error and languish in ignorance, withdraw from the light that is darkness, renounce corruption, take part in immortality. ~ Hermes
29) Cease to search out death with such ardour in the strayings of your life, use not the work of your hands to win that which shall destroy you. ~ Wisdom I. 12
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30) You shall no more carry in yourselves the root of evil; disease and infirmity no more shall make war against you and corruption shall flee from you for ever into oblivion. ~ Esdras IV. 8. 33
31) That which is born of the flesh, is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit. Marvel not that said unto thee, "Ye must be born again. " ~ John III 6. 7
The Pilgrims Progress, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
INTER. The Interpreter answered, This parlour is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the gospel; the dust is his original sin and inward corruptions, that have defiled the whole man. He that began to sweep at first, is the Law; but she that brought water, and did sprinkle it, is the Gospel. Now, whereas thou sawest, that so soon as the first began to sweep, the dust did so fly about that the room by him could not be cleansed, but that thou wast almost choked therewith; this is to shew thee, that the law, instead of cleansing the heart (by its working) from sin, doth revive, put strength into, and increase it in the soul, even as it doth discover and forbid it, for it doth not give power to subdue. [Rom. 7:6; 1 Cor. 15:56; Rom. 5:20]
{76} Again, as thou sawest the damsel sprinkle the room with water, upon which it was cleansed with pleasure; this is to show thee, that when the gospel comes in the sweet and precious influences thereof to the heart, then, I say, even as thou sawest the damsel lay the dust by sprinkling the floor with water, so is sin vanquished and subdued, and the soul made clean through the faith of it, and consequently fit for the King of glory to inhabit. [John 15:3; Eph. 5:26; Acts 15:9; Rom. 16:25,26; John 15:13]
--
To him that hath it thus: It gives him conviction of sin, especially of the defilement of his nature and the sin of unbelief, (for the sake of which he is sure to be damned, if he findeth not mercy at God's hand, by faith in Jesus Christ [John 16:8, Rom. 7:24, John 16:9, Mark 16:16]). This sight and sense of things worketh in him sorrow and shame for sin; he findeth, moreover, revealed in him the Saviour of the world, and the absolute necessity of closing with him for life, at the which he findeth hungerings and thirstings after him; to which hungerings, &c., the promise is made. [Ps. 38:18, Jer. 31:19, Gal. 2:16, Acts 4:12, Matt. 5:6, Rev. 21:6] Now, according to the strength or weakness of his faith in his Saviour, so is his joy and peace, so is his love to holiness, so are his desires to know him more, and also to serve him in this world. But though I say it discovereth itself thus unto him, yet it is but seldom that he is able to conclude that this is a work of grace; because his corruptions now, and his abused reason, make his mind to misjudge in this matter; therefore, in him that hath this work, there is required a very sound judgement before he can, with steadiness, conclude that this is a work of grace.
{202} To others, it is thus discovered:
The Riddle of this World, #unknown, #Unknown, #unset
whose sole purpose is to create confusion, falsehood, corruption of the
sadhana and disastrous unspiritual error. Anyone allowing himself to be
The Second Epistle of Peter, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
flying the corruption of that concupiscence which is in the world.
Christian Virtue
--
11 Whereas angels who are greater in strength and power, bring not against themselves a railing judgment. 12 But these men, as irrational beasts, naturally tending to the snare and to destruction, blaspheming those things which they know not, shall perish in their corruption, 13 Receiving the reward of their injustice, counting for a pleasure the delights of a day: stains and spots, sporting themselves to excess, rioting in their feasts with you: 14 Having eyes full of adultery and of sin that ceaseth not: alluring unstable souls, having their heart exercised with covetousness, children of malediction: 15 Leaving the right way they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam of Bosor, who loved the wages of iniquity, 16 But had a check of his madness, the dumb beast used to the yoke, which speaking with man's voice, forbade the folly of the prophet.
17 These are fountains without water, and clouds tossed with whirlwinds, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved.
18 For, speaking proud words of vanity, they allure by the desires of fleshly riotousness, those who for a little while escape, such as converse in error: 19 Promising them liberty, whereas they themselves are the slaves of corruption. For by whom a man is overcome, of the same also he is the slave. 20 For if, flying from the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they be again entangled in them and overcome: their latter state is become unto them worse than the former. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than after they have known it, to turn back from that holy commandment which was delivered to them. 22 For, that of the true proverb has happened to them: The dog is returned to his vomit: and, The sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire.
CHAPTER 3
The Zahir, #Labyrinths, #Jorge Luis Borges, #Poetry
At a wake, the progress of corruption brings it about that the corpse reassumes its earlier faces. At some stage of that confused night of the sixth, Clementina Villar was magically what she had been twenty years before: her features recovered that authority which is conferred by pride, by money, by youth, by the awareness of rounding off a hierarchy, by lack of imagination, by limitations, by stolidity.
Somehow, I thought, no version of that face which has disturbed me so will stay in my memory as long as this one; it is right that it should be the last, since it might have been the first. I left her rigid among the flowers, her disdain perfected by death. It must have been about two in the morning when I went away. Outside, the predictable rows of oneand two-story houses had taken on the abstract appearance that is theirs at night, when darkness and silence simplify them. Drunk with an almost impersonal piety, I walked through the streets. At the corner of Chile and Tacuar I saw an open shop. And in that shop, unhappily for me, three men were playing cards.
Timaeus, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Now every one can see whence diseases arise. There are four natures out of which the body is compacted, earth and fire and water and air, and the unnatural excess or defect of these, or the change of any of them from its own natural place into another, orsince there are more kinds than one of fire and of the other elementsthe assumption by any of these of a wrong kind, or any similar irregularity, produces disorders and diseases; for when any of them is produced or changed in a manner contrary to nature, the parts which were previously cool grow warm, and those which were dry become moist, and the light become heavy, and the heavy light; all sorts of changes occur. For, as we affirm, a thing can only remain the same with itself, whole and sound, when the same is added to it, or subtracted from it, in the same respect and in the same manner and in due proportion; and whatever comes or goes away in violation of these laws causes all manner of changes and infinite diseases and corruptions. Now there is a second class of structures which are also natural, and this affords a second opportunity of observing diseases to him who would understand them. For whereas marrow and bone and flesh and sinews are composed of the four elements, and the blood, though after another manner, is likewise formed out of them, most diseases originate in the way which I have described; but the worst of all owe their severity to the fact that the generation of these substances proceeds in a wrong order; they are then destroyed. For the natural order is that the flesh and sinews should be made of blood, the sinews out of the fibres to which they are akin, and the flesh out of the clots which are formed when the fibres are separated. And the glutinous and rich matter which comes away from the sinews and the flesh, not only glues the flesh to the bones, but nourishes and imparts growth to the bone which surrounds the marrow; and by reason of the solidity of the bones, that which filters through consists of the purest and smoothest and oiliest sort of triangles, dropping like dew from the bones and watering the marrow. Now when each process takes place in this order, health commonly results; when in the opposite order, disease. For when the flesh becomes decomposed and sends back the wasting substance into the veins, then an over-supply of blood of diverse kinds, mingling with air in the veins, having variegated colours and bitter properties, as well as acid and saline qualities, contains all sorts of bile and serum and phlegm. For all things go the wrong way, and having become corrupted, first they taint the blood itself, and then ceasing to give nourishment to the body they are carried along the veins in all directions, no longer preserving the order of their natural courses, but at war with themselves, because they receive no good from one another, and are hostile to the abiding constitution of the body, which they corrupt and dissolve. The oldest part of the flesh which is corrupted, being hard to decompose, from long burning grows black, and from being everywhere corroded becomes bitter, and is injurious to every part of the body which is still uncorrupted. Sometimes, when the bitter element is refined away, the black part assumes an acidity which takes the place of the bitterness; at other times the bitterness being tinged with blood has a redder colour; and this, when mixed with black, takes the hue of grass; and again, an auburn colour mingles with the bitter matter when new flesh is decomposed by the fire which surrounds the internal flame;to all which symptoms some physician perhaps, or rather some philosopher, who had the power of seeing in many dissimilar things one nature deserving of a name, has assigned the common name of bile. But the other kinds of bile are variously distinguished by their colours. As for serum, that sort which is the watery part of blood is innocent, but that which is a secretion of black and acid bile is malignant when mingled by the power of heat with any salt substance, and is then called acid phlegm. Again, the substance which is formed by the liquefaction of new and tender flesh when air is present, if inflated and encased in liquid so as to form bubbles, which separately are invisible owing to their small size, but when collected are of a bulk which is visible, and have a white colour arising out of the generation of foamall this decomposition of tender flesh when intermingled with air is termed by us white phlegm. And the whey or sediment of newly-formed phlegm is sweat and tears, and includes the various daily discharges by which the body is purified. Now all these become causes of disease when the blood is not replenished in a natural manner by food and drink but gains bulk from opposite sources in violation of the laws of nature. When the several parts of the flesh are separated by disease, if the foundation remains, the power of the disorder is only half as great, and there is still a prospect of an easy recovery; but when that which binds the flesh to the bones is diseased, and no longer being separated from the muscles and sinews, ceases to give nourishment to the bone and to unite flesh and bone, and from being oily and smooth and glutinous becomes rough and salt and dry, owing to bad regimen, then all the substance thus corrupted crumbles away under the flesh and the sinews, and separates from the bone, and the fleshy parts fall away from their foundation and leave the sinews bare and full of brine, and the flesh again gets into the circulation of the blood and makes the previously-mentioned disorders still greater. And if these bodily affections be severe, still worse are the prior disorders; as when the bone itself, by reason of the density of the flesh, does not obtain sufficient air, but becomes mouldy and hot and gangrened and receives no nutriment, and the natural process is inverted, and the bone crumbling passes into the food, and the food into the flesh, and the flesh again falling into the blood makes all maladies that may occur more virulent than those already mentioned. But the worst case of all is when the marrow is diseased, either from excess or defect; and this is the cause of the very greatest and most fatal disorders, in which the whole course of the body is reversed.
There is a third class of diseases which may be conceived of as arising in three ways; for they are produced sometimes by wind, and sometimes by phlegm, and sometimes by bile. When the lung, which is the dispenser of the air to the body, is obstructed by rheums and its passages are not free, some of them not acting, while through others too much air enters, then the parts which are unrefreshed by air corrode, while in other parts the excess of air forcing its way through the veins distorts them and decomposing the body is enclosed in the midst of it and occupies the midriff; thus numberless painful diseases are produced, accompanied by copious sweats. And oftentimes when the flesh is dissolved in the body, wind, generated within and unable to escape, is the source of quite as much pain as the air coming in from without; but the greatest pain is felt when the wind gets about the sinews and the veins of the shoulders, and swells them up, and so twists back the great tendons and the sinews which are connected with them. These disorders are called tetanus and opisthotonus, by reason of the tension which accompanies them. The cure of them is difficult; relief is in most cases given by fever supervening. The white phlegm, though dangerous when detained within by reason of the air-bubbles, yet if it can communicate with the outside air, is less severe, and only discolours the body, generating leprous eruptions and similar diseases. When it is mingled with black bile and dispersed about the courses of the head, which are the divinest part of us, the attack if coming on in sleep, is not so severe; but when assailing those who are awake it is hard to be got rid of, and being an affection of a sacred part, is most justly called sacred. An acid and salt phlegm, again, is the source of all those diseases which take the form of catarrh, but they have many names because the places into which they flow are manifold.
--- Overview of noun corruption
The noun corruption has 6 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (1) corruptness, corruption ::: (lack of integrity or honesty (especially susceptibility to bribery); use of a position of trust for dishonest gain)
2. putrescence, putridness, rottenness, corruption ::: (in a state of progressive putrefaction)
3. corruption ::: (decay of matter (as by rot or oxidation))
4. corruption, degeneracy, depravation, depravity, putrefaction ::: (moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles; "the luxury and corruption among the upper classes"; "moral degeneracy followed intellectual degeneration"; "its brothels, its opium parlors, its depravity"; "Rome had fallen into moral putrefaction")
5. corruption, subversion ::: (destroying someone's (or some group's) honesty or loyalty; undermining moral integrity; "corruption of a minor"; "the big city's subversion of rural innocence")
6. corruption ::: (inducement (as of a public official) by improper means (as bribery) to violate duty (as by commiting a felony); "he was held on charges of corruption and racketeering")
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun corruption
6 senses of corruption
Sense 1
corruptness, corruption
=> dishonesty
=> unrighteousness
=> immorality
=> quality
=> attribute
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 2
putrescence, putridness, rottenness, corruption
=> putrefaction, rot
=> decay
=> unsoundness
=> condition, status
=> state
=> attribute
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 3
corruption
=> decay
=> natural process, natural action, action, activity
=> process, physical process
=> physical entity
=> entity
Sense 4
corruption, degeneracy, depravation, depravity, putrefaction
=> immorality
=> quality
=> attribute
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 5
corruption, subversion
=> degradation, debasement
=> change of state
=> change
=> action
=> act, deed, human action, human activity
=> event
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 6
corruption
=> inducement, inducing
=> causing, causation
=> act, deed, human action, human activity
=> event
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
--- Hyponyms of noun corruption
1 of 6 senses of corruption
Sense 1
corruptness, corruption
=> infection
=> venality
=> jobbery
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun corruption
6 senses of corruption
Sense 1
corruptness, corruption
=> dishonesty
Sense 2
putrescence, putridness, rottenness, corruption
=> putrefaction, rot
Sense 3
corruption
=> decay
Sense 4
corruption, degeneracy, depravation, depravity, putrefaction
=> immorality
Sense 5
corruption, subversion
=> degradation, debasement
Sense 6
corruption
=> inducement, inducing
--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun corruption
6 senses of corruption
Sense 1
corruptness, corruption
-> dishonesty
=> corruptness, corruption
=> unscrupulousness
=> deceptiveness, obliquity
=> fraudulence, deceit
=> crookedness, deviousness
=> rascality, shiftiness, slipperiness, trickiness
=> thievishness, larcenous
=> untruthfulness
=> disingenuousness
Sense 2
putrescence, putridness, rottenness, corruption
-> putrefaction, rot
=> putrescence, putridness, rottenness, corruption
Sense 3
corruption
-> decay
=> cavity, caries, dental caries, tooth decay
=> corruption
=> decomposition, rot, rotting, putrefaction
=> dilapidation, ruin
=> spoilage, spoiling
Sense 4
corruption, degeneracy, depravation, depravity, putrefaction
-> immorality
=> unrighteousness
=> corruption, degeneracy, depravation, depravity, putrefaction
=> corruptibility
=> licentiousness, wantonness
=> anomie, anomy
=> wrongness
=> evil, evilness
Sense 5
corruption, subversion
-> degradation, debasement
=> dehumanization, dehumanisation
=> brutalization, brutalisation, animalization, animalisation
=> barbarization, barbarisation
=> bastardization, bastardisation
=> corruption, subversion
=> demoralization, demoralisation
=> stultification, constipation, impairment, deadening
=> popularization, popularisation, vulgarization, vulgarisation
=> profanation
=> humiliation, abasement
=> vulgarization, vulgarisation
Sense 6
corruption
-> inducement, inducing
=> corruption
--- Grep of noun corruption
corruption
incorruption
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/115006.The_Passionate_Mistakes_and_Intricate_Corruption_of_One_Girl_in_America
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1315167.On_Generation_and_Corruption
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1515178.Corruption_and_Reform
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15186175-comparative-political-corruption
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/161806.A_Spectacle_of_Corruption
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16250987-the-corruption-of-mila
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18143783.The_Price_of_Silence_The_Duke_Lacrosse_Scandal_the_Power_of_the_Elite_and_the_Corruption_of_Our_Great_Universities
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/187931.Corruptions_of_Empire
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2053110.Power_Corruption_And_Pies
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25440017-fighting-corruption-in-public-services
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26476435.It_s_a_Boy_A_Tale_of_Moral_Corruption
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28165593.A_Tale_of_Moral_Corruption
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28165593-a-tale-of-moral-corruption
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/365080.Corruption_of_American_Politics
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39888878-fighting-corruption-is-dangerous
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6508023-culture-of-corruption
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6517381-la-petite-corruption
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7400142-corruption-global-security-and-world-order
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9443545-corruption
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Christianity#Textual_corruption
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Eastern_Orthodox_Church#Corruption
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Modern_history_of_Christianity#Corruption
Saudi Arabias Wild Weekend: Corruption Crackdown or Power Grab?
Dharmapedia - 2011_Indian_anti-corruption_movement
Dharmapedia - 2012_Indian_anti-corruption_movement
Dharmapedia - Corruption_in_India
Dharmapedia - India_Against_Corruption
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - corruption
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/LightNovel/JudgmentOfCorruption
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CorruptionByAMinor
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CorruptionOfAMinor
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RevengeThroughCorruption
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheCorruption
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/PowerCorruptionAndLies
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Corruption
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/CorruptionCards
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/CorruptionOfChampions
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/CorruptionOfLaetitia
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/FridayNightFunkinCorruption
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Videogame/MetroidPrime3Corruption
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Category:Corruption
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Corruption
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Corruption_in_India
Serpico (1976 - 1977) - Frank Serpico was a maverick New York City detective who, after turning in a large number of "bad" cops and later being shot in the face, often went undercover to expose corruption in the city. The scruffy-looking, long-haired officer used unorthodox means to get results, and reported to Lieutenant...
The Untouchables (1993 - 1994) - Its the story of 1930s Chicago during prohibition. The infamous gangster Al Capone had gained control of the city through buying off politicians, law enforcement officers, even the mayor, so that he can run his illegal organization. To battle this corruption, the U.S. Treasury department sends Age...
Bronk (1975 - 1976) - Bronk was a short-lived CBS detective show that starred Jack Palance as Lt. Alex Bronkov, a widower with a wheelchair-bound daughter (the result of an auto accident that also killed his wife) who helps the mayor of a fictional California city fight corruption & crime.
Golden Wind (Vento Aureo) (2018 - 2019) - In the coastal city of Naples, corruption is teemingthe police blatantly conspire with outlaws, drugs run rampant around the youth, and the mafia governs the streets with an iron fist. However, various fateful encounters will soon occur.
Sudden Thunder(1992) - This action is drama about a female Miami cop whose father, the sheriff of a small Southern town, is murdered by a mysterious armed gang. When she returns home with four of her fellow officers to find out why this happened, she runs into a web of drug-dealing, corruption and murder. Brian Guss...
Project: Eliminator(1991) - In this action thriller, Dr. Markson is a scientist working in weapons technology research, but he has grown disillusioned with his employers and the corruption within the defense industry so much so that he chooses to destroy his latest creation, a laser weapon employing state-of-the-art arti...
Enemy of the State(1998) - The action producing-directing team of Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scott is back with another thrill-a-minute ride called Enemy of the State. Taking its "innocent man accidentally caught up in political corruption" story from such films as Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation, Alfred Hitchcock's T...
Flashfire(1994) - An honest cop stands in the face of the corruption of his peers in this thriller. Jack Flinder is a police detective who loves his work. Jack and his partner Art are chasing an arsonist. Their investigation reveals a shocking conspiracy. Art is subsequently murdered in front of his girlfriend Lisa w...
Cop Land(1997) - The second film from writer-director James Mangold, the corruption drama Cop Land stars Sylvester Stallone as Freddy Heflin, the much-denigrated sheriff of tiny Garrison, New Jersey, a community which thanks to a technicality is populated almost entirely by members of the New York City Police...
Internal Affairs(1990) - In this glossy L.A. crime drama by Mike Figgis, Andy Garcia stars as Sgt. Raymond Avila, a cop who just joined the Internal Affairs division of the L.A.P.D. An investigation into police corruption has led Avila and his partner, Sgt. Amy Wallace (Laurie Metcalf), to Officer Dennis Peck (Richard Gere)...
Q & A(1990) - Following Serpico (1973) and Prince of the City (1981), veteran urban crime film director Sidney Lumet completed a thematic trilogy about New York City police corruption with this noir drama. When New York City cop Mike Brennan (Nick Nolte) shoots an unarmed Hispanic drug dealer in cold blood, he qu...
Scum(1979) - This movie tells the story of life inside a british borstal, showing the brutal and corruption taking place. The movie centers around inmate, Carlin (Ray Winstone), who is transferred from a formal borstal for assaulting a guard, so the guards do what they can to make his life more difficult even pu...
Marie(1985) - Based on a true story, Marie Ragghianti (Sissy Spacek) lives in Tennessee. Corruption abounds in that state, and so she decides to take on the government, even though it'll put everything in jeopardy for her.
Hot Boyz(2002) - A kid from the inner city tries to find his way through corruption, crime and injustice.
The Serpent and the Rainbow(1988) - Dennis Alan heads to Haiti in hopes of obtaining a mysterious potion that represses the nervous and respiratory systems without causing death; this draught would also scientifically explain the myth of the zombie. Once on Caribbean soil, however, Alan encounters powerful cults, government corruption...
Corruption(1968) - A plastic surgeon(Peter Cushing) uses the pituitary glands of murdered women to continually restore his fiance's(Sue Lloyd) damaged face.
Walking Tall(1973) - True story of Bufford Pusser(Joe Don Baker) a Sheriff who goes on a crusade to rid his Tennessee hometown of corruption.
Serpico(1973) - The true story about an honest New York cop who blew the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.
American Hustle(2013) - Irving Rosenfeld and his Sydney Prosser (who works under the guise of Lady Edith Greensly) are two brilliant con artists in 1970's New York. But when they get forced into working for wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso, the unlikely trio finds themselves in a world New Jersey politicians, corruption, and t...
The Place Beyond the Pines(2013) - Luke Glanton is a motorcycle stunt rider passing through town and then turns to bank robbery to provide for his lover and their baby boy. Avery Cross is an ambitious police officer looking to move up in the department...even if it means taking down corruption within the police force. When the two me...
Power Play(1978) - A group of military officers, angered and frustrated by the corruption and repression of the current government, finally decide that for the good of the country they must overthrow the regime. However, the planned coup's leader, an infantry colonel, finds that in order to get the support he needs he...
The Big Easy(1987) - Corruption is the name of the game in New Orleans. Det. Remy McSwain (Dennis Quaid) is part good cop and part bad cop, but in a romance with a reporter named Anne Osborne (Ellen Barkin), his two worlds are about to collide.
Casino Jack(2010) - A hot shot Washington DC lobbyist and his protg go down hard as their schemes to peddle influence lead to corruption and murder.
The January Man(1989) - Nick and Frank Starkey were both policemen. A scandal forced Nick to leave the force, now a serial killer has driven the police to take him back. A web that includes Frank's wife, bribery, and corruption all are in the background as Nick tries to uncover the secret of where the killer will strike ne...
Renegades(1989) - Buster McHenry works as an undercover agent for the local police. Currently he investigates on police corruption and is in big trouble. His task makes him break the law, he participates in a robbery. Things really screw up as not only two men are shot, but also an ancient indian spear is stolen and...
F/X2: The Deadly Art of Illusion(1991) - Rollie Tyler is asked by his girlfriend's ex-husband, a cop, to use his special-effects expertise to help catch a serial killer. However, when things go wrong and the cop is killed, he begins to suspect a setup and corruption within the police department. He calls on the help of his friend Leo McCar...
Blue Hill Avenue(2001) - A child of a middle class home with solid moral values is lured into a world of crime and corruption.
The Custodian(1993) - A police detective on realising the extent of corruption in the police force decides to expose it, even though this means implicating himself, and anonymously contacts a television reporter to help him.
Slam Dance(1987) - An artist, framed for the murder of a woman, is drawn into a web of corruption, blackmail and deceit.
Harlem Nights(1989) - "Sugar" Ray is the owner of an illegal casino, who contend with the pressures of vicious gangster and corrupt policemen who want to see him go out of business. In the world of organized crime and police corruption in the 1920s, any dastardly trick is fair!
Jubilee(1978) - Queen Elisabeth I travels 400 years into the future to witness the appalling revelation of a dystopian London overrun by corruption and a vicious gang of punk guerrilla girls led by the new Monarch of Punk.
Touch Of Evil(1958) - A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town.
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington(1939) - A naive man is appointed to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate. His plans promptly collide with political corruption, but he doesn't back down.
Batman Begins (2005) ::: 8.2/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 20min | Action, Adventure | 15 June 2005 (USA) -- After training with his mentor, Batman begins his fight to free crime-ridden Gotham City from corruption. Director: Christopher Nolan Writers: Bob Kane (characters), David S. Goyer (story) | 2 more credits
Blue Collar (1978) ::: 7.5/10 -- R | 1h 54min | Crime, Drama | 10 February 1978 (USA) -- When three workers try to steal from the local union, they discover the corruption of the union instead and decide to blackmail them. Director: Paul Schrader Writers: Paul Schrader, Leonard Schrader | 1 more credit
Brubaker (1980) ::: 7.2/10 -- R | 2h 11min | Crime, Drama | 20 June 1980 (USA) -- The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate. Director: Stuart Rosenberg Writers: W.D. Richter (screenplay), W.D. Richter (story) | 3 more credits
Chance ::: TV-MA | 1h | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | TV Series (20162017) -- A forensic neuro-psychiatrist reluctantly enters a dangerous and violent world of mistaken identity, police corruption and mental illness. Creators:
Chinatown (1974) ::: 8.1/10 -- R | 2h 10min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | 20 June 1974 (USA) -- A private detective hired to expose an adulterer finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder. Director: Roman Polanski Writer: Robert Towne
Cop Land (1997) ::: 6.9/10 -- R | 1h 45min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 15 August 1997 (USA) -- The Sheriff of a suburban New Jersey community, populated by New York City police officers, slowly discovers the town is a front for mob connections and corruption. Director: James Mangold Writer:
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) ::: 7.6/10 -- R | 1h 59min | Drama, Romance | 24 February 1989 (USA) -- A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. Director: Stephen Frears Writers: Christopher Hampton (play), Choderlos de Laclos (novel) | 1 more
Day of Anger (1967) ::: 7.1/10 -- I giorni dell'ira (original title) -- Day of Anger Poster A scruffy garbage boy becomes the pupil of a famed gunfighter, and the stage for confrontation is set when the gunman becomes unhinged and overruns the boy's town through violence and corruption. Director: Tonino Valerii Writers: Ernesto Gastaldi (story by), Tonino Valerii (story by) | 2 more credits
Deadwood ::: TV-MA | 55min | Crime, Drama, History | TV Series (20042006) -- A show set in the late 1800s, revolving around the characters of Deadwood, South Dakota; a town of deep corruption and crime. Creator: David Milch
Dirty Money ::: TV-14 | 1h | Documentary, Crime | TV Series (2018 ) -- A Netflix Original Series documenting various stories about exposing the greed, corruption, and crime spreading through the global economy. Stars: Matt Taibbi, Alex Gibney, Anabel Hernndez
Gangster Squad (2013) ::: 6.7/10 -- R | 1h 53min | Action, Crime, Drama | 11 January 2013 (USA) -- It's 1949 Los Angeles, the city is run by gangsters and a malicious mobster, Mickey Cohen. Determined to end the corruption, John O'Mara assembles a team of cops, ready to take down the ruthless leader and restore peace to the city. Director: Ruben Fleischer Writers:
Goldstone (2016) ::: 6.5/10 -- R | 1h 50min | Crime, Thriller | 7 July 2016 (Australia) -- Indigenous detective Jay Swan arrives in the town of Goldstone to search for a missing person, and his simple duty becomes complicated when he uncovers a web of crime and corruption. Director: Ivan Sen Writer:
Internal Affairs (1990) ::: 6.5/10 -- R | 1h 55min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 12 January 1990 (USA) -- An Internal Affairs agent becomes obsessed with bringing down a cop who has managed to maintain a spotless reputation despite being involved in a web of corruption. Director: Mike Figgis Writer: Henry Bean Stars:
L.A. Confidential (1997) ::: 8.2/10 -- R | 2h 18min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | 19 September 1997 (USA) -- As corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice. Director: Curtis Hanson Writers:
La piovra ::: TV-14 | 6h 42min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (19841998) An epic crime saga of power, money, violence and corruption, the mafia controls everything like an Octopus but when law enforcement tries to bring them down they pay the ultimate price. Creators: Lucio Battistrada, Massimo De Rita Stars:
Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) ::: 6.8/10 -- R | 1h 42min | Drama | 4 May 1990 (USA) -- Set in Brooklyn during the 1950s against a backdrop of union corruption and violence. A prostitute falls in love with one of her customers. Also a disturbed man discovers that he is homosexual. Director: Uli Edel Writers: Hubert Selby Jr. (book), Desmond Nakano (screenplay) Stars:
Line of Duty ::: TV-14 | 1h | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (2012 ) -- Drama series following the investigations of AC-12, a controversial police anti-corruption unit. Creator: Jed Mercurio
Line of Duty ::: TV-14 | 1h | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (2012- ) Episode Guide 36 episodes Line of Duty Poster -- Drama series following the investigations of AC-12, a controversial police anti-corruption unit. Creator: Jed Mercurio
Low Winter Sun -- 43min | Crime, Drama | TV Series (2013) ::: Murder, deception, revenge and corruption that starts with the murder of a cop by fellow Detroit detective, Frank Agnew. Creator: Chris Mundy
Making a Murderer ::: TV-14 | 1h | Documentary, Crime | TV Series (20152018) -- Filmed over a 10-year period, Steven Avery, a DNA exoneree who, while in the midst of exposing corruption in local law enforcement, finds himself the prime suspect in a grisly new crime. Stars:
Metro Manila (2013) ::: 7.6/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 55min | Crime, Drama | 20 September 2013 (UK) -- This riveting crime thriller follows Oscar, a recent emigrant to Manila who gets pulled into a harrowing world of corruption and violence when he takes a job as an armored car driver to support his family (in Tagalog w/ English subtitles). Director: Sean Ellis Writers:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) ::: 8.1/10 -- Passed | 2h 9min | Comedy, Drama | 19 October 1939 (USA) -- A naive man is appointed to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate. His plans promptly collide with political corruption, but he doesn't back down. Director: Frank Capra Writers:
Night Falls on Manhattan (1996) ::: 6.6/10 -- R | 1h 53min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 16 May 1997 (USA) -- A newly elected District Attorney finds himself in the middle of a police corruption investigation that may involve his father and his partner. Director: Sidney Lumet Writers:
Out of the Past (1947) ::: 8.0/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 37min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir | December 1947 (USA) -- A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses and duplicitous dames. Director: Jacques Tourneur Writers:
Pride and Glory (2008) ::: 6.6/10 -- R | 2h 10min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 24 October 2008 (USA) -- A family's moral codes are tested when Ray Tierney investigates a case that reveals an incendiary police corruption scandal involving his own brother-in-law. For Ray, the truth is revelatory, a Pandora's Box that threatens to upend not only the Tierney legacy but the entire NYPD. Director: Gavin O'Connor Writers:
Prince of the City (1981) ::: 7.5/10 -- R | 2h 47min | Crime, Drama | 26 August 1981 (USA) -- A New York City narcotics detective reluctantly agrees to cooperate with a special commission investigating police corruption, and soon realises he's in over his head, and nobody can be trusted. Director: Sidney Lumet Writers:
Robin Hood (2010) ::: 6.6/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 20min | Action, Adventure, Drama | 14 May 2010 (USA) -- In twelfth-century England, Robin Longstride and his band of marauders confront corruption in a local village and lead an uprising against the crown that will forever alter the balance of world power. Director: Ridley Scott Writers:
Rotten -- 55min | Documentary | TV Series (20182019) ::: Rotten dives deep into the food production underworld to expose the corruption, waste and real dangers behind your everyday eating habits. Stars: Latif Nasser, Casey Cox, Stanley Crawford
Serpico (1973) ::: 7.7/10 -- R | 2h 10min | Biography, Crime, Drama | 5 December 1973 (USA) -- An honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him. Director: Sidney Lumet Writers: Peter Maas (book), Waldo Salt (screenplay) | 1 more credit
Shades of Blue ::: TV-14 | 1h | Action, Crime, Drama | TV Series (20162018) -- Harlee Santos, New York police officer and single mother, is forced to work in the F.B.I.'s anti-corruption task force while dealing with her own financial problems. Creator:
Sin City (2005) ::: 8.0/10 -- R | 2h 4min | Crime, Thriller | 1 April 2005 (USA) -- A movie that explores the dark and miserable town, Basin City, tells the story of three different people, all caught up in violent corruption. Directors: Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino | 1 more credit Writers:
Stranger ::: Bimilui Soop (original tit ::: TV-14 | 1h | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (2017- ) Episode Guide 32 episodes Stranger Poster -- With the help of a gutsy female detective, a prosecutor who has almost lost the ability to feel emotions tackles a strange murder case amid political corruption. Stars:
The Baby of Mcon (1993) ::: 7.0/10 -- Not Rated | 2h 2min | Drama, History | 17 September 1993 (UK) -- A movie about the corruption in all levels of society. A baby is born from a supposed-to-be virgin woman, so a chain of hysteria about divine intervention in the birth takes place. Director: Peter Greenaway Writer: Peter Greenaway Stars:
The Chicago Code -- 44min | Action, Crime, Drama | TV Series (2011) ::: Detective Jarek Wysocki, one of Chicago's toughest cops, struggles to clean up the town's violence and corruption. Creator: Shawn Ryan
The Constant Gardener (2005) ::: 7.4/10 -- R | 2h 9min | Drama, Mystery, Romance | 31 August 2005 (USA) -- A widower is determined to get to the bottom of a potentially explosive secret involving his wife's murder, big business, and corporate corruption. Director: Fernando Meirelles Writers:
The Devil All the Time (2020) ::: 7.1/10 -- R | 2h 18min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 16 September 2020 (USA) -- Sinister characters converge around a young man devoted to protecting those he loves in a postwar backwoods town teeming with corruption and brutality. Director: Antonio Campos Writers:
The Good Wife ::: TV-14 | 43min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (20092016) -- Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) has been a good wife to her husband, a former state's attorney. After a very humiliating sex and corruption scandal, he is behind bars. She must now provide for her family and returns to work as a litigator in a law firm. Creators:
The Negotiator (1998) ::: 7.3/10 -- R | 2h 20min | Action, Crime, Drama | 29 July 1998 (USA) -- In a desperate attempt to prove his innocence, a skilled police negotiator accused of corruption and murder takes hostages in a government office to gain the time he needs to find the truth. Director: F. Gary Gray Writers:
The Raid 2 (2014) ::: 8.0/10 -- Serbuan maut 2: Berandal (original title) -- The Raid 2 Poster -- Only a short time after the first raid, Rama goes undercover with the thugs of Jakarta and plans to bring down the syndicate and uncover the corruption within his police force. Director: Gareth Evans Writer:
The Untouchables (1987) ::: 7.9/10 -- R | 1h 59min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 3 June 1987 (USA) -- During the era of Prohibition in the United States, Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone and, because of rampant corruption, assembles a small, hand-picked team to help him. Director: Brian De Palma Writers:
The Whistlers (2019) ::: 6.3/10 -- La Gomera (original title) -- (Romania) The Whistlers Poster -- Not everything is as it seems for Cristi, a policeman who plays both sides of the law. Embarking with the beautiful Gilda on a high-stakes heist, both will have to navigate the twists and turns of corruption, treachery and deception. Director: Corneliu Porumboiu
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) ::: 8.2/10 -- R | 3h | Biography, Crime, Drama | 25 December 2013 (USA) -- Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government. Director: Martin Scorsese Writers:
The Yacoubian Building (2006) ::: 7.5/10 -- Omaret yakobean (original title) -- The Yacoubian Building Poster Meditations on corruption, fundamentalism, prostitution, homosexuality, and drugs in central Cairo. Director: Marwan Hamed Writers: Alaa' Al-Aswany (novel), Wahid Hamed (as Wahid Hamid) Stars:
Touch of Evil (1958) ::: 8.0/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 35min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir | 9 May 1958 (Canada) -- A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town. Director: Orson Welles Writers: Orson Welles (screenplay), Whit Masterson (based on the novel "Badge Of
Vagabond -- Baegabondeu (original title) 1h | Action, Mystery, Thriller | TV Series (2019) ::: An ordinary man who comes across surprising circumstances that place him in the center of a huge corruption scandal. Stars:
Walking Tall (1973) ::: 7.0/10 -- R | 2h 5min | Action, Biography, Crime | 22 February 1973 (USA) -- Based on the life of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser whom almost single-handily cleaned up his small town of crime and corruption, but at a personal cost of his family life and nearly his own life. Director: Phil Karlson Writers:
https://allods.fandom.com/wiki/Isle_of_Corruption
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https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Background_corruption_protection
https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption
https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Corruptions
https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Corruptions_quick_table
https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Essence_of_Chaos_and_Corruption
https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Potion_of_cure_corruption
https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Rage_(corruption)
https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Scroll_of_corruption_removal
https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Scrolls_of_corruption_removal
https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Staff_of_corruption_dissemination
https://calamitymod.fandom.com/wiki/The_Corruption
https://castleage.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption_Chest
https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption
https://dnd4.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption_Orb
https://dnd4.fandom.com/wiki/Psychic_Corruption_of_Malbolge
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption_and_Conscience
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https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption_of_Earth
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https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Mists_of_Corruption
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Shrine_of_Corruption
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Skull_of_Corruption
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Skull_of_Corruption_(Skyrim)
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Absolute_Corruption
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Absolute_Corruption_II
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Absolute_Corruption_III
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Absolute_Corruption_IV
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Absolute_Corruption_V
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Absolute_Corruption_VI
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Absolute_Corruption_VIII
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Abyssmal_Blade_of_Corruption_(Level_40)
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Abyssmal_Blade_of_Corruption_(Level_60)
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption_in_the_Faydark
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https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Enhance:_Smite_Corruption
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Guild:Death_and_Corruption
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Shades_of_Drinal:_Incantatory_Corruption
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Soul_Corruption
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Strike_of_Corruption
https://fanfiction.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption_domain
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption_in_Kryptgarden
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Dragonfire/Corruption_in_Calimshan
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Fiend_of_corruption
https://humanscience.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption
https://humanscience.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption_as_institution
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https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ferengi_corruptionist_001
https://ninjago.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption
https://ninjago.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption/Transcript
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https://pakistan.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption
https://rpg.fandom.com/wiki/Prince_of_Persia:_Against_the_Corruption
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Empire_at_War:_Forces_of_Corruption
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Empire_at_War:_Forces_of_Corruption_Expansion:_Prima_Official_Game_Guide
https://swfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Rise_of_Ruin:_A_Corruption_of_Innocents
https://swgames.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Empire_at_War:_Forces_of_Corruption
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https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption_(audio_story)
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https://terraria.fandom.com/wiki/Underground_Corruption
https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Decrease_chances_of_file_corruption_in_case_of_computer_crash
https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Corruption_(WTO)
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https://wowwiki-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Runic_Corruption
https://wowwiki-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Seed_of_Corruption
Akatsuki no Yona -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Romance Shoujo -- Akatsuki no Yona Akatsuki no Yona -- Princess Yona lives a life of luxury and ease, completely sheltered from the problems of the seemingly peaceful Kingdom of Kouka; however, the sudden murder of the king and betrayal of her beloved cousin Su-won places Yona's life in mortal peril. Forced to escape only with Son Hak, who is both her childhood friend and bodyguard, the naïve princess soon discovers that Kouka is not the idyllic place she envisioned it to be. Poverty, strife, and corruption run rampant, making reclaiming the throne nothing more than a wishful fantasy given the kingdom's current state. -- -- Based on the popular manga of the same name by Mizuho Kusanagi, Akatsuki no Yona follows Princess Yona on a coming-of-age adventure as she faces the harsh realities of her kingdom. With only a mysterious legend to guide her, Yona must discover a way to restore Kouka to its former glory while being pursued relentlessly by the forces of the new King of Kouka. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 621,162 8.04
Babylon -- -- Revoroot -- 12 eps -- Novel -- Mystery Psychological Thriller -- Babylon Babylon -- In the newly formed Shiniki district of Tokyo, Zen Seizaki is a diligent public prosecutor at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. Assigned to a case involving false advertisement, Zen—along with his assistant officer, Atsuhiko Fumio—investigate Japan Supiri, a pharmaceutical company that had provided fabricated clinical research on the company's new drug. While investigating the file of Shin Inaba, an anesthesiologist connected to the crime, the case takes a dark turn when Zen finds a page stained with a mixture of blood, hair and skin, along with the letter "F" scribbled all across the sheet. As he investigates further, the case goes beyond Zen's imagination and becomes vastly complex, challenging his sense of justice and his knowledge of the truth. -- -- Digging deeper into the investigation, Zen begins to uncover a concealed plot behind the ongoing mayoral election and ties to many people of interest involved in the election and those closer than he thinks. The case grows more severe and propels Zen into an unforeseen hurricane of corruption and deceit behind the election, the establishment of the Shiniki district, and the mysterious woman associated with it all. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 107,289 6.80
Bakuten Shoot Beyblade G Revolution -- -- Madhouse -- 52 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Sci-Fi Shounen Sports -- Bakuten Shoot Beyblade G Revolution Bakuten Shoot Beyblade G Revolution -- After keeping their BitBeasts out of harm's way, a new world championship tournament is announced, but the defending champions can't all be on the same team. Their friendship will be tested and tried as each Bladebreaker goes on a quest to prove why they are the best Beyblader around. Tyson, Max, Ray, Kai, and newcomer Daichi, must keep up their winning ways...even if they must face each other. But, after the tournament is over, what awaits them is an old foe, Boris, taking over the BBA and transforming it into BEGA, the Beyblade Entertainment Global Association. To save Beybladers of the entire world from BEGA's corruption, the Bladebreakers must reunite once again... -- -- (Source: ANN) -- 39,705 6.92
Bakuten Shoot Beyblade G Revolution -- -- Madhouse -- 52 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Sci-Fi Shounen Sports -- Bakuten Shoot Beyblade G Revolution Bakuten Shoot Beyblade G Revolution -- After keeping their BitBeasts out of harm's way, a new world championship tournament is announced, but the defending champions can't all be on the same team. Their friendship will be tested and tried as each Bladebreaker goes on a quest to prove why they are the best Beyblader around. Tyson, Max, Ray, Kai, and newcomer Daichi, must keep up their winning ways...even if they must face each other. But, after the tournament is over, what awaits them is an old foe, Boris, taking over the BBA and transforming it into BEGA, the Beyblade Entertainment Global Association. To save Beybladers of the entire world from BEGA's corruption, the Bladebreakers must reunite once again... -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Nelvana -- 39,705 6.92
Bem -- -- LandQ studios, Production I.G -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action Demons Supernatural -- Bem Bem -- Young detective Sonia Summers has been transferred to the outskirts of the port city Libra after stirring up trouble with her superiors. Libra is separated into two sectors—"the Upper", the center of wealth and politics, and "the Outside". The Outside is home to crime, corruption, and curious incidents involving monstrosities or youkai. Each case that Sonia works on seems to implicate the involvement of these mysterious creatures. -- -- Sonia crosses paths with three peculiar humanoid youkai — Bem, Bela and Belo — who seek to protect humans and fight against the evil youkai that terrorize them. Living as "Youkai-Ningen," they are excluded by other youkai for their human-like lifestyles, and rejected and hurt by humans when they reveal their true forms. -- -- Despite the hardships they face, these three Youkai-Ningen secretly live among humans, continuing to pursue their dreams of one day becoming human as well. -- -- 54,632 6.03
Bem -- -- LandQ studios, Production I.G -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action Demons Supernatural -- Bem Bem -- Young detective Sonia Summers has been transferred to the outskirts of the port city Libra after stirring up trouble with her superiors. Libra is separated into two sectors—"the Upper", the center of wealth and politics, and "the Outside". The Outside is home to crime, corruption, and curious incidents involving monstrosities or youkai. Each case that Sonia works on seems to implicate the involvement of these mysterious creatures. -- -- Sonia crosses paths with three peculiar humanoid youkai — Bem, Bela and Belo — who seek to protect humans and fight against the evil youkai that terrorize them. Living as "Youkai-Ningen," they are excluded by other youkai for their human-like lifestyles, and rejected and hurt by humans when they reveal their true forms. -- -- Despite the hardships they face, these three Youkai-Ningen secretly live among humans, continuing to pursue their dreams of one day becoming human as well. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 54,632 6.03
Black Lagoon -- -- Madhouse -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Seinen -- Black Lagoon Black Lagoon -- Within Thailand is Roanapur, a depraved, crime-ridden city where not even the authorities or churches are untouched by the claws of corruption. A haven for convicts and degenerates alike, the city is notorious for being the center of illegal activities and operations, often fueled by local crime syndicates. -- -- Enter Rokurou Okajima, an average Japanese businessman who has been living a dull and monotonous life, when he finally gets his chance for a change of pace with a delivery trip to Southeast Asia. His business trip swiftly goes downhill as Rokurou is captured by a mercenary group operating in Roanapur, called Black Lagoon. The group plans to use him as a bargaining chip in negotiations which ultimately failed. Now abandoned and betrayed by his former employer, Rokurou decides to join Black Lagoon. In order to survive, he must quickly adapt to his new environment and prepare himself for the bloodshed and tribulation to come. -- -- A non-stop, high-octane thriller, Black Lagoon delves into the depths of human morality and virtue. Witness Rokurou struggling to keep his values and philosophies intact as he slowly transforms from businessman to ruthless mercenary. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation, Geneon Entertainment USA -- 734,114 8.04
B: The Beginning -- -- Production I.G -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action Mystery Police Psychological Supernatural Thriller -- B: The Beginning B: The Beginning -- On the islands of Cremona, a vigilante runs amok. Celebrated by some and hunted by others, the notorious "Killer B" takes justice into his own hands, armed with a sharp blade and superhuman abilities. Unable to apprehend this renegade, the Royal Investigation Service (RIS) calls upon the expertise of Keith Flick, a seasoned, yet eccentric detective who was relegated to the Archives Department following a personal loss. As crimes in Cremona begin to escalate, from stealthy executions of wrongdoers to sophisticated strikes on public figures, it soon becomes clear that there is more than one person responsible. -- -- With the help of his impulsive sidekick Lily Hoshina, and unexpected aid from the elusive Killer B himself, Keith begins to unravel plots involving secret organizations, domestic terrorism, and human experiments. When the involvement of the RIS extends beyond the scope of justice, the extent of the government's corruption—as well as the trustworthiness of close allies—are thrown into question. -- -- ONA - Mar 2, 2018 -- 246,503 7.30
Buddha Saitan -- -- Group TAC -- 1 ep -- Book -- Psychological Supernatural Romance -- Buddha Saitan Buddha Saitan -- 17-year-old Sayako Amanokawa aspires to become a journalist, just like Kanemoto, an elite newspaper writer she looks up to. But Kanemoto, shamed from an erroneous report about a corruption scandal, jumps in front of a train and commits suicide. Since that incident, Sayako suddenly becomes able to see spirits and almost loses her life. However, from that near-fatal incident she experiences something extraordinary. The journalist inside her stirred, she embarks to find out about the truth. But the forces that stand in her way turn out to be much more formidable than she ever imagined. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- Movie - Oct 17, 2009 -- 5,858 5.94
Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou -- -- Bones -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Demons Drama Fantasy Mystery Sci-Fi Super Power Supernatural -- Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou -- On a sunny July day in the 41st year of the Shinka Era, Jirou Hitoyoshi is tasked with covertly listening in on a secret meeting between a top government scientist and an industrial spy. However, his cover is blown, and the spy reveals himself to be an alien in disguise. Amidst the ensuing chaos, Jirou enlists the aid of cafe waitress and magical girl Kikko Hoshino, one of many "superhumans" who blend into society and secretly protect humanity from extraterrestrial threats. As a member of the government agency known as the Super Population Research Laboratory, Jirou has the dual task of protecting superhumans that defend humanity and disposing of any deemed too dangerous to live. Having proven herself a worthy ally, Kikko is invited to join the agency as its newest recruit. -- -- Fast forward five years: disapproval and distaste for superhumans are now commonplace in Tokyo. From government corruption and conflicting ideas of justice, to the morality of superhuman rights, the relationship between humans and the supernatural minority balances precariously in a world pervaded by whispers of unrest and unease. Under mysterious circumstances, Jirou has betrayed the agency, and is now a fugitive on the run. As he skulks through the rainy back alleys of Shinjuku, he is pursued by the very same superhumans that he himself once recruited. -- -- 76,484 6.70
Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou -- -- Bones -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Demons Drama Fantasy Mystery Sci-Fi Super Power Supernatural -- Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou -- On a sunny July day in the 41st year of the Shinka Era, Jirou Hitoyoshi is tasked with covertly listening in on a secret meeting between a top government scientist and an industrial spy. However, his cover is blown, and the spy reveals himself to be an alien in disguise. Amidst the ensuing chaos, Jirou enlists the aid of cafe waitress and magical girl Kikko Hoshino, one of many "superhumans" who blend into society and secretly protect humanity from extraterrestrial threats. As a member of the government agency known as the Super Population Research Laboratory, Jirou has the dual task of protecting superhumans that defend humanity and disposing of any deemed too dangerous to live. Having proven herself a worthy ally, Kikko is invited to join the agency as its newest recruit. -- -- Fast forward five years: disapproval and distaste for superhumans are now commonplace in Tokyo. From government corruption and conflicting ideas of justice, to the morality of superhuman rights, the relationship between humans and the supernatural minority balances precariously in a world pervaded by whispers of unrest and unease. Under mysterious circumstances, Jirou has betrayed the agency, and is now a fugitive on the run. As he skulks through the rainy back alleys of Shinjuku, he is pursued by the very same superhumans that he himself once recruited. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 76,484 6.70
Dennou Coil -- -- Madhouse -- 26 eps -- Original -- Adventure Comedy Drama Mystery Sci-Fi -- Dennou Coil Dennou Coil -- In the near future, augmented reality has become a key part of daily life. A gentle middle school girl named Yuuko "Yasako" Okonogi and her family have just moved to Daikoku City despite rumors of people disappearing. There, her grandmother, nicknamed "Mega-baa," runs a shop called Megasia that specializes in illegal tools which interact with parts of the virtual world. -- -- Mega-baa also hosts an unofficial detective agency called "Coil," a group of children around Yasako's age who find and handle corruption of the virtual world. Yasako gets involved with the group when Fumie Hashimoto, a playful member of Coil, helps rescue her cyberdog Densuke after getting trapped in virtual space while chasing a mysterious virus. Also investigating these corruptions and viruses is an abrasive hacker named Yuuko Amasawa, who the others take to calling Isako. -- -- Can Coil discover the truths behind the mysterious viruses and corruption, and if they can, at what cost? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Maiden Japan -- TV - May 12, 2007 -- 123,188 8.09
Dennou Coil -- -- Madhouse -- 26 eps -- Original -- Adventure Comedy Drama Mystery Sci-Fi -- Dennou Coil Dennou Coil -- In the near future, augmented reality has become a key part of daily life. A gentle middle school girl named Yuuko "Yasako" Okonogi and her family have just moved to Daikoku City despite rumors of people disappearing. There, her grandmother, nicknamed "Mega-baa," runs a shop called Megasia that specializes in illegal tools which interact with parts of the virtual world. -- -- Mega-baa also hosts an unofficial detective agency called "Coil," a group of children around Yasako's age who find and handle corruption of the virtual world. Yasako gets involved with the group when Fumie Hashimoto, a playful member of Coil, helps rescue her cyberdog Densuke after getting trapped in virtual space while chasing a mysterious virus. Also investigating these corruptions and viruses is an abrasive hacker named Yuuko Amasawa, who the others take to calling Isako. -- -- Can Coil discover the truths behind the mysterious viruses and corruption, and if they can, at what cost? -- -- TV - May 12, 2007 -- 123,188 8.09
Garo: Vanishing Line -- -- MAPPA -- 24 eps -- Original -- Action Demons Supernatural Fantasy -- Garo: Vanishing Line Garo: Vanishing Line -- Corruption looms over the prosperous Russell City, where manifestations of negative emotions called Horrors cause chaos and mayhem. The Makai Order is the last bastion of hope against these unholy creatures. Using several small businesses as fronts, they deploy powerful Makai Knights and magical Makai Alchemists to combat the Horror threat. -- -- Within this secretive order, the highest rank of Golden Knight has been bestowed upon a large, powerful man named Sword, granting him use of the Garo armor and blade. He alone knows of a plot that threatens the entire Makai Order, with his only hint being the phrase “El Dorado." While fighting a Horror, he encounters Sophia "Sophie" Hennis, a teenage girl whose brother's disappearance years ago is also linked to the same phrase. The two agree to work together to uncover the truth behind "El Dorado" and the disappearance of Sophie's brother. -- -- 61,294 7.16
Garo: Vanishing Line -- -- MAPPA -- 24 eps -- Original -- Action Demons Supernatural Fantasy -- Garo: Vanishing Line Garo: Vanishing Line -- Corruption looms over the prosperous Russell City, where manifestations of negative emotions called Horrors cause chaos and mayhem. The Makai Order is the last bastion of hope against these unholy creatures. Using several small businesses as fronts, they deploy powerful Makai Knights and magical Makai Alchemists to combat the Horror threat. -- -- Within this secretive order, the highest rank of Golden Knight has been bestowed upon a large, powerful man named Sword, granting him use of the Garo armor and blade. He alone knows of a plot that threatens the entire Makai Order, with his only hint being the phrase “El Dorado." While fighting a Horror, he encounters Sophia "Sophie" Hennis, a teenage girl whose brother's disappearance years ago is also linked to the same phrase. The two agree to work together to uncover the truth behind "El Dorado" and the disappearance of Sophie's brother. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 61,294 7.16
Golden Boy -- -- APPP -- 6 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Comedy Ecchi -- Golden Boy Golden Boy -- Kintarou Ooe is a specialist in part-time work, riding all over the highways and byways of Japan on his trusty steed, the Mikazuki 5, and finding employment wherever he can. His adventures bring him knowledge and experience that can't be taught in a classroom, from political corruption to the delicacy of a young woman's heart. With nothing but the open road before him—not to mention the many beautiful women along the way—Kintarou pursues his spirit of education while attempting to hold down his various odd jobs, however undignified they may be. As he learns from each task he takes on, who knows what could happen? He might even be able to save the world one day. One thing is for sure—this will all be very educational! -- -- OVA - Oct 27, 1995 -- 264,015 8.02
JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 5: Ougon no Kaze -- -- David Production -- 39 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Shounen -- JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 5: Ougon no Kaze JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 5: Ougon no Kaze -- In the coastal city of Naples, corruption is teeming—the police blatantly conspire with outlaws, drugs run rampant around the youth, and the mafia governs the streets with an iron fist. However, various fateful encounters will soon occur. -- -- Enter Giorno Giovanna, a 15-year-old boy with an eccentric connection to the Joestar family, who makes a living out of part-time jobs and pickpocketing. Furthermore, he is gifted with the unexplained Stand ability to give and create life—growing plants from the ground and turning inanimate objects into live animals, an ability he has dubbed "Gold Experience." Fascinated by the might of local gangsters, Giorno has dreamed of rising up in their ranks and becoming a "Gang-Star," a feat made possible by his encounter with Bruno Buccellati, a member of the Passione gang with his own sense of justice. -- -- JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Ougon no Kaze follows the endeavors of Giorno after joining Bruno's team while working under Passione, fending off other gangsters and secretly plotting to overthrow their mysterious boss. -- -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- 592,526 8.60
Kenran Butou Sai: The Mars Daybreak -- -- Bones -- 26 eps -- Original -- Adventure Comedy Mecha Military Romance Sci-Fi Shounen -- Kenran Butou Sai: The Mars Daybreak Kenran Butou Sai: The Mars Daybreak -- Mars is now almost entirely covered in water. Humanity exists in large city-ships that float through the open seas. But life is hard for those who live on Mars—the economy is in bad shape, work is scarce, and food is expensive and highly prized. Gram and his friends try to do the best they can, but the work keeps drying up. Some have taken to a life of piracy to combat the corruption in the government; one such group is the pirates of the feared Ship of Aurora. And the Earth government, which rules Mars, has dispatched a new team of military pilots to combat them. In their specialized mecha called Round Bucklers, they must make the seas of Mars safe for humanity. Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, Gram finds himself on the run with the most notorious pirates on Mars. But here's the thing—he's starting to like them! -- -- (Source: Bandai Entertainment) -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment -- TV - Apr 1, 2004 -- 18,999 7.18
Kenran Butou Sai: The Mars Daybreak -- -- Bones -- 26 eps -- Original -- Adventure Comedy Mecha Military Romance Sci-Fi Shounen -- Kenran Butou Sai: The Mars Daybreak Kenran Butou Sai: The Mars Daybreak -- Mars is now almost entirely covered in water. Humanity exists in large city-ships that float through the open seas. But life is hard for those who live on Mars—the economy is in bad shape, work is scarce, and food is expensive and highly prized. Gram and his friends try to do the best they can, but the work keeps drying up. Some have taken to a life of piracy to combat the corruption in the government; one such group is the pirates of the feared Ship of Aurora. And the Earth government, which rules Mars, has dispatched a new team of military pilots to combat them. In their specialized mecha called Round Bucklers, they must make the seas of Mars safe for humanity. Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, Gram finds himself on the run with the most notorious pirates on Mars. But here's the thing—he's starting to like them! -- -- (Source: Bandai Entertainment) -- TV - Apr 1, 2004 -- 18,999 7.18
Koukaku Kidoutai -- -- Production I.G -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Mecha Police Psychological Sci-Fi Seinen -- Koukaku Kidoutai Koukaku Kidoutai -- In the year 2029, Niihama City has become a technologically advanced metropolis. Due to great improvements in cybernetics, its citizens are able to replace their limbs with robotic parts. The world is now more interconnected than ever before, and the city's Public Security Section 9 is responsible for combating corruption, terrorism, and other dangerous threats following this shift towards globalization. -- -- The strong-willed Major Motoko Kusanagi of Section 9 spearheads a case involving a mysterious hacker known only as the "Puppet Master," who leaves a trail of victims stripped of their memories. Like many in this futuristic world, the Puppet Master's body is almost entirely robotic, giving them incredible power. -- -- As Motoko and her subordinates follow the enigmatic criminal's trail, other parties—including Section 6—start to get involved, forcing her to confront the extremely complicated nature of the case. Pondering about various philosophical questions, such as her own life's meaning, Motoko soon realizes that the one who will provide these answers is none other than the Puppet Master themself. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Manga Entertainment -- Movie - Nov 18, 1995 -- 482,343 8.29
Madan no Ou to Vanadis -- -- Satelight -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Ecchi Fantasy Harem Romance -- Madan no Ou to Vanadis Madan no Ou to Vanadis -- In a fantasy version of Europe, a war between enemy countries is brewing. One of these countries, Zhcted, has its seven regions ruled by War Maidens, known as Vanadis. Equipped with powerful dragon-carved weapons, Eleonora "Elen" Viltaria, one of the Vanadis, launches an invasion against their neighboring rival country of Brune. Eventually, Tigrevurmud "Tigre" Vorn, a young archer and an earl for Brune's region of Alsace, has his entire army decimated at Elen's hands. In a strange twist of events, Elen spares Tigre, and gives him the order, "Become mine!" What could be the meaning behind this new alliance? -- -- Adapted from the light novel written by Tsukasa Kawaguchi, Madan no Ou to Vanadis is an epic adventure filled with complex war tactics and beautiful women. Trapped in a multinational conflict, Tigre and Elen are swept up in a war filled with dark secrets, conspiracies, and corruption. -- -- 274,637 7.16
Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Novel -- Action Military Sci-Fi Space Drama Mecha -- Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash -- —Do you know the Nejen? -- If you know it, then I'll take you there— -- -- The year is U.C. 0105. Twelve years have passed since the end of the second Neo Zeon War (Char's Rebellion). Even after "the Axis Shock," which seemed to indicate the future of humanity and the Universal Century, the world is still in a chaotic situation where intermittent military conflicts continue to break out. The Earth Federation government is more corrupt than ever, and its leadership has not only accelerated Earth's pollution, but also implemented an inhuman "Man Hunting" policy in which civilians are forcibly exiled to outer space. -- -- The anti-Federation government organization "Mafty," led by someone called "Mafty Navue Erin," has taken a stand against the corruption of the Earth Sphere. Mafty carries out fierce acts of terrorism, assassinating high officials of the Federation government one after another, but it gains a certain level of support from the populace who are growing more opposed to the Federation government. -- -- The person who calls himself "Mafty" and leads this organization is Hathaway Noa, the son of Bright Noa, an officer of the Earth Federation Forces who once participated in the One Year War. Hathaway himself joined the forces trying to stop Char’s Rebellion. With firsthand knowledge of the ideals and ideologies of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable, he has become a warrior following in their footsteps, and plans to clear a path forward through armed resistance. His destiny, however, is drastically altered as he encounters the Federation Forces officer Kenneth Sleg and a mysterious young beauty named Gigi Andalucia. -- -- (Source: Gundam.info) -- Movie - May 7, 2021 -- 6,999 N/A -- -- MD Geist II: Death Force -- -- Zero-G Room -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Military Sci-Fi Mecha -- MD Geist II: Death Force MD Geist II: Death Force -- After unleashing the Death Force machines all over the planet Jerra, Geist has kept himself busy by dismantling them one by one. But now he faces a formidable opponent in the form of Krauser, another M.D.S. (Most Dangerous Soldier) who has aligned himself as the only savior of mankind. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Central Park Media -- OVA - Mar 1, 1996 -- 6,817 5.03
Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Novel -- Action Military Sci-Fi Space Drama Mecha -- Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash -- —Do you know the Nejen? -- If you know it, then I'll take you there— -- -- The year is U.C. 0105. Twelve years have passed since the end of the second Neo Zeon War (Char's Rebellion). Even after "the Axis Shock," which seemed to indicate the future of humanity and the Universal Century, the world is still in a chaotic situation where intermittent military conflicts continue to break out. The Earth Federation government is more corrupt than ever, and its leadership has not only accelerated Earth's pollution, but also implemented an inhuman "Man Hunting" policy in which civilians are forcibly exiled to outer space. -- -- The anti-Federation government organization "Mafty," led by someone called "Mafty Navue Erin," has taken a stand against the corruption of the Earth Sphere. Mafty carries out fierce acts of terrorism, assassinating high officials of the Federation government one after another, but it gains a certain level of support from the populace who are growing more opposed to the Federation government. -- -- The person who calls himself "Mafty" and leads this organization is Hathaway Noa, the son of Bright Noa, an officer of the Earth Federation Forces who once participated in the One Year War. Hathaway himself joined the forces trying to stop Char’s Rebellion. With firsthand knowledge of the ideals and ideologies of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable, he has become a warrior following in their footsteps, and plans to clear a path forward through armed resistance. His destiny, however, is drastically altered as he encounters the Federation Forces officer Kenneth Sleg and a mysterious young beauty named Gigi Andalucia. -- -- (Source: Gundam.info) -- Movie - May 7, 2021 -- 6,999 N/A -- -- Vandread: Taidou-hen -- -- Gonzo -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Adventure Comedy Ecchi Mecha Sci-Fi Space -- Vandread: Taidou-hen Vandread: Taidou-hen -- Vandread The First Stage (season one) was immediately followed up by this TV special. This TV special, also known as Vandread Taidouhen Stage (The Movement Stage) was a recap of the first 13 episodes with additional footage. So, Vandread Taidouhen is not really a bridge between Vandread The First Stage and Vandread The Second Stage (season two). It was made to bring new viewers up to date as to what happened during the first season -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- OVA - Jan 21, 2001 -- 6,833 6.79
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuioku-hen -- -- Studio Deen -- 4 eps -- Manga -- Action Historical Drama Romance Martial Arts Samurai Shounen -- Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuioku-hen Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuioku-hen -- When mankind's savagery surpasses his fear of death, there is little hope for those who wish to live honest lives. Beneath a full moon, a young boy witnesses the murder of the bandits who had enslaved him, and is then christened with a new name by the man who rescued him. This boy is Shinta, now known as Kenshin Himura, and he is destined to become a swordsman. The softness of his heart does not befit the occupation, but his desire to protect the innocent is absolute. -- -- Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuioku-hen details the origins of the man who would bear the name of Hitokiri Battousai long before he swore his oath not to kill and before he earned his reputation as an assassin. The young man's heart is divided between justice and corruption, while the fate of a nation rests on his actions. -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Aniplex of America -- OVA - Feb 20, 1999 -- 233,140 8.72
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuioku-hen -- -- Studio Deen -- 4 eps -- Manga -- Action Historical Drama Romance Martial Arts Samurai Shounen -- Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuioku-hen Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuioku-hen -- When mankind's savagery surpasses his fear of death, there is little hope for those who wish to live honest lives. Beneath a full moon, a young boy witnesses the murder of the bandits who had enslaved him, and is then christened with a new name by the man who rescued him. This boy is Shinta, now known as Kenshin Himura, and he is destined to become a swordsman. The softness of his heart does not befit the occupation, but his desire to protect the innocent is absolute. -- -- Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuioku-hen details the origins of the man who would bear the name of Hitokiri Battousai long before he swore his oath not to kill and before he earned his reputation as an assassin. The young man's heart is divided between justice and corruption, while the fate of a nation rests on his actions. -- -- OVA - Feb 20, 1999 -- 233,140 8.72
Skull Man -- -- Bones -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Action Mystery Super Power -- Skull Man Skull Man -- Otomo City: where freedom and justice have atrophied to the bone; where conspiracy rules the day and death stalks the night... Death in the form of the Skull Man, a literal Grim Reaper whose skeletal grin presages grisly mayhem and murder, even to the monstrous mutants that haunt the city's underworlds! -- -- To investigate a bizarre slaying, journalist Minagami Hayato and photographer Kiriko Mamiya must stalk this ultimate predator, through a festering cadaver of a city where the corruption flows in rivers as deep and foul as the sins of the reigning elite, and unearth a secret so shocking that an entire city has been turned into a tomb to contain! In a nightmarish necropolis where nothing is as it seems, vengeance comes in the form of a living Death's-Head! -- -- (Source: Sentai Filmworks) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Apr 29, 2007 -- 26,006 6.65
Souten no Ken -- -- APPP -- 22 eps -- Manga -- Action Historical Martial Arts -- Souten no Ken Souten no Ken -- A mysterious man known as "the King of Death" roams the streets of pre-war Shanghai in this action-packed prequel to Fist of the North Star. -- -- Shanghai in the 1930s is a dangerous place. Foreign governments and Chinese factions have carved the city into different quarters, each with its own laws and government, and all rife with corruption. As the major powers vie for political control, the streets are left to local gangs. Life is cheap, and death is always near. -- -- In days past, one man walked these mean streets battling the forces of evil. He was known only as Yan Wang, "the King of Death." Few knew who he really was, but many knew that he was a master of Hokuto Shinken - Fist of the North Star - a lethal martial art. He disappeared years ago after dispatching the city's worst gangsters, and is now rumored to be in Japan. Various people have come to Japan in search of him, but who will find him first? -- TV - Oct 5, 2006 -- 9,764 6.69
Tokyo Ghoul:re 2nd Season -- -- Pierrot Plus, Studio Pierrot -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Drama Horror Mystery Psychological Seinen Supernatural -- Tokyo Ghoul:re 2nd Season Tokyo Ghoul:re 2nd Season -- After the conclusion of the Tsukiyama Family Extermination Operation, the members of the Commission of Counter Ghouls (CCG) have grown exponentially in power and continue to pursue their goal of exterminating every ghoul in Japan. Having resigned from Quinx Squad, the now seemingly emotionless Haise Sasaki begins taking on more and more tasks from the CCG with no regard to the difficulty. Despite his vacant expressions, Ken Kaneki's memories are resurfacing in Haise, leaving him in a state of internal conflict. Meanwhile, his new coldhearted behavior is affecting the people around him. Quinx Squad are left in shambles, having to cope with the death of one of their members without the support of their former mentor. -- -- Amidst this turmoil, both Quinx Squad and Haise must continue to fulfill their duties to the CCG, whether willingly or not. However, the presence of a mysterious group behind the CCG has been made known to Haise, and certain whispers of corruption have not gone unheard by the Quinx Squad as well. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 521,694 6.35
Tokyo Tribe 2 -- -- Madhouse -- 13 eps -- - -- Action Drama -- Tokyo Tribe 2 Tokyo Tribe 2 -- This is the other side of Tokyo, a Tokyo of a different color. There, various tribes are living. The SARU from Japan's Musashino, WU-RONZE of Bukuro, and HANDS of Shindyuku... Young men living in the city...the public of modern times builds a home out of corruption, these young men of the sordid side of life, a side called "reality," are depicted here! -- -- (Source: AnimeNfo) -- TV - Nov 12, 2006 -- 9,590 6.73
Uchuu Kaizoku Sara -- -- - -- 4 eps -- Visual novel -- Hentai Sci-Fi Supernatural -- Uchuu Kaizoku Sara Uchuu Kaizoku Sara -- Sarah is a most terrible pirate knight who dances her way around the galaxy empire that has been ravaged by war. In the galaxy ruled by a number of power-hungry rival warlords, an evil sadistic web is woven around Sarah, who is slowly guided down to her destruction. When the silver knight Sylia comes across the evil aristocrats who have run the gamut of corruption in the galaxy and the slave traders of darkness, the demonic twins, a desperate predicament is visited upon Sarah!! -- -- (Source: dlsite) -- OVA - Apr 26, 2008 -- 9,857 6.87
Young Black Jack -- -- Tezuka Productions -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Historical Drama Seinen -- Young Black Jack Young Black Jack -- In the 1960s, a gifted young medical student tries to make a name for himself. Kuroo Hazama is a reserved young man with unusual black-and-white hair, a body covered with scars, and a dark past. Despite only being a medical student, his surgical brilliance starts to attract attention after he completes a seemingly impossible operation. Together with the spirited and honest intern Maiko Okamoto and Yabu, a close friend with a troubled life, Hazama devotes himself to the world of medicine. -- -- However, his path to becoming a respectable surgeon is a difficult one as student riots, war, and corruption are consuming Japan. Hazama quickly finds himself caught up in a series of nefarious circumstances that challenge his integrity as a person and his path towards becoming a surgeon. Young Black Jack chronicles the story of a man capable of performing unthinkable feats of medicine, and the journey that leads him to become the legend known as Black Jack. -- -- 72,784 7.24
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