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Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutelyMeaningLiteral meaning. Origin
Another English politician with no shortage of names - William Pitt, the Elder, The Earl of Chatham and British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778, is sometimes wrongly attributed as the source. He did say something similar, in a speech to the UK House of Lords in 1770:
Absolute monarchies are those in which all power is given to, or as is more often the case, taken by, the monarch. Acton was referring to these forms of government when he made his famous remark. Examples of absolute power corrupting are Roman emperors (who declared themselves gods) and Napoleon Bonaparte (who declared himself an emperor). See also: the List of Proverbs. See also: Quotations. Phrasefinder is also on
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This arose as a quotation by John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902). The historian and moralist, who was otherwise known simply as Lord Acton, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887:
