“Pour encourager les autres” (To encourage the others) — Voltaire commenting on the execution of British Admiral John Byng after he failed to hold Minorca.
“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.”
Note: "superadd" seems like a word created by a millennial, but it was used at least as early as 1500
Your suspicions are valid, as I wouldn’t put anything past Putin, a fragile man with an even more fragile ego, thank you Pitt
As Lord Acton said (in full):
“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.”
Note: "superadd" seems like a word created by a millennial, but it was used at least as early as 1500
You are welcome, Stephanie