Some years back, all the best people came to bipartisan agreement that the most shameful thing a person could do with power was not to use it.
Since then everybody who wants to get ahead in Washington has made a great show of being a fierce fellow when left alone in the room with a little power. There seems to be a fear that if there is somebody around so low that it is all right to dump the garbage on him, and you hesitate, everybody will call you a sissy, and you will never be invited to lunch with Professor Kissinger.
Strange values result. Great killers are esteemed for good citizenship. "Not afraid to use power," people say of them.


"Cultivated Killing" (p.33) - So This Is Depravity (1980)

Russell Baker Quotes

Some years back, all the best people came to bipartisan agreement that the most shameful thing a person could do with power was not to use it. Since...

Some years back, all the best people came to bipartisan agreement that the most shameful thing a person could do with power was not to use it. Since...

Some years back, all the best people came to bipartisan agreement that the most shameful thing a person could do with power was not to use it. Since...

Some years back, all the best people came to bipartisan agreement that the most shameful thing a person could do with power was not to use it. Since...