Quotes Library

May 28, 2025

A friend in power is a friend lost.

Henry Adams (1838–1918), American historian, The Education of Henry Adams (1907), Seldes, p.4

How many friends have you lost in the course of your political career? How many have you made? How many of those do you think will remain friends after you leave office?

Substitute spouse, in-law, etc. for friend and it still holds true. Power makes demands on people different from what they have ever experienced before.


More Quotes

November 2, 2025
When we start deceiving ourselves into thinking not that we want something or need something, not that it is a pragmatic necessity
October 30, 2025
Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.
December 23, 2025
Few revolutionists would be such if they were heirs to a baronetcy.
Page 38 of 124