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

September 13, 2025
[Of the fictional British cabinet minister Jim Hacker] Years of political training and experience had taught him to use twenty words where one would do
May 8, 2025
Diplomacy is about surviving till the next century—politics is about surviving till Friday afternoon.
March 31, 2025
We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
Page 72 of 124