VLVL2 (10) power corrupts

[Otto]

"When power corrupts, it keeps a log of its progress, written into that most
sensitive memory device, the human face. Who could withstand the light? What
viewer could believe in the war, the system, the countless lies about
American freedom, looking into these mug shots of the bought and sold?"
(195.6-11)

Power Corrupts The Best
by Michael Bakunin (1867)

"Nothing is more dangerous for man's private morality than the habit of
command. The best man, the most intelligent, disinterested, generous, pure,
will infallibly and always be spoiled at this trade. Two sentiments inherent
in power never fail to produce this demoralisation; they are: contempt for
the masses and the overestimation of one's own merits."
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bakunin/bakuninpower.html