If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?

Meaning of the quote

The quote suggests that having too much power can make someone act in corrupt ways. But the opposite, having no power at all, could also have an effect - it might make someone very pure and good. The idea is that both extremes, too much power or too little power, can change how a person behaves.

About Harry Shearer

Harry Shearer is a multi-talented American entertainer who has had an impressive career as an actor, comedian, musician, radio host, writer, and producer. He has been a part of famous projects like The Simpsons, This Is Spinal Tap, and Le Show, and has won awards for his work. Shearer has also been an artist in residence at Loyola University in New Orleans.

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More quotes from Harry Shearer

Democrats always like to brag that their guys are smarter than the opponents and Republicans always like to brag that their guys are more moral than the opponents. But if you’re looking for morals in politics you’re looking for bananas in the cheese department.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

Well Washington DC what are you going to do. They think the capitol steps are the state of the art in comedy. You try to drag them into the 20th century let alone the 21st and they refuse to come with you.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

We’re very pleased to be on a show which is known and loved around the world.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

I went to graduate school at Harvard for one year I worked in the state legislature in Sacramento for one year. I taught school in Compton for two years.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

I’m at a little loss in terms of my Leave It To Beaver expertise, since I never watched an episode of the show – so the cast in the pilot could have been Martians or they could have been the regular cast for all I know.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

I didn’t have a lot of independent film connections. It really took until the digital film revolution came along that I realized that I could do it myself.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

You know, radio was a really easy way to do the shows. You’d come in, do a read-through, there’d be a few rehearsals, then you’d come the night of the show and do it in front of the audience and then go home.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

The last president we had was the smartest guy anyone could remember and he did the dumbest thing anyone has ever seen in the White House so go figure.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

When it moved to Friday night it disappeared, when they find another show that can do what The Simpsons does, they will be delighted to do cancel The Simpsons.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

I am one of those people who thrive on deadlines, nothing brings on inspiration more readily than desperation.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

Well I directed a few feature length things for HBO in the late eighties.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

When I did that first movie, it was the introduction to all the set-up time and the waiting time that’s endemic in motion pictures, and the repetition.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

In the year and a half I was on SNL, I never saw anybody ad lib anything. For a very good reason – the director cut according to the script. So, if you ad libbed, you’d be off mike and off camera.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

You have to do real acting, not just do a voice.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

That was Embassy Pictures, they went bankrupt shortly after This is Spinal Tap came out.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

I was a Political Science major.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

My parents didn’t want me to be a regular in a series. I was a working actor from time to time but they thought was a little too much being a star of a series. They wanted me to have a slightly more normal childhood.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)

Bush is a frat boy in the White House but we’ve had that before. But I wasn’t one of those people that was threatening to leave the country. By the way none of those people have left the country. Alec Baldwin is still here.

Harry Shearer

American actor (born 1943)