"A major power can afford a military debacle only when it looks like a political victory." ― Friedrich Durrenmatt Topic(s): Power More From Friedrich Durrenmatt "Whoever is content with the world, and who profits from its lack of justice, does not want to change it." "We do not consider patriotism desirable if it contradicts civilized behavior." "News reports don’t change the world. Only facts change it, and those have already happened when we get the news." More In Power "People have the power to redeem the work of fools."― Patti Smith "We’re taught Lord Acton’s axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I don’t believe it’s always true any more. Power doesn’t always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals."― Robert Caro "Clairvoyant, n.: A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that which is invisible to her patron – namely, that he is a blockhead."― Ambrose Bierce