"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt." ~ Samuel Adams
"Now, mark my words. So long as we are a young and virtuous people, this instrument will bind us together in mutual interests, mutual welfare, and mutual happiness. But when we become old and corrupt, it will bind no longer." ~ Alexander Hamilton
"The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government." ~ Tacitus
"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators." ~ P. J. O'Rourke
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." ~ Lord Acton
"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." ~ Benjamin Franklin
"Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals." ~ Samuel Adams
"Every civilization carries the seeds of its own destruction, and the same cycle shows in them all. The Republic is born, flourishes, decays into plutocracy, and is captured by the shoemaker whom the mercenaries and millionaires make into a king. The people invent their oppressors, and the oppressors serve the function for which they are invented." ~ Mark Twain