There's some controversy as to who ought be credited with these quotations.   Regardless of who first put the words together they've been ringing in my ears as I try to make sense of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption's hearings.

It's said that "power corrupts," but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable.

The Postman (1985), p. 267 Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950)

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

Values of the Wise : Humanity's Highest Aspirations (2004) by Jason Merchey, p. 120

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Frank Herbert in Chapterhouse: Dune (1985).

I am writing a Chapter about this issue.   I'd love your thoughts.

Michael