"Corruption does not so much rot the masses: it poisons Congress. Credit-Mobilier and money rings are not housed under thatched roofs: they flaunt at the Capitol. As usual in chemistry, the scum floats uppermost."

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More by Wendell Phillips

“Revolutions never go backward.”

“Aristocracy is always cruel.”

“aces love to be judged in two ways—by the great men they produce, and by the average merit of the mass of the race.”

“The agitator must stand outside of organizations, with no bread to earn, no candidate to elect, no party to save, no object but truth — to tear a question open and riddle it with light.”

“What the Puritans gave the world was not thought, but action.”

“The best use of laws is to teach men to trample bad laws under their feet.”

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