Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy.
Interpretation
Corruption reveals the flaws and vulnerabilities in democracy, prompting a reassessment of our faith in it.
This quote suggests that corruption serves a purpose in democracy by highlighting its weaknesses. When faced with corrupt practices, citizens are often motivated to address these issues, ultimately restoring their trust in democratic systems. It implies that acknowledging corruption can lead to a stronger and more resilient faith in democratic principles.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of accountability in government, one might say, 'As Peter Ustinov noted, corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy.'
Marriage is like a three-speed gearbox - affection, friendship, love. It is not advisable to crash your gears and go right through to love straightaway. You need to ease your way through. The basis of love is respect, and that needs to be learned from affection and friendship.
I'm convinced there's a small room in the attic of the Foreign Office where future diplomats are taught to stammer.
I imagine hell like this: Italian punctuality, German humour and English wine.
Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth.
Because they have been in love they have survived everything that life could throw at them, even their own failures.
World Government is not only possible, it is inevitable; and when it comes, it will appeal to patriotism in its truest sense,in its only sense, the patriotism of humans who love their national heritages so deeply that they wish to preserve them in safety for the common good.
Where aspirations outstrip opportunities, law-abiding society becomes the victim. Attitudes of contempt toward the law are forged in this crucible and form the inner core of the beliefs of organized adult crime.
To be free is not to have the power to do anything you like; it is to be able to surpass the given toward an open future.
We may sing our hymns and psalms, and offer prayers, but they will be an abomination to God, unless we are willing to be thoroughly straightforward in our daily life.
When we get up in the morning, what we put on is very much a reflection of how we see the world and how we want it to see us.
I hate American simplicity. I glory in the piling up of complications of every sort. If I could pronounce the name James in any different or more elaborate way I should be in favor of doing it.
Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.