Who originally said “Power doesn’t corrupt; it reveals” and what is the exact wording?

1. The popular claim and its provenance problem

Many modern quote sites and social media attribute “Power doesn’t corrupt; it reveals” to Robert Caro, the prize-winning biographer of Lyndon Johnson, but the search results provided do not include a primary source — a book page or interview — in which Caro himself is shown using that exact sentence ^{[5] [6]}. Quote aggregators like Goodreads and BrainyQuote list the line under Caro’s name, which spreads the attribution, but those sites do not substitute for a verifiable primary citation ^{[5] [6]}. Available sources do not mention a definitive original publication or speech where Caro wrote or said the exact wording.

2. The older, documented aphorism: Lord Acton

The authoritative historical source in the supplied results is John Dalberg‑Acton, 1st Baron Acton, who in an 1887 letter wrote “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” a sentence documented in several collections and archives ^{[1] [2]}. That Acton formulation is the dominant provenance for modern discussions of power’s moral effects and is explicitly cited in library and institute archives provided here ^{[1] [2]}.

3. Alternative phrasings in modern discourse

Writers and commentators have reformulated Acton’s idea in ways that reverse or qualify it: William Gaddis is cited as saying “Power doesn't corrupt people, people corrupt power,” which flips the causal focus ^[3]. Orrin Woodward appears quoted as “Absolute power doesn't corrupt, but rather, reveals character,” a near-synonym of the Caro-attributed line ^[4]. These variants demonstrate a trend in contemporary thought to view power as exposing pre-existing character rather than creating corruption anew ^{[3] [4]}.

4. Why attribution matters — and why confusion spreads

Attribution confusion grows when reputable modern voices (biographers, journalists) summarize or paraphrase longer arguments into concise axioms; those concise aphorisms then circulate on quote sites without exact sourcing ^{[5] [6]}. BrainyQuote and Goodreads amplify these short forms but often lack the bibliographic rigor to confirm first appearances, which leads to persistent but possibly unsupported attributions ^{[5] [6]}.

5. What the supplied evidence supports — and what it doesn’t

The supplied sources clearly support that Acton authored the well-documented line about power corrupting absolutely in 1887 ^{[1] [2]}. The sources also show multiple modern alternative formulations exist and are popularly attributed to figures like Robert Caro, William Gaddis, and Orrin Woodward ^{[5] [3] [4]}. The supplied results do not include a primary-source citation showing Robert Caro personally authored the exact sentence “Power doesn’t corrupt; it reveals,” so that specific original attribution is unconfirmed in the material provided ^{[5] [6]}.

6. How to verify further (next steps for the reader)

To establish a definitive origin for the exact wording, consult primary sources: search Caro’s published books, interviews and lectures for the exact phrase; check digitized archives of his speeches; and seek the earliest appearance of the precise wording in print or recorded media. The current reporting does not cite such primary-material evidence for Caro’s authorship ^{[5] [6] [1]}.

7. Bottom line — a cautious conclusion

The strong, documented historical maxim remains Acton’s: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” ^{[1] [2]}. Modern aphorisms reframing corruption as revelation are widespread and often linked to contemporary figures like Robert Caro, but primary-source support for the exact Caro wording is not present in the supplied results ^{[5] [6]}. Readers should treat the Caro attribution as plausible but unverified on the basis of the provided material.