It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of inadequacy and impotence. We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression. St. Vincent De Paul cautioned his disciples to deport themselves so that the poor “will forgive them the bread you give them.”

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman

The Ordeal of Change, ch. 2 “The Awakening of Asia” (1963)

This passage uses phrases from his earlier work The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)