Carlos Fuentes on Government Ethics

The great Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes' 2006 novel, The Eagle's Throne, translated from the Spanish by Kristina Cordero, is one of the best political novels I've ever read. I highly recommend it. The novel also happens to contain some great quotes that touch on government ethics. The government may be Mexico's, and national rather than local, but that won't get in the way of enjoying these wonderful quotations, which you'll find by clicking on the post title or book cover.

"I know that my words stroke the moral ego of our head of state, who just by listening to me feels 'ethical' and considers his duty to principles done, which allows him to follow the advice of [his Chief of Staff], the opposite of mine, with a clear conscience."

"Both sides are honest only when they're the opposition. The minute they take over the government, they soon learn the saying … 'He who does not live off the public purse lives in error.'"

Of the Housing Secretary: "Efrén Iturbide is the secretary of state for the housing of Efrén Iturbide. ... He's built but one house: his own."

"A multitude of local powers, Mr. President, acting with corrupt, willful impunity. ... Certain areas of Mexican reality are so dark that only people with dirty hands can effectively control them. At the same time, you've gone to great pains to promote honest government officials who can give your regime a pretty public face."

"For one's friends, justice and grace. For one's enemies, the law."

"Malicious or ingenuous, Machiavellian or utopian, the powerful man always thinks he's right, and the person who opposes him is either a traitor, or at least dispensable."

"The good thing about realpolitik is that you can do an about-face and still keep your basic principles intact."

"[The President] is even willing to tolerate corruption as long as it's safe — that is, predictable and reliable. … He's got that theory of his about corruption as a lubricant."

"There's no better training for politics than adultery. Little secrets, little secrets."

"Let's suppose that Mr. X is corrupt and he's caught in the act. Is it wise to punish him for it? What should come first, justice or convenience? A political system, whatever it is, must create its own taboos to protect the privileged and, more importantly, to protect society itself. … Sometimes the sins of the state must be either tolerated or disguised, not so much in order to protect the state as to protect society from its own diabolical powers."

"When you do things openly you don't arouse suspicion. It's secrecy that wakes up the wolves."

"In order to preserve customs, we must break laws."

"A lie is true because it has meaning. Things that have no meaning cannot even be false.For that reason, the meaning of the truth is only one part of what the truth conceals beneath its surface. Lies are one half truth. Truth is one half lies."

"In Mexico natural disasters get turned into public profits."

"You firmly believe that the perfect society is one with no government, no laws, no punishment. What will it have, then? I ask you. Managers, obligations, and corrections, you respond cleverly."

A former president's advice: "What you need is to surround yourself with opportunists because you can control the corrupt. It's the pure man who's the problem, he's the one who just gets in your way. … Live at peace in the center of the map and let the corruption brokers cultivate the land. … Don't destroy the system. You're part of it. Good or bad, it's the only one we've got. What are you going to replace it with? You can't just invent something overnight. Be satisfied with making an example of a few scapegoats at the beginning of your term. Make a moral statement early on and then you can rest."

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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