Edward Gibbon's quote about freedom

“Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.”

— Edward Gibbon

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Source and context of this Quote :

The great British historian Edward Gibbon, writing about the fall of the Roman Empire, in his ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ recognized the rather perverse connexion between corruption and liberty - the notion that freedom allows bribery. He called corruption "the infallible symptom of constitutional liberty." Corruption is something mankind has faced for centuries. We have seen it undermine governments and entire societies. It is a phenomenon that percolates down. If the upper most reaches of government are corrupt, all aspects of the bureaucracy, from the police to school teachers can be tainted.