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In two words: Pride kills.
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Exactly. Thus the lesson of almost all of Tolkien's works:
humility.
It's not the power that corrupts. Gandalf had tremendous power, and remained uncorrupted, simply because he was humble. He recognized the fact that even with his immense power, he faced trials and challenges that he might not have been able to overcome. He had the humility to allow such a one as Denethor to treat him as an inferior, even though he was much Denethor's superior in wisdom alone, to say the least.
Those who are wise may be corrupted, those who are simple may be corrupted, those who are powerful may be corrupted, those who are weak may be corrupted. We have examples of all of these. Both of Elenrod's models of evil stem from the same source: overriding pride, and the desire to elevate oneself. All of the villains in Tolkien's works have become evil through the lust for honor and glory not due to them. Morgoth wanted to be as great as Ilúvatar, Sauron wanted to be as great as Morgoth, even Gollum desired greatness (his speech about being "The Gollum", for example). Those who remained good and righteous are those who remained humble- Sam, Merry, Aragorn, etc. They recognized that their abilities should be used for the good of others, not to further themselves, and they did not consider themselves to be any better than they were, if that.
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Although, one does wonder, how did [Gandalf] resist the temptation to turn to Evil?
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The answer is quite simple: humility.