POWER QUOTES IV

quotations about power

Power quote

You gain power by pretending to be weak.

CHUCK PALAHNIUK

Choke

Tags: Chuck Palahniuk


The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

Power: A New Social Analysis

Tags: Bertrand Russell


Power revealed is power sacrificed.... The truly powerful exert their influence in ways unseen, unfelt. Some would say that a thing visible is a thing vulnerable.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO & CHUCK HOGAN

The Fall

Tags: Guillermo Del Toro


Where there is power, there is resistance.

MICHEL FOUCAULT

The History of Sexuality

Tags: Michel Foucault


Wealth was the short beer of existence. Power was champagne.

STEPHEN KING

Under the Dome

Tags: Stephen King


The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it.

ROSEANNE BARR

attributed, Women Know Everything!

Tags: Roseanne Barr


The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratical council, an oligarchical junto, and a single emperor. Equally arbitrary, cruel, bloody, and in every respect diabolical.

JOHN ADAMS

letter to Thomas Jefferson, November 13, 1815

Tags: John Adams


No one man should have all that power.

KANYE O. WEST

"Power"


Men in power are always interested in greater power.

DAN BROWN

The Lost Symbol

Tags: Dan Brown


So long as a man's power, that is, his capacity to realize what he has in mind, is bound to the goal, to the work, to the calling, it is, considered in itself, neither good nor evil, it is only a suitable or unsuitable instrument. But as soon as this bond with the goal is broken off or loosened, and the man ceases to think of power as the capacity to do something, but thinks of it as a possession, that is, thinks of power in itself, then his power, being cut off and self-satisfied, is evil; it is power withdrawn from responsibility, power which betrays the spirit, power in itself.

MARTIN BUBER

Tags: Martin Buber


That's what we all want, isn't it? Power without price.

KELLEY ARMSTRONG

The Summoning


Power makes you a monarch, and all the fancy robes in the world won't do the job without it.

LAURELL K. HAMILTON

Narcissus in Chains

Tags: Laurell K. Hamilton


Power needs ideas and legitimation the way a conventional bank needs investment policies and the confidence of its depositors. Rulers are always few in number and could never obtain compliance if each command were purely random and had to be backed by force sufficient to compel obedience. Likewise, banks rely on the confidence of their depositors, which allows them to retain only a small fraction of their assets in liquid funds in order to meet the expected rate of withdrawal by depositors. All is well as long as depositors believe that the bank will cash their checks on demand, and part of that trust depends on a vague knowledge about the bank's adherence to certain accepted business standards. In the nation-state, all is well as long as citizens believe that the government knows what it is about, has the ability to deliver on some of its promises, and has sufficient force to back up its commands when necessary.... Legitimation achieves what power alone cannot, for it establishes the belief in the rightness of rule which, as long as it endures, precludes massive challenges.

REINHARD BENDIX

Kings or People

Tags: Reinhard Bendix


Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

MARGARET THATCHER

U. S. News & World Report, vol. 104

Tags: Margaret Thatcher


Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!

FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

Crime and Punishment

Tags: Fyodor Dostoevsky


Power and courtly influence form an intoxicating draught even when raised to the lips of an ascetic and a saint.

SIR J. STEPHEN

attributed, Day's Collacon


Extensive powers not exercised as far as was necessary have, I believe, scarcely ever failed to ruin the possessor.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

letter to President Reed, July 4, 1780

Tags: George Washington


Now there is a source of future weakness in the idea of power assumed only for a term limited and defined. A Parliament near its end becomes helpless and unable to act. When the period fixed, or supposed to be fixed, is approaching, power will slip away. Disappointed people, men impatient of having to wait, hungry, jealous, reluctant supporters, will gravitate in other directions, will promote rivalry, will speed the parting chief, will magnify the rising sun.

LORD ACTON

letter to Mary Gladstone, June 9, 1880

Tags: Lord Acton


The pursuit of knowledge is, I think, mainly actuated by love of power. And so are all advances in scientific technique.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

What Desires Are Politically Important?

Tags: Bertrand Russell


Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it.

TOBIAS WOLFF

This Boy's Life

Tags: Tobias Wolff