"Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey."
Power quotes
Power
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Power quotes (page 17 of 75)
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"But to me nothing - the negative, the empty - is exceedingly powerful."
"Drill and uniforms impose an architecture on the crowd. An army's beautiful. But that's not all; it panders to lower instincts than the aesthetic. The spectacle of human beings reduced to automatism satisfies the lust for power. Looking at mechanized slaves, one fancies oneself a master."
"The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged."
"Every man builds his world in his own image; he has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice. If he abdicates his power, he abdicates the status of man, and the grinding chaos of the irrational is what he achieves as his sphere of existence—by his own choice."
"Th abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power."
"The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself."
"I thought that my invincible power would hold the world captive, leaving me in a freedom undisturbed. Thus night and day I worked at the chain with huge fires and cruel hard strokes. When at last the work was done and the links were complete and unbreakable, I found that it held me in its grip."
"Let us show, not merely in great crises, but in every day of life, qualities of practical intelligence, of hardihood and endurance, and above all, the power of devotion to a lofty ideal."
"If you command wisely, you'll be obeyed cheerfully."
"The same power is in every man, the one manifesting more, the other less; the same potentiality is in everyone."
"Speeches pass away, but acts remain."
"Governments keep their promises only when they are forced, or when it is to their advantage to do so."
"If fifty thousand men were to die for the good of the State, I certainly would weep for them, but political necessity comes before everything else."
"Do not talk to me of goodness, of abstract justice, of nature law. Necessity is the highest law, public welfare is the highest justice."
"A Constitution should be short and obscure."
"High politic is only common sense applied to great things."
"Political power means the capacity to regulate national life through national representatives."
"Cultivate these, then, for they are wholly within your power: sincerity and dignity; industriousness; and sobriety. Avoid grumbling, be frugal, considerate, and frank; be temperate in manner and speech; carry yourself with authority."
"To come under siege was the inevitable fate of power."