"No emperor has the power to dictate to the heart."
Power quotes
Power
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Power quotes (page 7 of 75)
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"Those who have been intoxicated with power... can never willingly abandon it."
"Margaret Thatcher has shown that there is power and dignity to be won by defying the status quo and the majority rather than by adapting to them. If the British left, which she froze into immobility like Medusa, could bring itself to learn from this, then we might not have to look upon her like again."
"The possession of power inevitably spoils the free use of reason."
"Power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert. Power is never the property of an individual; it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so long as the group keeps together. When we say of somebody that he is 'in power' we actually refer to his being empowered by a certain number of people to act in their name. The moment the group, from which the power originated to begin with ... disappears, 'his power' also vanishes."
"The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind."
"When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."
"We [the Government] are here not as masters but as servants, we are not here to glory in power, but to attest our loyalty to the commands and restrictions laid down by our sovereign, the people of the United States, in whose name and by whose will we exercise our brief authority."
"Not being tense but ready. Not thinking but not dreaming. Not being set but flexible. Liberation from the uneasy sense of confinement. It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come."
"In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme."
"No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it.... There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that will keep us safe under every form of government."
"I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies."
"Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control."
"Great men are never cruel without necessity."
"Power: The ability to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they would choose not to, because of your position or your might."
"The problem of power is how to achieve its responsible use rather than its irresponsible and indulgent use; of how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public."
"Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets."
"Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible."
"We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for all mankind."
"For where the instrument of intelligence is added to brute power and evil will, mankind is powerless in its own defense."