Power quotes
1.5K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside power — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"Any power must be an enemy of mankind which enslaves the individual by power and by force, whether it arises under the Fascist or the Communist flag. All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded to the individual."
"You take my life when you do take the means whereby I live"
"There must be, not a balance of power, but a community of power; not organized rivalries, but an organized peace."
"It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well."
"There's enough on this planet for everyone's needs but not for everyone's greed."
"Today the primary threat to the liberties of the American people comes not from communism, foreign tyrants or dictators. It comes from the tendency on our own shores to centralize power, to trust bureaucracies rather than people."
"But the relationship of morality and power is a very subtle one. Because ultimately power without morality is no longer power."
"When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses."
"One should try to locate power at the extreme of its exercise, where it is always less legal in character."
"Victory; a matter of staying power."
"Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it."
"What power is higher than the power of purity?"
"Prana is the driving power of the world, and can be seen in every manifestation of life."
"Men seldom rise from low condition to high rank without employing either force or fraud, unless that rank should be attained either by gift or inheritance."
"Grammar is a piano I play by ear. All I know about grammar is its power."
"Capitalism works better from every perspective when the economic decision makers are forced to share power with those who will be affected by those decisions."
"What is genius but the power of expressing a new individuality?"
"All persons possessing any portion of power ought to be strongly and awfully impressed with an idea that they act in trust, and that they are to account for their conduct in that trust to the one great Master, Author, and Founder of society."
"With the rise of America, the global balance of power shifted away from the old European powers."
"Focusing is about saying No."
