Power Quotes
 
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More Power Quotes
Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.
bruce lee— Striking Thoughts (2000, p. 46)
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln
I believe there's an inner power that makes winners or losers. And the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their hearts.
Sylvester Stallone
What is called music today is all too often only a disguise for the monologue of power. However, and this is the supreme irony of it all, never before have musicians tried so hard to communicate with their audience, and never before has that communication been so deceiving. Music now seems hardly more than a somewhat clumsy excuse for the self-glorification of musicians and the growth of a new industrial sector.
Jacques Attali— As quoted in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music
WITH GREAT POWER THERE MUST ALSO COME—GREAT RESPONSIBILITY!
stan lee— Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) – The first Spider-Man story.
— In later stories and adaptations, including the 2002 movie, this has appeared as "With great power comes great responsibility."
— The saying pre-dates Amazing Fantasy. A UK Member of Parliament implied in 1817 that a variant of it was already a cliché (Thomas C. Hansard, ed (1817). Parliamentary Debates. p. 1227. Retrieved on October 10, 2013. "He should, however, beg leave to remind the conductors of the press of their duty to apply to themselves a maxim which they never neglected to urge on the consideration of government—'that the possession of great power necessarily implies great responsibility.'" The editor is quoting William Lamb (pp. 1125–1229)). The sentiment is also found in Luke 12:48: "from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (NIV).
I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.
Martin Luther King Jr.— As quoted in The Civil Sphere (2006) by Jeffrey C. Alexander, p. 388
Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it... one must have the courage to dare.
fyodor dostoevsky— Crime and Punishment (1866), part 5, chapter 4 (translated by David Magarshak).
Some Blockett-type employees actually believe that they have received a genuine promotion; others recognize the truth. But the main function of a pseudo-promotion is to deceive people outside the hierarchy. When this is achieved, the maneuver is counted a success.
Laurence J. Peter— The Peter Principle (1969, pg. 38): This phenomenon is called by Peter "percussive sublimation", or "being kicked upstairs".
You must build your House of Parliament on the river: so... that the populace cannot exact their demands by sitting down round you.
1st duke of wellington— As quoted in Words on Wellington (1889), by Sir William Fraser, p. 163.
All power corrupts, absolute power is even more fun.
— Simon Travaglia, The Operator From Hell Part 2 (1997)
The awful shadow of some unseen Power Floats, tho' unseen, amongst us.
Percy Bysshe Shelley— Percy Bysshe Shelley, Hymn to Intellectual Beauty
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.
rabindranath tagore— Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali, 31
There is no power on earth that can undo Pakistan.
muhammad ali jinnah— Speech at a rally at the University Stadium, Lahore (30 October 1947)
Odin, thou whirlwind, what a threat is this Thou threatenest what transcends thy might, even thine, For of all powers the mightiest far art thou, Lord over men on earth, and Gods in Heaven; Yet even from thee thyself hath been withheld One thing to undo what thou thyself hast ruled.
Matthew Arnold— Matthew Arnold, Balder Dead, The Funeral
Black power.
stokely carmichael— US black civil rights slogan coined by Stokely Carmichael (1966)
Power tends to corrupt , and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority : still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
— Lord Acton, in a letter to Mandell Creighton (5 April 1887), published in Historical Essays and Studies (1907)
Power always sincerely, conscientiously, de très bon foi, believes itself right. Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak.
— John Adams in a letter to Thomas Jefferson (2 February 1816)
If you want to discover just what there is in a man — give him power.
— Francis Trevelyan Miller (1910), Portrait Life of Lincoln: Life of Abraham Lincoln, the Greatest American
The problem with power is that people pay attention to it, and it's very easy to get beside yourself and use it in the wrong way.
— Lyda Green, President, Alaska State Senate
Power corrupts, PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
— Ed Tufte, Wired, issue 11:09 (September 2003)
For what can power give more than food and drink, To live at ease, and not be bound to think?
john dryden— John Dryden, Medal, line 235
I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good.
Socrates
You must never underestimate the power of the eyebrow.
Jack Black— American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer
