Power quotations

Lamont Norman 1942

We give the impression of being in office but not in power.

Lessing Doris

Particularly Cats

What is charm then? The free giving of a grace, the spending of something given by nature in her role of spendthrift ... something extra, superfluous, unnecessary, essentially a power thrown away.

Lincoln Abraham 1809-1865

We hold the power and bear the responsibility.

Lippmann Walter 1899-1974

The first principle of a civilized state is that the power is legitimate only it is under contract.

Locke John 1632-1704

Second Treatise of Civil Government

Man ... hath by nature a power ... to preserve his property - that is, his life, liberty, and estate - against the injuries and attempts of other men.

Locke John 1632-1704

Second Treatise of Civil Government

This power to act according to discretion for the public good, without the prescription of the law, and somethimes even against, it is that which is called prerogative.

Lowell James Russell 1819-1891

Talent is that which is in a man's power; genius is that in whose power a man is.

McCormick Anne O'Hare d.1954

Today the real test of power is not capacity to make war but capacity to prevent it.

Meredith George 1828-1909

Diana of the Crossways

A witty woman is a treasure; a witty beauty is a power.

Mill John Stuart 1806-1873

On Liberty

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercesed over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to pevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.

Milton John 1608-1674

Samson Agonistes

Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power,
After offence returning, to regain
Love once possessed.

Mottoes and Slogans

(slogan, Black Panther movement)

Power to the people.

Needham Richard J.

Power is a drug on which the politicians are hooked. They buy it from the voters, using the voters' own money.

Newman Peter

Power tends to connect; absolute power connects absolutely.

Nicolson Sir Harold 1886-1968

Public Faces

Ponderous and uncertain is that relation between pressure and resistance which constitutes the balance of power. The arch of peace is morticed by no iron tendons ... One night a handful of dust will patter from the vaulting: the bats will squeak and wheel in sudden panic: the bats will squeak and wheel in sudden panic: nor can the fragile fingers of man then stay the rush and rumble of destruction.

Nietzsche Friedrich 1844-1900

In architecture the pride of man, his triumph over gravitation, his will to power, assume a visible form. Architecture is a sort of oratory of power by means of forms.

Northcliffe Lord 1865-1922

The power of the press is very great, but not so great as the power of suppress.

Orwell George 1903-1950

Liberal - a power worshipper without power.

Orwell George 1903-1950

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.

Peacock Thomas Love 1785-1866

‘The Misfortunes of Elphin'

Not drunk is he who from the floor
Can rise alone and still drink more;
But drunk is he, who prostrate lies,
Without the power to drink or rise.

Pitt William (The Elder) 1708-1778

Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.

Popper Sir Karl 1902-1994

The Open Society and its Enemies

There is no history of mankind, there are only many histories of all kinds of aspects of human life. And one of these is the history of political power. This is elevated into the history of the world.

Pound Ezra 1885-1972

Properly we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.

Rossiter Clinton

The final greatness of the presidency lies in the truth that it is not just an office of incredible power but a breeding ground of indestructible myth.

Rotstein Abraham

Power is the recognition of necessity.

Rutherford Lord 1871-1937

(in 1937)

The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.

Singer Isaac Bashevis 1904-1991

Writing has power, but its power has no vector. Writers can stir the mind, but they can't direct it. Time changes things, God changes things, the dictators change things, but writers can't change anything.

Snow C. P. 1905-1980

Homecomings

The official world, the corridors of power.

Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr

The First Circle

When you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power - he's free again.

Spender Sir Stephen 1909-1995

I must have love enough to run a factory on,
Or give a city power, or drive a train.

Starr Roger

Money is the most egalitarian force in society. It confers power on whoever holds it.

Swift Jonathan 1667-1745

Thoughts on Various Subjects

Few are qualified to shine in company; but it is in most men's power to be agreeable.

Szasz Thomas

The Second Sin

Traditionally, sex has been a very private, secretive activity. Herein perhaps lies its powerful force for uniting people in a strong bond. As we make sex less secretive, we may rob it of its power to hold men and women together.

Szasz Thomas 1920

The Second Sin ‘Education'