Power quotes

Acton Lord 1834-1902

Historical Essays and Studies

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

Adams Henry Brooks 1838-1918

The Education of Henry Adams

A friend in power is a friend lost.

Adams Henry Brooks 1838-1918

The Education of Henry Adams

The effect of power and publicity on all men is the aggravation of self, a sort of tumour that ends by killing the victim's sympathies.

Adams John 1735-1826

There is a danger from all men. The only maxim of a free Government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

Anderson Patrick

Power is like a woman you want to stay in bed with forever.

Anonymous

Literature is a power to be possessed, not a body of objects to be studied.

Anonymous

Where is the man who has the power and skill
To stem the torrent of a woman's will?
For if she will, she will, you may depend on't;
And if she won't, she won't; so there's an end on't.

Bacon Francis 1561-1626

Essays ‘Of Great Place'

It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty.

Bacon Francis 1561-1626

Essays ‘Of Nobility'

New nobility is but the act of power, but ancient nobility is the act of time.

Bacon Francis 1561-1626

Knowledge is power.

Bacon Francis 1561-1626

Meditationes Sacrae ‘Of Heresies'

For also knowledge itself is power.

Belloc Hilaire 1870-1953

‘On a Great Election'

The accursed power which stands on Privilege
(And goes with Women, and Champagne, and Bridge)
Broke - and Democracy resumed her reign:
(Which goes with Bridge, and Women and Champagne).

Bentley John

Making money is fun, but it's pointless if you don't use the power it brings.

Brecht Bertholt 1898-1956

Fearful is the seductive power of goodness.

Burke Edmund 1729-1797

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

Burke Edmund 1729-1797

Letter to a Member of the National Assembly

Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though for but one year, can never willingly abandon it.

Burton Robert 1577-1640

The Anatomy of Melancholy

To enlarge or illustrate this power and effect of love is to set a candle in the sun.

Conrad Joseph 1857-1924

The sea - the truth must be confessed - has no generosity. No display of many qualities - courage, hardihood, endurance, faithfulness - has ever been known to touch its irresponsible consciousness of power.

Crichton Michael

Abuse of power is not a male monopoly.

Daacon George

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, where does that leave God?

Dali Salvador 1904-1989

It is good taste, and good taste alone, that possesses the power to sterilize and is always the first handicap to any creative functioning.

Demosthenes 384-322 BC

It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice.

Diane Comtesse (Marie de Beausacq)

The power of habit and the charm of novelty are the two adverse forces which explain the follies of mankind.

Dostoevsky Fedor 1821-1881

Crime and Punishment

Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it ... one must have the courage to dare.

Dryden John 1631-1700

Absalom and Achitophel

All empire is no more than power in trust.

Dunning John (Baron Ashburton) 1731-1783

(motion in the House of Commons)

The power of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished.

Gladstone W.E. 1809-1898

We look forward to the time when the power to love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.

Hamilton Alexander 1757-1804

Power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will.

Hazlitt William 1778-1830

If a person has no delicacy, he has you in his power.

Herodotus c.485-425 BC

This is the worst a man can suffer: to have insight into much and power over nothing.

Hoffer Eric 1902-1983

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.

Hoover Herbert 1874-1964

Once upon a time my political opponents honored me as possessing the fabulous intellectual and economic power by which I created a worldwide depression all by myself.

Hume Cardinal Basil

Just as we are not in the numbers game, so we are not in the power game.

Huxley Thomas 1825-1895

If some great power would agree to make me always think what is true and do what is right, on condition of being some sort of clock and wound up every morning before I got out of bed, I should close instantly with the offer.

Ibsen Henrik 1828-1906

The sea possesses a power over one's moods that has the effect of a will. The sea can hypnotize. Nature in general can do so.

Jones Sir William 1746-1794

Power should always be distrusted, in whatever hands it is placed.

Jong Erica 1942-

Fear of Flying

The zipless fuck is absolutely pure. It is free of ulterior motives. There is no power game. The man is not ‘taking' and the woman is not ‘giving' ... The zipless fuck is the purest thing there is. And it is rarer than the unicorn.

Jonson Ben c.1573-1637

Sejanus

Tell proud Jove,
Between his power and thine there is no odds:
‘Twas only fear first in the world made gods.

Jung Carl 1875-1961

Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.

Kennedy John F. 1917-1963

When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgement.

Kingsley Charles 1819-1875