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Quotes about power

213 quotes from 148 people

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Propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government.
Edward Bernays1891–1995Propaganda (1928), p. 48
- Government
The dictator is the one animal who needs to be caged.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto1928–1979Letter to his daughter (1978), p. 63.
- Clever Jabs
If things do not change, there will be nothing left to change. Either power must pass to the people or everything will perish.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto1928–1979Letter to his daughter (1978), p. 14.
- Change
When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.
Osama bin Laden1957–2011Video interview, quoted in Analyzing Leaders, Presidents and Terrorists by Diane E. Holloway page 325, with NPR transcript (9 November 2001)
The tyrant grinds down his slaves and they don’t turn against him; they crush those beneath them.
Emily Brontë1818–1848Wuthering Heights (1847), Chapter XIIn context
To put it very simply, anyone can become an American, but only a Chinese can be Chinese⁠—and that places an additional and significant barrier in the way of any essentially national global hegemony.
Zbigniew Brzezinski1928–2017The Grand Chessboard (1997), Conclusion, p. 210
- America
If you attack the establishment long enough and hard enough, they will make you a member of it.
Art Buchwald1925–2007International Herald Tribune (24 May 1989).
- Politics
Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Volume iii, p. 334
- Politics
The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Second Speech on Conciliation with America (1775)
- Government
The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Letter to Thomas Mercer
- Democracy
A functioning police state needs no police.
William S. Burroughs1914–1997Naked Lunch (1959), “Benway”, p. 31
- Government
America has never been an empire. We may be the only great power in history that had the chance, and refused — preferring greatness to power and justice to glory.
George W. Bushborn 1946A Distinctly American Internationalism (November 1999)
- America
The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.
George W. Bushborn 1946George W. Bush’s First Inaugural Address (2001)
- America
Power can be very addictive. And it can be corrosive. And it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power.
George W. Bushborn 1946Interview with Matt Lauer (2017)
- Journalism
I assure you I had rather be the first man here than the second man in Rome.
Julius Caesar100–44 BCOn passing through a village in the Alps, as attributed in Parallel Lives , by Plutarch, as translated by John Langhorne and William Langhorne (1836), p. 499