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Quotes about power

213 quotes from 148 people

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The slave begins by demanding justice and ends by wanting to wear a crown. He must dominate in his turn.
Albert Camus1913–1960The Rebel (1951)
- Justice
The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.
Albert Camus1913–1960“Homage to an Exile”, speech honoring Eduardo Santos (7 December 1955); in Resistance, Rebellion, and Death (1960)
- Politics
It’s a big club and you ain’t in it.
George Carlin1937–2008Life Is Worth Losing (2005), “Dumb Americans”
- Politics
Every noble crown is, and on earth will forever be, a crown of thorns.
Thomas Carlyle1795–1881Past and Present (1843), Bk. III, ch. 7.
What the master giveth, the master can take away.
Stokely Carmichael1941–1998Chapter Four, p. 101
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean⁠—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master⁠—that’s all.”
Lewis Carroll1832–1898Through the Looking-Glass (1871), Chapter VIIn context
- Talking
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others.
Jimmy Carter1924–2024Carter, J. (1977). A government as good as its people. New York: Simon and Schuster.
- Character
Power rests on the kind of knowledge that one holds. What is the sense of knowing things that are useless? They will not prepare us for our unavoidable encounter with the unknown.
CCCarlos Castaneda1925–1998The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe (1998), “Quotations from The Teachings of Don Juan” (Chapter 4)
- Knowledge
The intellectual tradition is one of servility to power, and if I didn’t betray it I’d be ashamed of myself.
Noam Chomskyborn 1928Interview on The Late Show, BBC Television (25 November 1992)
As the most powerful state, the U.S. makes its own laws, using force and conducting economic warfare at will.
Noam Chomskyborn 1928In Tony Evans (ed.), Human Rights Fifty Years on: A Reappraisal, 1997
- America
To be frank, politics is about wanting power, getting it, exercising it, and keeping it.
Jean Chrétienborn 1934My Years as Prime Minister (2007), “Entre Nous”, p. 2
- Politics
A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.
Winston Churchill1874–1965“The Defence of Freedom and Peace (The Lights are Going Out)”, radio broadcast to the United States and to London (16 October 1938).
- Ideas
Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.
Winston Churchill1874–1965‘Armistice—or Peace?’ (11 November 1937), quoted in Winston Churchill, Step by Step, 1936–1939 (1939; 1947), p. 174
The arts of power and its minions are the same in all countries and in all ages. It marks its victim; denounces it; and excites the public odium and the public hatred, to conceal its own abuses and encroachments.
Henry Clay1777–1852Speech, Senate (14 March 1834)
If you don’t give power to the words that people throw at you to hurt you, they don’t hurt you anymore — and you actually have power over those people.
Stephen Colbertborn 1964Stephen Colbert—It Gets Better (13 July 2011)
- Advice