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Quotes about power

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They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force⁠—nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.
Joseph Conrad1857–1924Heart of Darkness (1899), Part IIn context
- War & Peace
The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.
Joseph Conrad1857–1924Heart of Darkness (1899), Part IIn context
- Race
Intolerance is evidence of impotence.
Aleister Crowley1875–1947The Confessions of Aleister Crowley (1929), Ch. 69
- Character
The class which has the power to rob upon a large scale has also the power to control the government and legalize their robbery.
Eugene V. Debs1855–1926in Debs (1971), p. 75
- Government
All men would be tyrants if they could.
Daniel Defoe1660–1731Jure divino: a satyre, Introduction, l. 2 (1706).
The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.
Philip K. Dick1928–1982“How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” (1978)
“Detestation of the high is the involuntary homage of the low.”
Charles Dickens1812–1870A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Book the Second: The Golden Thread, Chapter IXIn context
- Envy
Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind.
Charles Dickens1812–1870A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Book the Third: The Track of a Storm, Chapter XVIn context
- History
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.
Denis Diderot1713–1784“Supplement to Bougainville’s Voyage” (1796)
I repeat that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people, and for the people all springs, and all must exist.
Benjamin Disraeli1804–1881Vivian Grey (1826), Book VI, Chapter 7
- Responsibility
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
Frederick Douglass1817–1895West India Emancipation (If There Is No Struggle, There Is No Progress) (1857)
- Freedom
Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
Frederick Douglass1817–1895West India Emancipation (If There Is No Struggle, There Is No Progress) (1857)
- Freedom
- Justice
Power dements even more than it corrupts, lowering the guard of foresight and raising the haste of action.
Will Durant1885–1981The Story of Civilization XI: The Age of Napoleon (1975), Ch. IV, Part V, § 4
There is no knowledge that is not power.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882Society and Solitude (1870), Old Age
- Knowledge
Princes are not bound to give an account of their Actions but to God alone.
Charles I of England1600–1649Declaration on the dissolution of Parliament (10 March 1628)
- Government