Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.
Ralph EllisonRead
Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True power is characterized by confidence and self-control, rather than displays of arrogance.
In this quote, Ralph Ellison emphasizes that genuine power does not need to be flaunted or validated by others. Instead, it is an intrinsic quality marked by confidence and self-awareness, allowing individuals to act decisively and justly without seeking external validation or recognition.
Themes
PowerConfidenceSelf-AssuranceLeadershipIntrinsic
In practice
Example use cases
During a team meeting, a leader may quote this to inspire confidence in their leadership style.
More from Ralph Ellison
All quotes βI am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
Ralph EllisonRead
I denounce because though implicated and partially responsible, I have been hurt to the point of abysmal pain, hurt to the point of invisibility. And I defend because in spite of it all, I find that I love.
Ralph EllisonRead
The blues is an art of ambiguity, an assertion of the irrepressibly human over all circumstance whether created by others or by one's own human failings. They are the only consistent art in the United States which constantly remind us of our limitations while encouraging us to see how far we can actually go. When understood in their more profound implication, they are a corrective, an attempt to draw a line upon man's own limitless assertion.
Ralph EllisonRead
If you can show me how I can cling to that which is real to me, while teaching me a way into the larger society, then and only then will I drop my defenses and hostility, and I will sing your praises and help you to make the desert bear fruit.
Ralph EllisonRead
All novels are about certain minorities: the individual is a minority. The universal in the novel-and isn't that what we're all clamoring for these days?-is reached only through the depiction of the specific man in a specific circumstance.
Ralph EllisonRead
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Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.
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This is what we call smart power. Using every possible tool and partner to advance peace and security. Leaving no one on the sidelines. Showing respect even for one's enemies. Trying to understand, in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view. Helping to define the problems, determine the solutions.
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I respect people who feel things passionately. I do. But when someone is a judge, that is not what they should bring to the bench. It is not really passion, except in rare instances, that serves the bench well. It is, rather, an ability to understand the law and follow it.
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We must acknowledge that there are factions in our movements... We should not be telling lies to each other; we should tell the truth to each other with the view that there will be unity.
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