The reputation of power IS power.
Interpretation
Power derives its strength from the reputation and perception it holds in society.
This quote by Thomas Hobbes suggests that the influence and authority associated with power are largely contingent upon how it is perceived by others. In other words, the mere reputation of having power can yield real power; it shapes interactions, behaviors, and societal dynamics significantly, implying that perception can be as important as reality in matters of power and authority.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about political authority and its societal implications.
Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
For it is not the shape, but their use, that makes them angels.
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.
Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti.
The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done.
The ductless glands secrete among other things our moods, our aspirations, our philosophy of life.
For my name and memory I leave to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations and the next ages.
After a crisis we tell ourselves we understand why it happened and maintain the illusion that the world is understandable. In fact, we should accept the world is incomprehensible much of the time.
God created infinity, and man, unable to understand infinity, had to invent finite sets.
A city is the place of availabilities. It is the place where a small boy, as he walks through it, may see something that will tell him what he wants to do his whole life.
You cannot spill a drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole world.... We are not a nation, so much as a world.
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