Quotes on Power

Power in America today is control of the means of communication.

It is still more likely that a woman's power would be seen as aggression, and a man's power would be seen as assertion.

All persons possessing any portion of power ought to be strongly and awfully impressed with an idea that they act in trust, and that they are to account for their conduct in that trust to the one great Master, Author, and Founder of society.

Anyone in a position of power is either corrupt or assumed to be corrupt, and the assumption of corruption is as bad as the reality of it.

The purpose of getting power is to be able to give it away.

To receive applause for works which do not demand all our powers hinders our advance towards a perfecting of our spirit. It usually means that thereafter we stand still.

We have the power to do any damn fool thing we want to do, and we seem to do it about every ten minutes.

The love of power, like the love of money, increases with the possession of it; and we know in what ruin these baneful passions have involved human societies in all ages when they have been let loose and suffered to rage uncontrolled - There is no restraint like the pervading eye of the virtuous citizens.

Much of political decision-making concentrates power in the hands of those already inside the circle, who tend to be men. Excluding women may not be the intention, but when they are not invited into the room where decisions are made, you can see how it happens.

When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.

Utility is the great idol of the age, to which all powers must do service and all talents swear allegiance.

To gain a crown by fighting is great, to reject it divine.

I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies.

The power which makes a man able to entertain a good impulse is the same as that which enables him to make a good gun; it is imagination.

If democracy brings an undemocratic group to power, is that a victory for democracy?

When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat.

The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man. It is more powerful than external circumstances.

If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?

Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.

Money is the great power today. Men sell their souls for it. Women sell their bodies for it. Others worship it. The money power has grown so great that the issue of all issues is whether the corporation shall rule this country or the country shall again rule the corporations.

There are many things akin to highest deity that are still obscure. Some may be too subtle for our powers of comprehension, others imperceptible to us because such exalted majesty conceals itself in the holiest part of its sanctuary, forbidding access to any power save that of the spirit. How many heavenly bodies revolve unseen by human eye!