best quotations about
Power |
| 75 quotes | Visits: 12,203 |
Quotations
 | If you would know who controls you, see who you may not criticise. — Tacitus, 55-120 AD, Roman historian 23 likes |
 | Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 21 likes |
 | Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. — Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983, American writer & philosopher 20 likes |
 | Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. — Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, American President 19 likes |
 | Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. — Lord Acton, 1834-1902, English historian 16 likes |
 | One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. — Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527, Italian political philosopher 15 likes |
| And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. — Lord Acton, 1834-1902, English historian 14 likes |
 | Justice is an issue only between equals, otherwise those in power do what they can and the weak forgive. — Thucydides, 460-394 BC, Ancient Greek historian 12 likes |
 | Those who believe that power is fun confuse “power” with “abuse of power”. — André Malraux, 1901-1976, French writer & statesman 10 likes |
 | There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run, the sword is always beaten by the mind. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 10 likes |
 | The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace. — Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian leader of independence 9 likes |
 | Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. — Henry Kissinger, 1923-2023, American politician 9 likes |
 | Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't. — Margaret Thatcher, 1925-2013, British Prime Minister 8 likes |
 | I think people in power have a vested interest to oppose critical thinking. — Carl Sagan, 1934-1996, American astronomer 8 likes |
 | To have a great man for an intimate friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it. 7 likes |
 | Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. — Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007, American writer 7 likes |
| Put your iron hand in a velvet glove. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 6 likes |
| All authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercise it, and degrades those over whom it is exercised. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 6 likes |
 | Power is not a means; it is an end. — George Orwell, 1903-1950, British writer 6 likes |
 | No man is wise enough, or good enough to be trusted with unlimited power. — Charles Caleb Colton, 1780-1832, English cleric & writer 6 likes |
 | The strongest is never strong enough always to be master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty. — Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, Swiss-French philosopher 6 likes |
 | Power is as power does. — John Kenneth Galbraith, 1908-2006, American-Canadian economist 6 likes |
| If I were to give liberty to the press, my power could not last three days. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 5 likes |
 | When any organizational entity expands beyond 21 members, the real power will be in some smaller body. — Northcote Parkinson, 1909-1993, British historian 5 likes |
 | In the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding on the back of the tiger ended up inside. — John Kennedy, 1917-1963, American President [1961-1963] 5 likes |
 | Real politics are the possession and distribution of power. — Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881, British Prime Minister 5 likes |
 | I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good. — Martin Luther King, 1929-1968, American leader in the Civil Rights Movement 5 likes |
 | Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other. — Karl Jung, 1875-1961, Swiss psychiatrist 5 likes |
 | There is one thing about being President: nobody can tell you when to sit down. — Dwight Eisenhower, 1890-1969, American general & President 5 likes |
 | Being a president is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or he is swallowed. — Harry Truman, 1884-1972, American President [1945-1953] 5 likes |
 | We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly. — Margaret Atwood, 1939 -, Canadian writer 5 likes |
 | Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravitation. — Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679, English philosopher 5 likes |
 | In any given society the authority of man over man runs in inverse proportion to the intellectual development of that society. — Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, 1809-1865, French anarchist 4 likes |
 | Power without abuse loses its charm. — Paul Valery, 1871-1945, French poet 3 likes |
 | CNN is one of the participants in the war. I have a fantasy where Ted Turner is elected president but refuses because he doesn't want to give up power. — Arthur Clarke, 1917-2008, British Sci-Fi writer 3 likes |
 | There is nothing more stimulating than giving orders and being obeyed. — Miguel Cervantes, 1547-1616, Spanish writer 3 likes |
 | Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. — Mao Zedong, 1893-1976, Chinese leader 2 likes |
| The main conflicts in society unfold between the elites: the minority that holds power against another minority that is moving towards power. — Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527, Italian political philosopher 2 likes |
 | Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power. — John Steinbeck, 1902-1968, American writer, Nobel 1962 1 likes |
 | The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics. — Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, British philosopher 1 likes |
| We have usurped many of the powers we once ascribed to God. — John Steinbeck, 1902-1968, American writer, Nobel 1962 1 likes |
 | So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable. — Aldοus Huxley, 1894-1963, English writer 1 likes |
 | Four things greater than all things are, —Women and Horses and Power and War. — Rudyard Kipling, 1865-1936, English writer, Nobel 1907 1 likes |
| Power must be defined by the possibility of abusing it. — André Malraux, 1901-1976, French writer & statesman 1 likes |
 | The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. — William Hazlitt , 1778-1830, English essayist & critic 1 likes |
 | The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us. — Theodore Adorno, 1903-1969, German philosopher 1 likes |
 | The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations. — Noam Chomsky, 1928-, American linguist, philosopher, social activist 1 likes |
 | There is no power. There is the abuse of power, nothing else. — Henry de Montherlant, 1895-1972, French writer 1 likes |
 | The man of power is ruined by power, the man of money by money, the submissive man by subservience, the pleasure seeker by pleasure. — Hermann Hesse, 1877-1962, German writer, Nobel 1946 1 likes |
 | When you abuse your power, you are a coward. — Henri Jeanson, 1900-1970, French critic & columnist 1 likes |
| In Washington...the appearance of power is therefore almost as important as the reality of it. In fact, the appearance is frequently its essential reality. — Henry Kissinger, 1923-2023, American politician 1 likes |
 | In France, we always have a government of people who know what they want: they want to stay in power. — André Frossard, 1915-1995, French politician & essayist 1 likes |
 | The goal of life is not to possess power but to radiate it. — Henry Miller, 1891-1980, American writer 1 likes |
 | When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness. — Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955, American self-help writer 1 likes |
 | Small souls who seek power over others first destroy the faith those others might have in themselves. — Frank Herbert, 1920-1986, American sci-fi writer 1 likes |
 | Rules of taste enforce structures of power. — Susan Sontag, 1933-2004, American writer, critic, activist 1 likes |
 | To be a great autocrat you must be a great barbarian. — Joseph Conrad, 1857-1924, British-Polish writer 1 likes |
 | Power, after love, is the first source of happiness. — Stendhal, 1783-1842, French writer 1 likes |
 | Power... is the supreme end for all those who have not understood. — Simone Weil, 1909-1943, French philosopher 1 likes |
 | Remember, each one of us has the power to change the world. — Yoko Ono, 1935-, Japanese artist 1 likes |
 | They should be impressed by the power of our example, not the example of our power. — Bill Clinton, 1946-, American President [1992-2000] 1 likes |
 | The art of those who govern consists above all in the science of employing words. — Gustave Le Bon, 1841-1931, French polymath & writer 1 likes |
Quotes in Verse
| Cities and Thrones and Powers Stand in Time's eye, Almost as long as flowers, Which daily die. — Rudyard Kipling, 1865-1936, English writer, Nobel 1907 2 likes |
Funny Quotes
 | I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it. — George Carlin, 1936-2008, American comedian 16 likes |
 | I prefer to vote for those crooks in power than for those who will become crooks once they gain power. — Wolinski, 1934-2015, French cartoonist 3 likes |
 | All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-2025, British cartoonist & epigrammatist 1 likes |
Ancient Greek
 | When a good man steps down from power, he shouldn’t have become more rich, but more honored. Δει τον αγαθόν άνδρα παυόμενον της αρχής μη πλουσιώτερον, αλλά μάλλον ενδοξότερον γεγονέναι. — Bias of Priene, 625-540 BC, one of the 7 sages of Ancient Greece 17 likes |
 | He who is close to Zeus is close to thunder. Ο εγγύς Διός, εγγύς κεραυνού. — Aesop, 620-560 BC, Ancient Greek fabulist 11 likes |
| Power shows the man. Αρχή άνδρα δείκνυσι. — Bias of Priene, 625-540 BC, one of the 7 sages of Ancient Greece 10 likes |
 | Foolish strength is very often damaging. Ρώμη αμαθής πολλάκις τίκτει βλάβην. — Euripides, 480-406 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian ‐ Temenidae 6 likes |
 | The state is destroyed by its great men. Ανδρών δ᾿ εκ μεγάλων πόλις όλλυται. — Solon, 630-560 BC, Ancient Greek lawmaker & philosopher 5 likes |
 | When you are in a position of power, be well-mannered, if you would have the respect, not the fear, of those around you. Ισχυρόν όντα πράον είναι, όπως οι πλησίον αιδώνται μάλλον ή φοβώνται. — Chilon of Sparta, 6th cent. BC, one of the 7 sages of Ancient Greece 5 likes |
 | Power is the ultimate pleasure. Το άρχειν ήδιστον. — Aristotle, 384-322 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 4 likes |
 | The people like to criticize those in power. Κατ’ αρχής γαρ φιλαίτιος λεώς. — Aeschylus, 525-456 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian 4 likes |
