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Nature of power10 quotes
Power may justly be compared to a great River, while kept within its due Bonds, is both Beautiful and Useful; but when it overflows its Banks, it is then too impetuous to be stemm'd, it bears down all before it, and brings Destruction and Desolation wherever it comes. If then this is the Nature of Power, let us at least do our Duty, and like wise Men (who value Freedom) use our utmost Care to support Liberty, the only Bulwark against lawless Power, which in all Ages has sacrificed to it's wild Lust and boundless Ambition, the Blood of the best Men that ever liv'd. — Andrew Hamilton · 1735The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms his strength into right, and obedience into duty. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762Force is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the second it crushes, the first it intoxicates. The truth is, nobody really possesses it. — Simone Weil · 1940Riches, knowledge and honour are but several sorts of power. — Thomas Hobbes · 1651It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it. — James Madison · 1788Power resides where men believe it resides. It’s a trick, a shadow on the wall. And a very small man can cast a very large shadow. — Lord Varys · 2012All 10 quotes →Power8 quotes
Power may justly be compared to a great River, while kept within its due Bonds, is both Beautiful and Useful; but when it overflows its Banks, it is then too impetuous to be stemm'd, it bears down all before it, and brings Destruction and Desolation wherever it comes. If then this is the Nature of Power, let us at least do our Duty, and like wise Men (who value Freedom) use our utmost Care to support Liberty, the only Bulwark against lawless Power, which in all Ages has sacrificed to it's wild Lust and boundless Ambition, the Blood of the best Men that ever liv'd. — Andrew Hamilton · 1735Riches, knowledge and honour are but several sorts of power. — Thomas Hobbes · 1651It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it. — James Madison · 1788Power resides where men believe it resides. It’s a trick, a shadow on the wall. And a very small man can cast a very large shadow. — Lord Varys · 2012To have power means not to have to give in, and to force the environment or the other person to do so. Power in this narrow sense is the priority of output over intake, the ability to talk instead of listen. In a sense, it is the ability to afford not to learn. — Karl Deutsch · 1966Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't. — Oskar Schindler · 1993All 8 quotes →Absolute power1 quote
Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it. — William Pitt, Earl of Chatham · 1770Checks and balances1 quote
It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it. — James Madison · 1788Knowledge1 quote
Riches, knowledge and honour are but several sorts of power. — Thomas Hobbes · 1651Mercy1 quote
Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't. — Oskar Schindler · 1993Political theory1 quote
It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it. — James Madison · 1788Politics1 quote
It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it. — James Madison · 1788Power relations1 quote
Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience,
Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,
Makes slaves of men, and, of the human frame,
A mechanized automation. — Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1813Recognition1 quote
Riches, knowledge and honour are but several sorts of power. — Thomas Hobbes · 1651Wealth1 quote
Riches, knowledge and honour are but several sorts of power. — Thomas Hobbes · 1651