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Power

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“The conception of life as constructive rather than antagonistic effort finds beautiful illustration in every approach that we make toward true civilization. You measure the quality and the value of the civilization of individuals or peoples, not by the houses which they live in or the clothes which they wear, but by the width and power of their sympathy.”
Charles Fletcher Dole (1845–1927) said by 1927 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They say that man is mighty, He governs land and sea; He wields a mighty scepter O'er lesser powers than he; But a mighty power and stronger, Man from his throne hath hurled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world.”
William Ross Wallace (1819–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What rules the World? (also known by The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World) reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919).
“Geologists discover... an almost complete difference to exist between the species or stamp of life, of one epoch from that of every other. We are therefore led to admit, either of a repeated miraculous creation; or of a power of change, under a change of circumstances, to belong to living organised matter, or rather to the congeries of inferior life, which appears to form superior.”
Patrick Matthew (1790–1874) said by 1874 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If ever Christianity appears in its power, it is when it erects its trophies upon the tomb; when it takes up its votaries where the world leaves them; and fills the breast with immortal hope in dying moments.”
Robert Hall (1764–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Think gently of the erring: Ye know not of the power With which the dark temptation came In some unguarded hour. Ye may not know how earnestly They struggled, or how well, Until the hour of weakness came, And sadly thus they fell.”
Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney (1823–1908) first seen 1844 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Erring" in the Orphan's Advocate (1844) and the Social Monitor (1844), as quoted in Our Woman Workers: Biographical Sketches of Women Eminent in the Universalist Church for Literary, Philanthropic and Christian Work…
“Rather than being a measure and consequence of the power of naturally occurring sexual desire, pornography is a measure of the extent to which people tend to prefer controlling desire through contrivance rather than being surprised by desire that spontaneously arises.”
Stephen A. Mitchell (psychologist) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Can Love Last? (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002), p. 137
“Alfred Nobel regretted that his invention, dynamite, was converted to degrading use, hence his creation of the Nobel Prize, as the humanist counter to the destructive power of his genius.”
Wole Soyinka (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Power comes from bending Nature to your will.”
Wole Soyinka (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Power is transient, but the deeds of those who wield it can leave an indelible mark on history.”
Wole Soyinka (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ideas, like everything else, can be corrupted. Power is like that: it pollutes everything it touches.”
Wole Soyinka (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Negroes.. ..their unique claim for admiration is their power to produce form completely in the round.. .Negro sculpture is completely in the round, fully-conceived air-surrounded form.”
Henry Moore (1898–1986) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote of Henri Moore in 'Unpublished notes', c. 1925-1926, HMF archive; as cited in Henry Moore writings and Conversations, ed. Alan Wilkinson, University of California Press, California 2002, p. 96
“Politicians are out of control. Their yearly salaries are more than an average person will see in a lifetime. They have been entrusted with the power to regulate their own salaries, and have grossly violated that trust to live in their own luxury.”
Timothy McVeigh (1968–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives”
Charlie Munger (1924–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh for a fleet that could look the proudest power in Europe in the face, on this our rightful Western Ocean! But alas, it must be left to posterity — at the age of 50 I can't expect to view it unless from above.”
Edward Rutledge (1749–1800) said by 1800 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in John and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina (1997) by James Haw, p. 272
“Strange is the vigour in a brave man's soul. The strength of his spirit and his irresistible power, the greatness of his heart and the height of his condition, his mighty confidence and contempt of danger, his true security and repose in himself, his liberty to dare and do what he pleaseth, his alacrity in the midst of fears, his invincible temper, are advantages which make him master of fortune.”
Thomas Traherne (1636–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Christian Ethicks (1675); cited from Bertram Dobell (ed.) The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne, B.D. (London: Bertram Dobell, 1903) p. lvii.
“Faith is trusting Jesus to lead us and going where He leads. What avails it to me to analyze Saratoga water, and to believe in its virtues? I must drink the water if I want its purifying power. And the soul that has not actually drunk of Christ can never be purged from sin.”
Theodore L. Cuyler (1822–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The full comedy of the situation was revealed in 1900, when, nearly a century after France and Germany had laid the foundations of a public system of secondary education, the Court of Appeal virtually decided that there was no Public Authority in England with legal power to establish and maintain secondary schools.”
R. H. Tawney (1880–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He was a poet of great power, who described the loneliness of military life in the early Forties with unique eloquence and accuracy; he wrote, too, exciting and original love poetry.”
Alun Lewis (1915–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Martin Seymour-Smith, Guide to Modern World Literature (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1975) vol. 1, p. 353.
“As remote as the rings of Saturn... A man with his stubby million-rand finger perennially prodding the public's pulse, his eyes constantly roving the horizons of the future, Kerzner has the power of a Prometheus unbound.”
Jani Allan (1952–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.”
Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The irony of the post-Cold War period is that the fall of communism was followed by the rise of another utopian ideology. In American and Britain, and to a lesser extent other Western countries, a type of market fundamentalism became the guiding philosophy. The collapse of American power that is underway is the predictable upshot.”
John Gray (philosopher) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well there goes my plan for selling them on eBay," Clary muttered. "Selling them on what?" Clary smiled blandly at him. "A mythical place of great magical power.”
Cassandra Clare (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Demonic activity levels? Do they have a device that measures whether the demons inside the house are doing power yoga?”
Cassandra Clare (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nearly unlimited supernatural power, and all you do is use it to watch reruns. What a waste.”
Cassandra Clare (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you flinch from it, you give it power over you. Take it, and cut your brother's throat with it, and take back the honor of your blood.”
Cassandra Clare (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One must always be careful of books," said Tessa, "and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.”
Cassandra Clare (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I recall what you said to me once, that words have the power to change us. Your words have changed me, Tess; they have made me a better man than I would have been otherwise. Life is a book, and there are a thousand pages I have not yet read. I would read them together with you, as many as I can, before I die.”
Cassandra Clare (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reason is a free gift from God and politeness is acquisition. He who undertakes politeness has power over it. He who undertakes reason increases (himself) through that nothing but ignorance.”
Ali al-Rida (770–818) said by 818 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There will come to my devotees those who will claim seeing (me). Verily, whosoever claims the seeing before the rising of al-Sufyānī and the Cry, is a liar and a forger; and there is no power except with Almighty Allah.”
Muhammad al-Mahdi (born 869) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Was it possible for the sexes to hear each other without saying, My powerlessness is greater than your powerlessness? It was becoming obvious each sex had a unique experience of both power and powerlessness. In my mind's eye I began to visualize a listening matrix as a framework within which we could hear these different experiences. It looked like this:”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When men in relationships have more money, we say they have the power. When women in relationships have more money, we say they are being used.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our love for children is so immediate in part because we feel their powerlessness immediately; conversely, part of the way we deny our love for men is by denying men’s powerlessness. Too often we have confused love for men with respect for them, especially for their power to take care of us---which is really just love for ourselves.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When mining… and other death professions are discussed in feminist publications, they are portrayed as examples of the male power system, as male-only clubs. However, when Ms. Magazine profiled female miners, the emphasis was on how the woman was ‘forced’ to take a job in the mines because it paid the best, and how taking such a job was the only way she could support her family.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One grand fallacy of the women's movement: Expecting work to mean "power" and "self-fulfillment.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We can decrease abuse and murder when we get that for both sexes, abuse does not derive from power, but powerlessness.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The problem with every judgment of sexual behavior is that it is made by people who aren’t being stimulated as they are making the judgment. A jury that sees a woman in a sterile courtroom, asks her what she wanted, and then assumes that anything else she did was the responsibility of the man is insulting not only the woman but the power of sex.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ideally there should not be a men’s movement but a gender transition movement; only the power of the women’s movement necessitates the temporary corrective of a men’s movement. And this creates a special challenge for men: There are few political movements filled with healthy people, yet few healthy changes have occurred without political movements.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women's greater social desirability and beauty power afford opportunities for creating both measurable and invisible income. While the opportunities are available to almost all women and some men, they are available in abundance to the genetic celebrity ... a woman so beautiful that men do more than look and talk--they follow her.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women’s genetic celebrity power magnifies men’s protector instinct. It inspires the government-as-substitute-husband. Men’s addiction to the genetic celebrity is either invisible or in the denial stage—thus we either don’t see it, or when confronted, deny it.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Geology holds the keys of one of the kingdoms of nature; and it cannot be said that a science which extends our Knowledge, and by consequence our Power, over a third part of nature, holds a low place among intellectual employments.”
William Buckland (1784–1856) first seen 1825 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in A Comparative Estimate of the Mineral and Mosaical Geologies (1825) by Granville Penn, p. 8
“Geology has shared the fate of other infant sciences, in being for a while considered hostile to revealed religion; so like them, when fully understood, it will be found a potent and consistent auxiliary to it, exalting our conviction of the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness of the Creator.”
William Buckland (1784–1856) said by 1856 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Age of the World : Moses to Darwin (1959) by Francis C. Haber, p. 221
“The great artist is conscious of the talent and power he possesses otherwise he would not see his faults and so would not be able to improve.”
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891–1915) said by 1915 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Sophie Brzeska-Savage Messiah By H S (Jim) Ede Heinimann (1931)
“Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends, for it is one of God's best gifts. It involves many things, but, above all, the power of going out of one's self and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in another.”
Thomas Hughes (1822–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Less than three months after Japanese capitulation... he discarded all the democratic concepts expressed by his predecessors wartime undertakings... He ditched the Roosevelt thesis and put in first place his declared determination to use the all the power of the government to enable United States imperialism to dominate the post-war world and organize it in its own image.”
Tim Buck (1891–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But here is my mark, and there is where I'm supposed to look, and believe me, the power and the pleasure and the emotion of this moment is as constant as the speed of light. It will never be diminished, nor will my appreciation.”
Tom Hanks (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Her lips are roses over-wash'd with dew, Or like the purple of Narcissus' flower; No frost their fair, no wind doth waste their power, But by her breath her beauties do renew.”
Robert Greene (dramatist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fantasy, by its power to move us so deeply, to dramatize, even melo-dramatize, morality, can be one of the most effective means of establishing a capacity for adult values.”
Lloyd Alexander (1924–2007) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wishful Thinking – Or Hopeful Dreaming?" (1968)
“You fail, Death-Lord! You destroy the instrument, but not its music. With all your power you have gained only a broken shell." In that moment, when the harp had been silenced, arose the songs of birds, the chiming of brooks, the humming of wind through grass and leaves; and all these voices took up the strands of melody, more beautiful than before. And the Lord of Death fled in terror of life.”
Lloyd Alexander (1924–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is destined to be a very wealthy portion of the United States, and, if to this we can add the most temperate, nothing will prevent our rising, and becoming a valuable acquisition to the union. Much power now lies in your hands, and, I sincerely hope, we may commence our new career with a law in our statute books, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of ardent spirits in Oregon territory.”
George Abernethy (1807–1877) first seen 1849 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: George Abernethy (1849) "Governor George Abernethy Legislative Message, 1849", Oregon State Archives, Oregon Secretary of State.
“[It] is we who are responsible for Putin's policies ... [s]ociety has shown limitless apathy ... [a]s the Chekists have become entrenched in power, we have let them see our fear, and thereby have only intensified their urge to treat us like cattle. The KGB respects only the strong. The weak it devours. We of all people ought to know that.”
Anna Politkovskaya (1958–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source