Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,159,190 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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“If FC Porto was a club of a country with another economical power, it could have done a striking season in Europe. That team was the best I have ever coached. It was destroyed due to economical factors.”
José Mourinho (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The peculiar danger of executive power is that it executes.”
Michael Parenti (1933–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Countries with ostensibly democratic governments often manifest a markedly undemocratic state power.”
Michael Parenti (1933–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Conservative propaganda that is intended for mass consumption implicitly distinguishes between government and state. It invites people to see government as their biggest problem. At the same time, such propaganda encourages an uncritical public admiration for the state, its flag and other symbols, and the visible instruments of its power such as the armed forces.”
Michael Parenti (1933–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Caesar’s sin, I shall argue, was not that he was subverting the Roman constitution—which was an unwritten one—but that he was loosening the oligarchy’s overbearing grip on it. Worse still, he used state power to effect some limited benefits for small farmers, debtors, and urban proletariat, at the expense of the wealthy few.”
Michael Parenti (1933–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Throughout history, in the name of “liberty,” owning classes have opposed political leaders who have sought a more equitable distribution and use of wealth. And in the name of “stability” and “public safety,” they have repeatedly surrendered some of their own power to autocratic leaders dedicated to preserving the privileged socioeconomic order.”
Michael Parenti (1933–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The conceptual distinction between state and government allows us to understand why taking office in government seldom guarantees full access to the instruments of state power.”
Michael Parenti (1933–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The think of artists as prostitutes. And in reality it’s true: in the Communist system artists just represent what the power structure seeks them to represent. It is prostitution.”
“I want people to see their own power.”
“Beijing is two cities. One is of power and of money. People don’t care who their neighbors are; they don’t trust you. The other city is one of desperation. I see people on public buses, and I see their eyes, and I see they hold no hope. They can’t even imagine that they’ll be able to buy a house. They come from very poor villages where they’ve never seen electricity or toilet paper.”
“The worst thing about Beijing is that you can never trust the judicial system. Without trust, you cannot identify anything; it’s like a sandstorm. You don’t see yourself as part of the city—there are no places that you relate to, that you love to go. You have no memory of any material, texture, shape. Everything is constantly changing, according to somebody else’s will, somebody else’s power.”
“I think it’s a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.”
“They [the government] really want to maintain power. At the same time, they refuse to communicate. They refuse to have good intentions. They refuse to be sincere. How can that last?”
“In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want—not only you, your whole family and all people like you.”
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At home: Ai Weiwei.” Financial Times, February 24, 2012.
“The individual under this kind of life, with no rights, has absolutely no power in this land. How can they even ask you for creativity? Or imagination, or courage or passion?”
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: House Arrest in China: Orwell, Kafka, and Ai Weiwei.” Economist, April 13, 2012
“Cheap power helped create a new market that didn't exist previously.”
Andy Kessler (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In fact, maybe Metcalfe's Law is the formula for Doug Engelbart's scaling of human knowledge, just as Watt's steam engine scaled human power.”
Andy Kessler (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The biggest problem is that Java is really slow. On a pure cpu / memory / display / communications level, most modern cell phones should be considerably better gaming platforms than a Game Boy Advanced. With Java, on most phones you are left with about the CPU power of an original 4.77 mhz IBM PC, and lousy control over everything.”
John D. Carmack (born 1970) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Cell phone adventures John Carmack's Blog, March 27th, 2005
“Wealth is a virtue which has to be practised, really learnt, if it is to be of any real use to its owner, turned to good account, giving him confidence, freedom, power and independence - not enervating him, making him dependent, stingy, soft and vain.”
Ida Friederike Görres (1901–1971) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Broken Lights Diaries 1957-59.
“I hope you can feel the omniscience of this moment, as we have been blocking this traffic as far as you can see on the left. Sense the grandeur of your power as we disrupt one life after another.”
Timothy Levitch (born 1970) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Cruise (1998)
“[American] conformism might approximate collectivism, not so much in economic respects, and not too much in political respects, but very much in the pattern of daily life and thought. Whether this will happen or not, and if it does to what degree, is partly dependent on the power of resistance in those who represent the opposite pole of the courage to be, the courage to be as oneself.”
Paul Tillich (1886–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first element is the experience of the power of being which is present even in the face of the most radical manifestation of non being. If one says that in this experience vitality resists despair, one must add that vitality in man is proportional to intentionality. The vitality that can stand the abyss of meaninglessness is aware of a hidden meaning within the destruction of meaning.”
Paul Tillich (1886–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would not feel a lot of trust or hope in God if He was simply in touch with me without any impetus, power, or force to accomplish things. You may not always know the end game, but He is working for you.”
John Townsend (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The closer a Citizen came to the centers of power, the more of a madhouse the universe became.”
Vernor Vinge (1944–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An artist needs knowledge and the power of observation only so that he can tell from what he is abstaining, and to be sure that his abstention will not appear artificial or false.”
Andrei Tarkovsky (1932–1986) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal entry (7 July 1980); published in Time Within Time: The Diaries 1970-1986 (1989)
“Governments tend to expand their power to the point that they do harm. In SurvivalBlog, I often warn of the insidious tyranny of the Nanny State... ...If the state where you live becomes oppressive, then don’t hesitate to relocate. Vote with your feet!”
James Wesley Rawles (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Government alone, in all man’s inventions, is capable of independent life. Government alone, like Mrs. Shelley’s terrifying creation of the monster born in Frankenstein’s mind, has the power and the ability to turn upon its creators and destroy them.”
Robert LeFevre (1911–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If men were basically good, we would not require government; if men were basically evil, we could not afford to grant any man the power of government.”
Robert LeFevre (1911–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If men are capable of committing evil actions, granting them power over others makes evil actions certain. But there is a difference. When men in government commit and evil act, they are legally shielded from their consequences of the act. ** p. 487”
Robert LeFevre (1911–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The essential elements of giving are power and love — activity and affection — and the consciousness of the race testifies that in the high and appropriate exercise of these is a blessedness greater than any other.”
Mark Hopkins (educator) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All mental discipline and symmetrical growth are from activity of the mind under the yoke of the will or personal power.”
Mark Hopkins (educator) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now and then, especially at night, solitude loses its soft power and loneliness takes over. I am grateful when solitude returns.”
Donald Hall (1928–2018) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Between Solitude and Loneliness," The New Yorker, October 15, 2016
“Would our aristocracy like that a man of low caste or insignificant origin, though he be a B.A. or M.A., and have the requisite ability, should be in a position of authority above them and have power in making laws that affect their lives and property? Never! Nobody would like it.”
Syed Ahmed Khan (1817–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted from After a Century it is time to revisit Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s legacy Avatans Kumar Jan 27, 2018 . Also in A Tale of Two Revolts by Rajmohan Gandhi
“Each sinner transformed into a saint is a new token of a redeeming power among men. That token declares to observers, not that there is a King in heaven, not that there is a "Father of Lights," but that there is a Saviour. And this is the testimony that the world especially needs.”
William Arthur (minister) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Religion has never, in any period, sustained itself except by the instrumentality of the tongue of fire. Only where some men, more or less imbued with this primitive power, have spoken the words of the Lord, not with " the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth," have sinners been converted, and saints prompted to a saintlier life.”
William Arthur (minister) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The regeneration of a sinner is an evidence of power in the highest sphere — moral nature; with the highest prerogative — to change nature; and operating to the highest result — not to create originally, which is great; but to create anew, which is greater.”
William Arthur (minister) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men never respect what they have made themselves. This is why an elective king never possesses the moral power of a hereditary sovereign, because he is not noble enough, that is to say he does not possess that kind of greatness independent of men and that is the work of time.”
Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All grandeur, all power, all subordination to authority rests on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world and at that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society disappears.”
Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“India is the Saudi Arabia of human resources for the 21st century. The power that we used to get from oil in 20th century, we will get it from people like you in 21st century.”
Rahul Gandhi (born 1970) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 2012. Rahul Gandhi: India is going to be 21st century Saudi Arabia, Rahul Gandhi
“Ahimsa (Non-violence) will return to Assam if the Bhartiya Janata Party government comes to power once again.”
Rahul Gandhi (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art is neither the monopoly of a nation, nor of a social class, or the major age. People of outstanding talents and fine feelings, people who are not lacking in imagnation and the sense of creation, as well as good will-power. They are privileged to be involved in ART.”
Sadik Kaceli (1914–2000) said by 2000 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is only Jesus Christ who has thrown light on life and immortality through the Gospel; and because He has done so, and has enabled us by His Atoning Death and Intercession to make the most of this discovery, His Gospel is, for all who will, a power of God unto salvation.”
Henry Liddon (1829–1890) first seen 1877 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sermon XIII: "The Courage of Faith" (May 25, 1877), p. 202
“Far from securing order, terror intensifies disorder and social disintegration. Terror, the most extreme form of power, is the least effective, and rulers employ it to the detriment of their own authority.”
Stephen Vizinczey (1933–2021) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Rules of Chaos (1969), p. 48
“He who enlists a man's mind wields a power even greater than the sword or the scepter.”
Robert Heilbroner (1919–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was no simple riddance to the power of a dangerous political idea; no assassination possible to avert a disruptive change in technology; no natural death to be counted on to stop an economic change that ripped up ancestral estates or stirred up class discontent.”
Robert Heilbroner (1919–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The total amount of electric power generated by India would not suffice to light up New York City.”
Robert Heilbroner (1919–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The United States is the only country with a known birthday. All the rest began, they know not when, and grew into power, they know not how. If there had been no Independence Day, England and America combined would not be so great as each actually is. There is no "Republican," no "Democrat," on the Fourth of July — all are Americans. All feel that their country is greater than party.”
James G. Blaine (1830–1893) said by 1893 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Democracy elects men totally lacking in scruples, without any morals; those who will pay better, thus those with a higher power of corruption; magicians, charlatans, demagogues, who will excel in their fields during the electoral campaign. Several good men would be able to slip through among them, even politicians of good faith. But they would be the slaves of the former.”
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (1899–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The top Jews who operate the terror and tyranny machine can survive and manipulate us exactly as the lion tamer can manipulate a cageful of deadly lions and tigers because the animals are too stupid and afraid of the silly crack of his whip and his chair to see the situation as it is and use the enormous power they have but are afraid to use.”
George Lincoln Rockwell (1918–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poor shepherdless sheep! it was His delight, as the Good Shepherd, to lead them to rich pastures; and as they sat and stood around Him, they forgot their bodily wants in the beauty and power of His words.”
John Cunningham Geikie (1824–1906) said by 1906 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source