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Power

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“Unfortunately, you can't vote the rascals out, because you never voted them in, in the first place. The corporate executives and the corporation lawyers and so on who overwhelmingly staff the executive, assisted increasingly by a university based mandarin class, remain in power no matter whom you elect.”
Noam Chomsky (born 1928) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The intellectual tradition is one of servility to power, and if I didn't betray it I'd be ashamed of myself.”
Noam Chomsky (born 1928) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Noam Chomsky in interview on The Late Show BBC Television (November 25, 1992), in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993), p. 465
“If Hitler had been a crook... We're very fortunate in the United States, we've never had a charismatic leader who weren't a gangster. Every one of them was a thug, or a robber, or something. Which is fine, then they don't cause a lot of trouble. If you get one who's honest, like Hitler, then you're in trouble - they just want power.”
Noam Chomsky (born 1928) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview by Matthew Rothschild, 1997
“It is only in folk tales, children's stories, and the journals of intellectual opinion that power is used wisely and well to destroy evil. The real world teaches very different lessons, and it takes willful and dedicated ignorance to fail to perceive them. These are, unfortunately, leading themes of history.”
Noam Chomsky (born 1928) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Talk titled "The World After September 11th", AFSC Conference at Tufts University, Massachusetts, December 8, 2001 .
“Incidentally, I don't say it [the US electoral system] is a charade; there are differences in the parties—I don't think they're great differences, but they're real, and small differences in a system of great power can have enormous consequences.”
Noam Chomsky (born 1928) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Noam Chomsky, Al Jazeera ‘UpFront’ interview with host Mehdi Hasan concerning the 2016 US Presidential Election, (Jan 30, 2016)
“Well, who's to blame? Any power that commits aggression is to blame. So I continue to say, as I have been for many months, that the invasion, Putin's invasion of Ukraine is on a par with such acts of aggression as the US invasion of Iraq, the Stalin-Hitler invasion of Poland, other acts of supreme international crime... under international law, correction. Of course he's to blame.”
Noam Chomsky (born 1928) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At night too, she puzzled the mystery of her desperate need of kindness. As other girls prayed for handsomeness in a lover, or for wealth, or for power, or for poetry, she had prayed fervently: let him be kind.”
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now therefore while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may, And now, like amorous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour Than languish in his slow-chapped power.”
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) said by 1678 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now let us sport us while we may; And now, like am'rous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour, Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power.”
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) said by 1678 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Xanthians, suspecting my kindness, have made their country the grave of their despair; the Patareans, trusting themselves to me, enjoy in all points their former liberty; it is in your power to choose the judgment of the Patareans or the fortune of the Xanthians.”
Marcus Junius Brutus (85–42 BC) said by 42 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The power of a thing or an act is in the meaning and the understanding.'”
Black Elk (1863–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent from the curative power of medicines.”
O. Henry (1862–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I took my power in my hand And went against the world; 'Twas not so much as David had, But I was twice as bold.I aimed my pebble, but myself Was all the one that fell. Was it Goliath was too large, Or only I too small?”
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) said by 1886 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This test has much in common with the other great challenges that are defining this young century -- from weapons proliferation, to the spread of disease, to transnational terrorism. These are truly global problems, and no one nation, no matter how much power or political will it possesses, can succeed alone. We all need partners, and we all need to work in concert.”
Condoleezza Rice (born 1954) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: US Department of State, September 28, 2007.
“In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development.”
Condoleezza Rice (born 1954) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speaking of Russian President Vladimir Putin; Moscow, 13 October 2007
“We are questioning more than the philosophy behind our dependence upon limited and limiting systems. We question the power structures that have grown up around such systems.”
Frank Herbert (1920–1986) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Without Me, You're Nothing: The Essential Guide to Home Computers (1981), co-written with Max Barnard
“I am not a dictator, and I do not think I will become one. I will not maintain power with a machine gun.”
Fidel Castro (1926–2016) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I Won't Be a Dictator, interview with Ruth Lloyd (January 1959), printed in The Spokesman-Review (24 May 1959)
“Spanish power had worn itself out in our country. Spain had neither the men nor the economic resources to continue the war in Cuba; Spain had been defeated. Apparently the apple was ripe, and the United States Government held out its open hands.”
Fidel Castro (1926–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The will-to-live becomes the will-to-power.”
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our dreams of bringing the whole of human history under the control of the human will are ironically refuted by the fact that no group of idealists can easily move the pattern of history toward the desired goal of peace and justice. The recalcitrant forces in the historical drama have a power and persistence beyond our reckoning.”
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’ve never thought much of Joe Nye’s writings on soft power.”
Richard Perle (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Being so caught up, So mastered by the brute blood of the air, Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?”
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) said by 1939 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us not be afraid to help each other — let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and Senators and Congressmen and Government officials but the voters of this country.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address at Marietta, Ohio (8 July 1938)
“I wish I could keep war from all Nations; but that is beyond my power. I can at least make certain that no act of the United States helps to produce or to promote war. I can at least make clear that the conscience of America revolts against war and that any Nation which provokes war forfeits the sympathy of the people of the United States.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Enlightened business is learning that competition ought not to cause bad social consequences which inevitably react upon the profits of business itself. All but the hopelessly reactionary will agree that to conserve our primary resources of man power, government must have some control over maximum hours, minimum wages, the evil of child labor and the exploitation of unorganized labor.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no fatality which forces the Old World towards new catastrophe. Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds. They have within themselves the power to become free at any moment.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The world needs divine power in every human being the recognition of which is the secret to all success and happiness”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction to Poems of Power 1918 edition
“Affirm the body, beautiful and whole, The earth-expression of immortal soul.Affirm the mind, the messenger of the hour, To speed between thee and the source of power.Affirm the spirit, the Eternal I — Of this great trinity no part deny.”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We vainly accuse the fury of guns, and the new inventions of death; it is in the power of every hand to destroy us, and we are beholden unto every one we meet he doth not kill us.”
Thomas Browne (1605–1682) said by 1682 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is not the highest honour his who from the worst hath drawn the best; May not your Maker make the world from matter, an it suit His hest? Nay more, the sordider the stuff the cunninger the workman's hand: Cease, then, your own Almighty Power to bind, to bound, to understand.”
Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) said by 1890 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Zeal to do all that is in one's power is, in truth, a proof of piety.”
Julian (emperor) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fragment of a Letter to a Priest (tr. W. C. Wright, ii, 1913)
“People with real power never fear of losing it. People with control think of little else.”
Joss Whedon (born 1964) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mom, He's Doing It Again..", at Whedonesque.com (10 November 2007)
“All parties without exception, when they seek for power, are varieties of absolutism.”
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) said by 1865 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Philosophy at Work : A Constructive Approach to Philosophy (1960) by Ralph Bubrich Winn
“If it is God who gives the spirit of power and strength, then it is also the same God who gives “the spirt of self-control,” and if ignoble cowardice and fear of people are just as detestable in any age, the excess of eager enthusiasm, “zeal without wisdom,” are no less corrupting and at times are fundamentally just as detestable, just as blasphemous.”
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) said by 1855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Spontaneous love can reach the point of despair, shows that it is in despair, that even when it is happy it loves with the power of despair.”
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) said by 1855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His life from the very beginning is a story of temptation; it is not only one particular period in his life, the forty days, that is the story of temptation – no his whole life is a story of temptation (just as it is also of suffering). Every moment of his life he is tempted – that is, he has this possibility in his power, to take his calling, his task, in vain.”
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) said by 1855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Are we to assist it in gaining power in order to save our lives? Is that the paradox of our earthly situation?”
Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The pain, the cut in his scalp, so unexpected and undeserved, had for some reason cleared away the cobwebs. It flashed on him instantly that he didn't hate the kitchen cabinet: he hated his wife, his two daughters, his whole house, the back yard with its power mower, the garage, the radiant heating system, the front yard, the fence, the whole fucking place and everyone in it.”
Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sun balloons!" cried Grishkin, pointing toward the earth. Kosmograd was above the coast of California now, clean shorelines, intensely green fields, vast decaying cities whose names rang with a strange magic. High above a fleece of stratocumulus floated five solar balloons, mirrored geodesic spheres tethered by power lines. "And they say that people live in those things?”
William Gibson (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I especially denounce the terrible mass murders, which I cannot understand ... I never ordered any killing or tortures where I had the power to prevent such actions!”
Hermann Göring (1893–1946) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Göring's closing statement to the Nuremberg tribunal (31 August 1946); as quoted in Witness to Nuremberg (2006) by Richard Sonnenfeldt, p. 70
“In Berlin Jews controlled almost one hundred percent of the theaters and cinemas before the rise to power.”
Hermann Göring (1893–1946) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn (21 May 1946)
“A dog,” said Mr. Baldock, in his lecture-room style, which was capable of rousing almost anybody to violent irritation, “has an extraordinary power of bolstering up the human ego.”
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Although no credible evidence exists that the speed of light can be exceeded, writers are willing to embrace the possibility that light might be outpaced somehow. Never underestimate the persuasive power of somehow.”
James Nicoll (born 1961) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Talkin’ ‘Bout My G-G-Generation (Ships) on , March 13, 2018
“Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For my part, I assure you, I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Plutarch in Life of Alexander from Plutarch's Lives as translated by John Dryden (1683)
“Ideas, cultures, and histories cannot seriously be understood or studied without their force, or more precisely their configurations of power, also being studied.”
Edward Said (1935–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no getting around authority and power, and no getting around the intellectual's relationship to them. How does the intellectual address authority: as a professional supplicant or as its unrewarded, amateurish conscience?”
Edward Said (1935–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To uphold the institutions of our country-that's it-the institutions which protect and sustain a handful of people in the robbery and plunder of the masses, the institutions which drain the blood of the native as well as of the foreigner, turn it into wealth and power”
Emma Goldman (1869–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Station, power, wealth—how inadequate they have proved! How useless and insecure!”
Emma Goldman (1869–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In many cases one and the same thing is attracted by two strong forces, namely Necessity and Potency. Water falls in rain; the earth absorbs it from the necessity for moisture; and the sun evaporates it, not from necessity, but by its power.”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) said by 1519 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source