Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Power
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“My power is immeasurable; My truth inexplicable, unfathomable.”
Sathya Sai Baba (1926–2011) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sathya Sai Baba Discourse 19-6-1974. p. 227 Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 12.
“I can see now that if I’d stayed I’d have gone the way of Pulg and all such Great Men—fat, power-racked, lieutenant-plagued, smothered with false-hearted dancing girls, and finally falling into the arms of religion. At least I’m saved that last chronic ailment, which is worse than the dropsy.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now it may be that in the world of Newhon there are gods of whom even Death does not know and who from time to time take pleasure in putting obstacles in his path. Or it may be that Chance is quite as great a power as Necessity.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women have power over men almost as great as gods do.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But now the priests think only one thing. How to hold on to their power as long as mankind lasts—until the sun darkens and the earth freezes!”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Goniface was thinking how like his own was the destiny of the whole Hierarchy and of every priest in it. Whether they murdered their families—and their own youth—actually or only in spirit, it amounted to the same thing. They betrayed and deserted them, left them for dead, to enjoy the power and pleasures of a sterile tyrant class.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't judge the future of a person based on his present conditions, because time has the power to change black coal to shiny diamond.”
Chanakya (375–283 BC) said by 283 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.”
Chanakya (375–283 BC) said by 283 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If not for the compulsion of engineers, mankind would have never seen the wheel, settling instead for the trapezoid because some Neanderthal in Marketing convinced everybody it had great braking power. And there would be no fire, because some middle-manager cave person would point out that if fire was such a good idea the other cave people would already be using it.”
Scott Adams (1957–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A great power imposes the obligation of exercising restraint, and we did not live up to this obligation. I think this affected many of the scientists in a subtle sense, and it diminished their desire to continue to work on the bomb.”
Leó Szilárd (1898–1964) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: President Truman Did Not Understand" in U.S. News & World Report (15 August 1960)
“I have not the particular shining bauble or feather in my cap for crowds to gaze at, or kneel to, but I have power and resolution for foes to tremble at.”
Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) first seen 1655 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter of 28 July 1655, in Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches by Thomas Carlyle. See The Works of Thomas Carlyle
“Only he who has the power to punish can pardon.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One who comes into power often oppresses.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do not hurry over punishments and do not be pleased and do not be proud of your power to punish.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never say to yourself, "I am their Lord, their ruler and all in all over them and that I must be obeyed submissively and humbly" because such a thought will unbalance your mind, will make you vain and arrogant, will weaken your faith in religion and will make you seek support of any power other than that of Allah.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If the past is any guide, what has happened this winter could happen again next winter and the winter after that and so on and so on. What we face is a threat to our whole way of life...The case is now surely overwhelming, there will be no solution to our difficulties which does not include some restriction on the power of the unions.”
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conservative Party television broadcast “Winter of Discontent” (17 January 1979)
“The United States has no socialist party, or no socialist party has been in power. That is the reason why it has always been the country of last resort for every currency.”
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview for The Times (31 May 1984)
“At one end of the spectrum are the terrorist gangs within our borders, and the terrorist states which finance and arm them. At the other are the Hard Left operating inside our system, conspiring to use union power and the apparatus of local government to break, defy and subvert the law.”
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Second Carlton Lecture (26 November 1984)
“Unlike some of my colleagues, I never ceased to believe that, other things being equal, the level of unemployment was related to the extent of trade union power. The unions had priced many of their members out of jobs by demanding excessive wages for insufficient output, so making British goods uncompetitive.”
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Authoritarianism and secrecy breed incompetence; the two feed on each other. It's a vicious cycle. Governments with authoritarian tendencies point to what is in fact their own incompetence as the rationale for giving them yet more power.”
Josh Marshall (born 1969) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Talking Points Memo (2006-01-17)
“Humans should not worship other humans at all, but if they must do so it is better that the worshipped ones do not occupy any positions of political power.”
Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only the force of American arms, or the extremely credible threat of that force, can bring a fresh face to power.”
Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jan. 14, 2003: On Iraq
“The realization that American power could and should be used for the defense of pluralism and as a punishment for fascism came to me in Sarajevo a year or two later... That was an early quarrel between me and many of my Nation colleagues, and it was also the first time I found myself in the same trench as people like Paul Wolfowitz and Jeane Kirkpatrick: a shock I had to learn to get over.”
Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To make a contented slave it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken the moral and mental vision and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Old as the everlasting hills; immovable as the throne of God; and certain as the purposes of eternal power, against all hinderances, and against all delays, and despite all the mutations of human instrumentalities, it is the faith of my soul, that this anti-slavery cause will triumph.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) first seen 1855 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Anti-Slavery Movement. Extracts from a Lecture before Various. Anti-Slavery Bodies, in the Winter of 1855.
“The days of Black Power are numbered. Its course, indeed is onward. But with the swiftness of an arrow, it rushes to the tomb. While crushing its millions, it is also crushing itself. The sword of Retribution, suspended by a single hair, hangs over it. That sword must fall. Liberty must triumph.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Sustaining Black Studies", by Winston A. Van Horne, Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3, (January 2007)
“I, on the other hand, deny that the Constitution guarantees the right to hold property in man, and believe that the way to abolish slavery in America is to vote such men into power as well use their powers for the abolition of slavery. This is the issue plainly stated, and you shall judge between us.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters "U.S.", let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) first seen 1863 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Negroes and the National War Effort", speech in Philadelphia (6 July 1863)
“Those unknown heroes whose whitened bones have been piously gathered here, and whose green graves we now strew with sweet and beautiful flowers, choice emblems alike of pure hearts and brave spirits, reached, in their glorious career that last highest point of nobleness beyond which human power cannot go. They died for their country.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Self-made men are the men who, under peculiar difficulties and without the ordinary helps of favoring circumstances, have attained knowledge, usefulness, power and position and have learned from themselves the best uses to which life can be put in this world, and in the exercises of these uses to build up worthy character.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not true that the Republican party has not endeavored to protect the negro in his right to vote. The whole moral power of the party has been, from first to last, on the side of justice to the negro; and it has only been baffled, in its efforts to protect the negro in his vote, by the Democratic party.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech (June 1888).
“[On Pat Buchanan] We disagree so violently on almost everything that it's a real pleasure to drink with him. If nothing else, he's absolutely honest in his lunacy — and I've found, during my admittedly limited experience in political reporting, that power & honesty very rarely coincide.”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a letter to Garry Wills (17 October 1973); published in Fear and Loathing in America (2000)
“The only difference between the Sane and the Insane, is IN and yet within this world, the Sane have the power to have the Insane locked up.”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All political power comes from the barrel of either guns, pussy, or opium pipes, and people seem to like it that way.”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Liberty is so great a magician, endowed with so marvelous a power of productivity, that under the inspiration of this spirit alone, North America was able within less than a century to equal, and even surpass, the civilization of Europe.”
Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876) said by 1876 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With Thee in shady solitudes I walk, With Thee in busy, crowded cities talk, In every creature own Thy forming power, In each event Thy providence adore.”
Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825) said by 1825 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those who live in the best cliffs think they are better than us. That is always man’s attitude when he has power.”
Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Frost and Fire (1946)
“... we cannot observe a small system with that amount of detail which classical theory supposes. The limitation in the power of observation puts a limitation on the number of data that can be assigned to a state... A state of a system may be defined as an undisturbed motion that is restricted by as many conditions or data as are theoretically possible without mutual interference or contradiction.”
Paul Dirac (1902–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Once again I say that with death Jesus conquered death, and rose from the grave a spirit and a power. And He walked in our solitude and visited the gardens of our passion. He lies not there in that cleft rock behind the stone. We who love Him beheld Him with these our eyes which He made to see; and we touched Him with these our hands which He taught to reach forth.”
Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) said by 1931 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I declare that The Beatles are mutants. Prototypes of evolutionary agents sent by God, endowed with a mysterious power to create a new human species, a young race of laughing freemen.”
Timothy Leary (1920–1996) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Shout! (1981) by Philip Norman, p. 365; and in An Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music (1981) by Nat Shapiro, p. 303
“Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation”
Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) said by 1844 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand, and watch over them with tenderness. When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what power it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind.”
Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) first seen 1842 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: History of the Church, 5:23–24 (9 June 1842)
“Sons and daughters of wealthy men, and others who inherit money which they did not earn... Power in the hands of one who did not acquire it gradually, is often fatal to success.”
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you must be careless with your possessions, let it be in connection with material things. Your mind is your spiritual estate! Protect and use it with the care to which Divine Royalty is entitled. You were given a will-power for this purpose. p. 173”
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men take on the nature and the habits and the power of thought of those with whom they associate in a spirit of sympathy and harmony.”
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Think & Grow Rich, January 1963, p. 150.
“If a person a) is poorly, b) receives treatment intended to make him better, and c) gets better, no power of reasoning known to medical science can convince him that it may not have been the treatment that restored his health.”
Peter Medawar (1915–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ordinary surroundings of life which are esteemed by men (as their actions testify) to be the highest good, may be classed under the three heads — Riches, Fame, and the Pleasures of Sense: with these three the mind is so absorbed that it has little power to reflect on any different good.”
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) said by 1677 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One cannot demand of a scholar that he show himself a scholar everywhere in society, but the whole tenor of his behavior must none the less betray the thinker, he must always be instructive, his way of judging a thing must even in the smallest matters be such that people can see what it will amount to when, quietly and self-collected, he puts this power to scholarly use.”
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) said by 1799 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Peace or war, we are in the midst of a relentless struggle for power. Woe to the weak! Turn your back on the purveyors of soothing syrup!”
Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) said by 1929 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source