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Power
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“What man calls Absolute Being, his God, is his own being. The power of the object over him is therefore the power of his own being. Thus, the power of the object of feeling is the power of feeling itself; the power of the object of reason is the power of reason itself; and the power of the object of will is the power of will itself.”
Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804–1872) said by 1872 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction, Z. Hanfi, trans., in The Fiery Brook (1972), p. 102
“The definition of power as domination is just one of many and not even the most popular or powerful form of power. In fact, that version of power is WEAK POWER. Weak because it is fragile, easily defeated, and requires constant effort to maintain usually in the form of propaganda, lies and violence. This is because weak power can’t inspire or persuade. It has no vision. It is not true power.”
Heather Brooke (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On reflection, it is not even clear if military power is a transitive relationship. Until we have defined more explicitly how we are going to measure military power, it is not clear that if A is more powerful than B, and B more powerful than C, that A is more powerful than C.”
Andrew W. Marshall (1921–2019) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Problems of Estimating Military Power, August 1966
“People are scared in this country, to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful — very powerful. Well, so what? For goodness sake, this is God's world! We live in a moral universe. The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosevic, and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust.”
Desmond Tutu (1931–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I used many times to touch my own chest and feel, under its asthmatic quiver, the engine of the heart and lungs and blood and feel amazed at what I sensed was the enormity of the power I possessed. Not magical power, but real power. The power simply to go on, the power to endure, that is power enough, but I felt I had also the power to create, to add, to delight, to amaze and to transform.”
Stephen Fry (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[On Sajid Javid] He's chancellor of the exchequer. He's got the second or third most powerful role in government and he still doesn't feel like he can exercise power? I get this art of playing politics to get to a position where you're increasingly more powerful … but I think that politicians are so focused on amassing power that they forget about what they're amassing it for.”
Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi (born 1971) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview, as cited in "Sayeeda Warsi on Tory Islamophobia: 'It feels like I'm in an abusive relationship'", The Guardian (27 November 2019).
“Here in America, we do not pay obeisance to the powerful — in fact, we question the powerful most ardently — to do so is our birthright and a requirement of our citizenship — and so, we know well that no matter how powerful, no president will ever have dominion over objective reality.”
Jeff Flake (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People say I am powerful but I care more about impactful – in the work I do with children, adolescents, women or even institutions. Those who observe can say, ‘you are powerful,’ but it doesn’t come from me to say I am powerful.”
Graça Machel (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think it was one of the moments where faith in general becomes very important. You realize the pandemic isn’t something you alone can stop, but it’s also not something that the most powerful government or military can stop. So many of us tended to go back to that which is original – our faith in something bigger and more powerful than us – and more powerful than COVID.”
Azza Karam (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a Power, a Power that controls the moon, the stars and the sun. It is a Power that can burn all other powers. It is the Power that pervades each atom, all that is finite, all that is infinite, a Power that no one can see...It has no assistance. It is completely alone. Original.”
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (1900–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Point Where God and Man Meet (2006)
“What is true is that the idea of power corrupts. Power corrupts most rapidly those who believe in it, and it is they who will want it most. Obviously, our democratic system tends to give power to those who hunger for it and gives every opportunity to those who don’t want power to avoid getting it. Not a very satisfactory arrangement if power corrupts those who believe in it and want it.”
Gregory Bateson (1904–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It will make a weak man mighty; It will make a mighty man fall. It will fill your heart and hands; Or leave you with nothing at all. It's the eyes for the blind And legs for the lame. It is love for hate, And pride for shame.That's the power of the gospel. That's the power of the gospel. That's the power of the mighty power. That's the power of the gospel.”
Ben Harper (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No, I cannot believe in the light of this speech that the reward of Lysenko's triumphant career is the advance of scientific knowledge; nor that it is the prosperity of poor peasants. The reward he is so eagerly grasping is Power, power for himself, power to threaten, power to torture, power to kill.”
Ronald Fisher (1890–1962) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What sort of man is Lysenko?", Listener, 40: 874-875 (1948)
“The necessity for power is obvious, because life cannot be lived without order; but the allocation of power is arbitrary because all men are alike, or very nearly. Yet power must not seem to be arbitrarily allocated, because it will not then be recognized as power. Therefore prestige, which is illusion, is of the very essence of power.”
Simone Weil (1909–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...understanding information entropy in the power grid per kilowatt of power delivered or the radio frequency communication power expended within the power grid per kilowatt of power delivered will be more valuable than understanding the detailed packet structure of a half-dozen supervisory control and data acquisition protocols.”
Stephen F Bush (born 1950) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bush, Stephen F., Smart Grid: Communication-Enabled Intelligence for the Electric Power Grid, ISBN: 978-1-119-97580-9, 576 pages, March 2014, Wiley-IEEE Press.
“Information is power. In pyramids, power is concentrated, so also information, which is hidden or kept to be used at the right time, with a view to accumulating and concentrating more power. In networks, power is deconcentrated, and so is information, which is distributed and disseminated so that everyone has access to the power that their possession represents.”
Chico Whitaker (born 1931) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1993
“Passion! Passion! We live by this and nothing else. Passion is the power of prayer. The power of will. The power of meditation. The power of the way of the gods. Passion, in other words, is the power of spiritual concentration. And spiritual concentration is the one and only gateway to the realm of mystery and wonder.”
Hiratsuka Raichō (1886–1971) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In The Beginning Woman Was The Sun (『元始、女性は太陽であった』, Genshi, josei wa taiyō de atta), first published 1971-1973; translated by Teruko Craig in
“The power argument is an argument so powerful in its structure, so compelling in its delivery that when we assume the power stance the argument cannot be defeated. The power argument need not fill the air with noise. It need not create pandemonium. It need not destroy the opponent. It can be quiet. Gentle. It can embrace love, not anger, understanding, not hate.”
Gerry Spence (1929–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We always think that if we believe in certain things, there is only one way of true believing, which I think sometimes will collude with the powerful way. We think everybody should believe like that. Why? Because we have power. We have the power to coerce. We have the power to discipline.”
Kwok Pui-lan (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Her message to women and girls of the world] You are more powerful than you can possibly imagine. You are more powerful than you can possibly imagine. And it is incumbent upon you to use that power--not only for yourself, but for everyone else around you.”
Jennifer Beals (born 1963) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Global Health TV Interview at Women Deliver Conference (16 June 2010).
“The great man, whether we comprehend him in the most intense activity of his work or in the restful equipoise of his forces, is powerful, involuntarily and composedly powerful, but he is not avid for power. What he is avid for is the realization of what he has in mind, the incarnation of the spirit.”
Martin Buber (1878–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As much as I love the heroine of my last books, and as much as she represents everything that virtuous power could be, I wanted to write a fantasy book that talks about what happens when there’s simply too much space between the most powerful person and the least powerful person in any government.”
Jordan Ifueko (born 1993) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Being successful yet humble; with power comes a lot of pride and you may not mean to portray it but at times it catches up with you. However, when you walk through that path and still keep humble, it means being powerful. Only powerful people are able to do that.”
Anita Beryl (born 1986) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The biggest danger to our rights today is not from government acting against the will of the majority but from government which has become the mere instrument of that majority. Think about it. That's where the abuse of power comes from. Not the tyranny of the King but the tyranny of the majority. Wrong will be done as much by an all-powerful people as by an all-powerful Prince.”
James Madison (misattributed) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This appears to be a manufactured quote for a PBS documentary on the American Revolution, created by condensing, rewriting, and paraphrasing portions of a lengthy letter James Madison wrote to Thomas Jefferson on 17 Oct…
“Transparency can help citizens hold the powerful to account; but it can also be used by the powerful to control citizens by making their lives transparent through surveillance. For transparency to be just, it must always be considered in relationship to power.”
Heather Brooke (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Power over the rules is real power. That's why lobbyists congregate when Congress writes laws, and why the Supreme Court, which interprets and delineates the Constitution – the rules for writing the rules – has even more power than Congress. If you want to understand the deepest malfunctions of systems, pay attention to the rules and to who has power over them.”
Donella Meadows (1941–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I define power as control over one’s life. Pay is not about power. Pay is about giving up power to get the power of pay.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pay is about the power we forfeit to get the power of pay. For example, we forfeit power when we work for others, not ourselves, but we get the power of the paycheck when we do that.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People keep saying, "How’d you get power?" Nobody gives you power. I'll tell you what power is. Power in my estimation is if people will listen to you. That’s it.”
David Miscavige (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I submit respectfully to the House as a general principle that our responsibility in this matter is directly proportionate to our power. Where there is great power there is great responsibility, where there is less power there is less responsibility, and where there is no power there can, I think, be no responsibility.”
Winston Churchill (1874–1965) first seen 1906 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In the House of Commons, February 28, 1906 speech South African native races
“What is good? — All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man. What is bad? — All that proceeds from weakness. What is happiness? — The feeling that power increases — that a resistance is overcome.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation's greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks at (26 October 1963)
“More fundamentally, however, the answer to petitioners' objection is that there can be no impairment of executive power, whether on the state or federal level, where actions pursuant to that power are impermissible under the Constitution. Where there is no power, there can be no impairment of power.”
William J. Brennan Jr. (1906–1997) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Writing for the court, Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 353 (1976).
“You let men in power assume power "for the Little Man". But you yourself remain silent. You give men in power or impotent people with evil intentions the power to represent you. Only too late do you realize that again and again you are being defrauded.”
Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think [that] '[t]he judicial Power of the United States' conferred upon this Court 'and such inferior courts as Congress may establish', must be deemed to be the judicial power as understood by our common-law tradition. That is the power 'to say what the law is', Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 177 (1803), not the power to change it.”
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: James M. Beam Distilling Co. v. Georgia, 501 U.S. 529 (1991) (concurring).
“Mind and body were originally one. Do not think that the power you have is only the power you ordinarily use and moan that you have little strength. The power you ordinarily use is like the small visible segment of an iceberg. When we unify our mind and body and become one with the universe, we can use the great power that is naturally ours.”
Koichi Tohei (1920–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The power of thought is the light of knowledge, the power of will is the energy of character, the power of heart is love. Reason, love and power of will are perfections of man.”
Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804–1872) said by 1872 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction, Z. Hanfi, trans., in The Fiery Brook (1972), p. 99
“I hate government. I hate power. I think that man's existence, insofar as he achieves anything, is to resist power, to minimize power, to devise systems of society in which power is the least exerted.”
Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a video excerpt of a British TV interview of Muggeridge with Oswald Mosley, used by Adam Curtis in Part 3 of his 2007 BBC documentary series, The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom.
“I think art is the only political power, the only revolutionary power, the only evolutionary power, the only power to free humankind form all repression. I say not that art has already realized this, on the contrary, and because it has not, it has to be developed as a weapon, at first there are radical levels, then you can speak about special details.”
Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in: Robert C. Morgan (1978). The Role of Documentation in Conceptual Art: : An Aesthetic Inquiry. p. 176.
“In the end, black power can claim no higher moral standing than white power. [...] No power can long insist on itself without evoking an opposing power.”
Shelby Steele (born 1946) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race In America (1991), p. 19
“…This is everyone’s struggle—whether against men in the family, or against capitalism. It’s power. I don’t think that people in power can be convinced by words or articles. They will never give it up by choice. Even a husband in the house, no—power has to be taken with power…”
Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On struggles against oppression in “An Interview With Nawal El Saadawi” in The Nation (2011 Mar 21)
“Power is no linger seen as inheriting its legitimacy from some divine authority; it is a mere convention which we adhere to because we are born and educated into it, and because we see others conform to it. Its strength lies in the fact that we believe that others believe in it: power is no more than the illusion of power. The exercise of power is a constant fight to keep up appearances.”
Ivar Ekeland (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That’s power, Mitch, absolute power. And you know the old saying. Power ennobles. Absolute power ennobles absolutely.”
Frederik Pohl (1919–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Power is not a pre-existing thing which can be handed out to someone, or wrenched from someone. We have seen again and again the failure of "power" conferred. You could give me dozens of cases. The division of power is not the thing to be considered, but the method of organization which will generate power.”
Mary Parker Follett (1868–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Follett (1942, 110), cited in: Seth Kreisberg (1992). Transforming Power: Domination, Empowerment, and Education. p. 71
“Heat is simply motive power, or rather motion which has changed form. It is a movement among the particles of bodies. Wherever there is destruction of motive power there is, at the same time, production of heat in quantity exactly proportional to the quantity of motive power destroyed. Reciprocally, wherever there is destruction of heat, there is production of motive power.”
Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (1796–1832) said by 1832 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think that feminist writers have been writing with power and pride, but I am suggesting that we have to invent new images and ways of power. So far the world thinks of power as violence, that power comes from a gun. We must create a new kind of drama in which there is drama, but it's nonviolent. And this has barely been thought of. (1990)”
Maxine Hong Kingston (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have only our organization, fellow workers; they have capital; they have the power of the government, the slugging community of the capitalist class; they have the power of the state; they have the power of international capital — and we have but our power of organization.”
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People like me,” he says, “are either in power and fighting to stay in power, or we are not in power and fighting to be in power.”
Imad Rahman wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I look on Native women's writing as a gift, a give-away of the truest meaning. Our spirit, our sweat, our tears, our laughter, our love, our anger, our bodies are distilled into words that we bead together to make power. Not power over anything. Power. Power that speaks to hearts as well as to minds.”
Beth Brant (1941–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It symbolizes the three components of power: power, power and power.”
Walter Moers (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source