“The deckhands are in control, and the base have the upper hand over the noble.”
Source: Elegies, Line 667
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Theognis of Megara 16
Greek lyric poet active in approximately the sixth century … -570–-485 BCRelated quotes

Croire qu’on s’élève parce qu’en gardant les mêmes bas penchants (exemple : désir de l’emporter sur autrui) on leur a donné des objets élevés. On s’élèverait au contraire en attachant à des objets bas des penchants élevés.
La pesanteur et la grâce (1948), p. 61
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 48 (1972 edition)

Riyadh-as-Saliheen by Imam Al-Nawawi, volume 4, hadith number 531
Sunni Hadith
Source: The transformation of corporate control, 1993, p. 10 ; As cited in: François L'Italien, BÉHÉMOTH CAPITAL. Contribution à une théorie dialectique de la financiarisation de la grande corporation. Université Laval, 2012. p. 147 (Many of the following quotes came from this source)

2016, Memorial Service for Fallen Dallas Police Officers (July 2016)
Context: For all of us, life presents challenges and suffering -- accidents, illnesses, the loss of loved ones. There are times when we are overwhelmed by sudden calamity, natural or manmade. All of us, we make mistakes. And at times we are lost. And as we get older, we learn we don’t always have control of things -- not even a President does. But we do have control over how we respond to the world. We do have control over how we treat one another.

Address to the National Education Association (30 June 1938)
1930s

“Circumstances over which I have no control.”
Phrase said to have first been used by Wellington, as quoted in notes for 18 September 1836
I hope you will not think I am deficient in feeling toward you, or that I am wanting in desire to serve you, because the results of my attempts have failed, owing to circumstances over which I have no control.
As quoted in The Life and Letters of Lady Hester Stanhope (1914) http://www.archive.org/details/lifelettersoflad00clevuoft edited by Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Powlett, Duchess of Cleveland
Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington (1886)