“Responsible for wrapping the iron fist of authority in its velvet glove is Jane Axtell, head of the accountancy firm’s Human Resources department.”

—  Alain de Botton

Source: The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (2009), p. 244.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Responsible for wrapping the iron fist of authority in its velvet glove is Jane Axtell, head of the accountancy firm’s …" by Alain de Botton?
Alain de Botton photo
Alain de Botton146
Swiss writer 1969

Related quotes

Robin Hobb photo

“Diplomacy is the velvet glove that cloaks the fist of power.”

Robin Hobb (1952) American fiction writer (pseudonym)

Alan Keyes photo

“The heart of government, coated with whatever velvet gloves you want to put on it, is a mailed fist of force and coercion.”

Alan Keyes (1950) American politician

Renew America rally in Orem, Utah, March 8, 2000. http://renewamerica.us/archives/speeches/00_03_08utah.htm. <br class="br">2000

Pietro Badoglio photo

“I slowly strangle my enemies with a velvet glove.”

Pietro Badoglio (1871–1956) Italian general during both World Wars and a Prime Minister of Italy

Io i miei nemici li strangolo lentamente col guanto di velluto.
Quoted in "Italienisch-ostafrika(1936-1941)"‎ - Page 18 - by Stefan Plenk - 2008

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington photo

“They wanted this iron fist to command them.”

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852) British soldier and statesman

Of troops sent to the Canadian frontier in the War of 1812, in notes for 8 November 1840.
Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington (1886)

“The Bill of Rights is a born rebel. It reeks with sedition. In every clause it shakes its fist in the face of constituted authority… it is the one guarantee of human freedom to the American people.”

Frank I. Cobb (1869–1923) American newspaper editor

LaFollette's Magazine (January 1920).

“Doesn't worry me,' Jane replied, I'm an accountant.”

Tom Holt book Flying Dutch

c. 8
Flying Dutch (1991)

William Shenstone photo

“Some men are called sagacious, merely on account of their avarice: whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born.”

William Shenstone (1714–1763) English gardener

Essays on Men and Manners (1804)

John F. Kennedy photo

“If the self-discipline of the free cannot match the iron discipline of the mailed fist”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

1961, Address before the American Society of Newspaper Editors
Context: If the self-discipline of the free cannot match the iron discipline of the mailed fist-in economic, political, scientific and all the other kinds of struggles as well as the military-then the peril to freedom will continue to rise.

“All large organizations have an internal power struggle over the goals and resources of the organization…. In the largest firms, there are two bases of control : formal ownership and authority. Those who own the firm control by virtue of ownership. Authority relations embedded in the organizational structure legitimate how managers can control organizations.”

Neil Fligstein (1951) American sociologist

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)

N. Gregory Mankiw photo

“Economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources. In most societies, resources are allocated not by an all-powerful dictator but through the combined actions of millions of households and firms.”

N. Gregory Mankiw (1958) American economist

Source: Principles of Economics (1998-), Ch. 1. Ten Principles of Economics; p. 4

Related topics