“Power is as power does.”
Source: Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went (1975), Chapter X, The Impeccable System, p. 118
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John Kenneth Galbraith207
American economist and diplomat 1908–2006Related quotes
“Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.”
Frank Herbert (1920–1986) American writer
“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”
John Steinbeck book The Short Reign of Pippin IV
The Short Reign of Pippin IV (1957), p. 102
“The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine power at all. He is not seeking power.”
Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic
Living in Truth (1986), An Anatomy of Reticence
Context: The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine power at all. He is not seeking power. He has no desire for office and does not gather votes. He does not attempt to charm the public, he offers nothing and promises nothing. He can offer, if anything, only his own skin — and he offers it solely because he has no other way of affirming the truth he stands for. His actions simply articulate his dignity as a citizen, regardless of the cost.
Charles Darwin book On the Origin of Species (1859)
Source: On the Origin of Species (1859), chapter XV: "Recapitulation and Conclusion", page 421 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=449&itemID=F391&viewtype=image, in the sixth (1872) edition
“Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle.”
Black Elk (1863–1950) Oglala Lakota leader
Source: Black Elk Speaks (1961), Ch. 17 : The First Cure
Context: Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our tepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop.
Sarah Zettel (1966) American writer
Source: Bitter Angels (2009), Chapter 11 (p. 144)
“Recognizing power in another does not diminish your own.”
Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film
Robert Gilpin (1930–2018) Political scientist
Source: The Political Economy of International Relations (1987), Chapter One, Nature of Political Economy, p. 14