
“We are only puppets, our strings are being pulled by unknown forces.”
Act II.
Dantons Tod (Danton's Death) (1835)
Source: Vijaya in Island (1962)
“We are only puppets, our strings are being pulled by unknown forces.”
Act II.
Dantons Tod (Danton's Death) (1835)
“Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power”
X, 38
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X
Context: Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life,—there, if one must speak out, the real man.
“Pull the string and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.”
Wir müssen alle einmal erlöst werden. Die Welt zieht uns mit tausend Banden. Wir fehlen aus Gleichgültigkeit und Nachsicht und häufen neue eigene Schuld auf alte ererbte. Unser Leben ist eine Kette aus Schuld und Sühne, darüber ein nach unerforschlichen Gesetzen wirkendes Schicksal waltet.
Michael: a German fate in diary notes (1926)
Preface
The Power-House (1916)
Context: I once played the chief part in a rather exciting business without ever once budging from London. And the joke of it was that the man who went out to look for adventure only saw a bit of the game, and I who sat in my chambers saw it all and pulled the strings. 'They also serve who only stand and wait,' you know.
Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking