“Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.”
Section 78
The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)
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Eric Hoffer240
American philosopher 1898–1983Related quotes
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools
The Functions of Criticism at the Present Time (1864)
Robert K. Merton book Social Theory and Social Structure
Source: Social Theory and Social Structure (1949), p. 477 (1968 Enlarged edition)
Context: The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come "true". This specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning.
“Dream beautiful dreams and then work to make those dreams come true.”
Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
“Disappointment can come only to those who make appointments with the future.”
Chinmayananda Saraswati (1916–1993) Indian spiritual teacher
Quotations from Gurudev’s teachings, Chinmya Mission Chicago
Variant: Disappointment can come only to those who make appointments with the future.
“I lied. And my embarrassment was so great that I changed everything else to make the lie true.”
James Richardson (1950) American poet
#403
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten Second Essays (2001)
James Branch Cabell book The Cream of the Jest
"Richard Fentnor Harroby" in Ch. 1 : Pallation of the Gambit
The Cream of the Jest (1917)
Context: I also begin where he began, and follow wither the dream led him. Meanwhile, I can but entreat you to remember it is only by preserving faith in human dreams that we may, after all, perhaps some day make them come true.