“He was learning that power—the great power that shattered lives and twisted the course of nations—was like a fog over a meadow at evening. From any distance, it seemed to have a shape, a substance, a color, an edge, yet as you approached it, it seemed to recede before you. Finally, when common sense said you were at its very center, it still seemed just as far away, only by this time it was on all sides, obscuring any vision of the world beyond it.”
Section 2 (p. 37)
Tales of Nevèrÿon (1979)
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Samuel R. Delany 131
American author, professor and literary critic 1942Related quotes
Source: Under the Volcano (1947), Ch. VII (*p. 200)

“You could rule the nation—and yet you don’t seem to go after that power.”
The mayor frowned. “Power, Mrs. O’Hare? You mean the chance to make laws and compel others to do what you want them to? Why, good heavens, Mrs. O’Hare, who in his right mind would want that?”
Servant of the People (p. 254)
Platinum Pohl (2005)

As quoted in The ArtSlut's Guide to Makin' It — As a Visual Artist (2007) by Barb Benson
Context: You have to dream, you have to have a vision, and you have to set a goal for yourself that might even scare you a little because sometimes that seems far beyond your reach. Then I think you have to develop a kind of resistance to rejection, and to the disappointments that are sure to come your way.

2 April 1967; p. 63
1960's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde' (1965 - 1969)