“In established interests are the most powerful force of resistance to good.”
“I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.”
As quoted in The Civil Sphere (2006) by Jeffrey C. Alexander, p. 388
1960s
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Martin Luther King, Jr. 658
American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Ci… 1929–1968Related quotes
McKenna interview (1992)
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Noam Chomsky, letter dated June 13, 1983. Published in: " The reasons for my concern: Response to Celia Jakubowicz http://www.chomsky.info/letters/19830613.htm," in C. P. Otero (ed.), Language and Politics, Black Rose, 1988, pp. 369-72.
Quotes 1960s-1980s, 1980s
“Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.”
Variants: "... is man’s greatest invention" and "... is the eighth wonder of the world".
May add: "He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it."
This Snopes article http://www.snopes.com/quotes/einstein/interest.asp concluded that its status was uncertain, while this post from The Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/10/31/compound-interest/ concludes it is most likely a false attribution, since variants of the quote date back to at least 1916, with the early variants not being attributed to Einstein.
Disputed
From Zoran Djindjic's speech held to students of Banja Luka University, 20.02.2003.
“I find that whenever I am in power, or my father was in power, somehow good things happen.”
As quoted in "I never asked for power" in The Guardian (15 August 2002)
Context: I find that whenever I am in power, or my father was in power, somehow good things happen. The economy picks up, we have good rains, water comes, people have crops. I think the reason this happens is that we want to give love and we receive love.
The Personality of Jesus (1932)
Context: Imperialist powers are blinded by tradition, prestige and self-interest, and vainly imagine that it is for the good of humanity that they should perpetuate their rule and continue to bear "the white man's burden." Their assumption of superiority and the contemptuous way in which they often treat the "natives" is humiliating and degrading.
“I think people in power have a vested interest to oppose critical thinking.”
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/carl-sagan-science-is-a-way-of-thinking/
Carl Sagan: 'Science Is a Way of Thinking', Science Friday interview from May 1996
27 December 2013