"Sleep and Poetry", st. 11
Poems (1817)
“It is impalpable, illusory, transient; "'tis here, 'tis there, 'tis gone"; a nullity which can nevertheless for a moment endow the multitude with power to uplift or destroy.”
Man in the Modern Age (1933)
Context: The 'public' is a phantom, the phantom of an opinion supposed to exist in a vast number of persons who have no effective interrelation and though the opinion is not effectively present in the units. Such an opinion is spoken of as 'public opinion,' a fiction which is appealed to by individuals and by groups as supporting their special views. It is impalpable, illusory, transient; "'tis here, 'tis there, 'tis gone"; a nullity which can nevertheless for a moment endow the multitude with power to uplift or destroy.
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Karl Jaspers 44
German psychiatrist and philosopher 1883–1969Related quotes
“Tis the first art of kings, the power to suffer hate.”
ars prima regni est posse invidiam pati.
Hercules Furens (The Madness of Hercules), lines 353; (Lycus)
Alternate translation: To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power (translator unknown).
Tragedies
“Then, everlasting Love, restrain thy will;
'Tis god-like to have power, but not to kill.”
The Chances (c. 1613–25; 1647), Act II, scene 2. Song.
“God's justice and His power are inseparable; 'tis in vain we invoke His power in an unjust cause.”
Book I, Ch. 56. Of Prayers
Essais (1595), Book I
Context: God's justice and His power are inseparable; 'tis in vain we invoke His power in an unjust cause. We are to have our souls pure and clean, at that moment at least wherein we pray to Him, and purified from all vicious passions; otherwise we ourselves present Him the rods wherewith to chastise us; instead of repairing anything we have done amiss, we double the wickedness and the offence when we offer to Him, to whom we are to sue for pardon, an affection full of irreverence and hatred. Which makes me not very apt to applaud those whom I observe to be so frequent on their knees, if the actions nearest to the prayer do not give me some evidence of amendment and reformation
Joseph Chamberlain
(1836–1914) British businessman, politician, and statesman
Cheers.
Speech in Birmingham (16 May 1902), quoted in The Times (17 May 1902), p. 12
1900s
“Seek not the measure of matter; fix your gaze
Upon the power of reason, not of bulk;
For reason 'tis that all things overcomes.”
Materiae ne quaere modum; sed perspice vires
Quas ratio, non pondus habet; ratio omnia vincit.
Materiae ne quaere modum; sed perspice vires
Quas ratio, non pondus habet; ratio omnia vincit.
Book IV, line 924, as reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of Quotations (classical) (1897), p. 130.
Astronomica
Joseph Chamberlain
(1836–1914) British businessman, politician, and statesman
Speech in Birmingham (9 July 1906), quoted in The Times (10 July 1906), p. 11
1900s