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“Possibly steel is so beautiful because of all the movement associated with it, its strength and functions... Yet it is also brutal: the rapist, the murderer and death-dealing giants are also its offspring.”

David Smith (1906–1965) American visual artist (1906-1965)

quote, early 1950's
Source: 1950s, from 'Abstract Expressionism' (1990), p. 40

“A strong defense is the surest way to peace. Strength makes détente attainable. Weakness invites war, as my generation—my generation—knows from four very bitter experiences.”

Gerald Ford (1913–2006) American politician, 38th President of the United States (in office from 1974 to 1977)

1970s, Address to Congress (12 August 1974)
Context: A strong defense is the surest way to peace. Strength makes détente attainable. Weakness invites war, as my generation—my generation—knows from four very bitter experiences. Just as America's will for peace is second to none, so will America's strength be second to none. We cannot rely on the forbearance of others to protect this Nation. The power and diversity of the Armed Forces, active Guard and Reserve, the resolve of our fellow citizens, the flexibility in our command to navigate international waters that remain troubled are all essential to our security.

“A gun makes a loud and satisfying noise in a moment of passion and requires no agility and very little strength. How many murders wouldn't happen, if they all had to use hammers and knives?”

John D. MacDonald (1916–1986) writer from the United States

Travis McGee series, The Scarlet Ruse (1973)
Context: Way over half the murders committed in this country are by close friends or relatives of the deceased. A gun makes a loud and satisfying noise in a moment of passion and requires no agility and very little strength. How many murders wouldn't happen, if they all had to use hammers and knives?

“I have an essay with the title "Eyes in their Last Extremity".
The title comes from the suicide note of the short-story writer Akutagawa Ryunosuke… It is the phrase that pulls at me with the greatest strength.”

Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972) Japanese author, Nobel Prize winner

Japan, the Beautiful and Myself (1969)
Context: I have an essay with the title "Eyes in their Last Extremity".
The title comes from the suicide note of the short-story writer Akutagawa Ryunosuke... It is the phrase that pulls at me with the greatest strength. Akutagawa said that he seemed to be gradually losing the animal something known as the strength to live, and continued:
"I am living in a world of morbid nerves, clear and cold as ice... I do not know when I will summon up the resolve to kill myself. But nature is for me more beautiful than it has ever been before. I have no doubt that you will laugh at the contradiction, for here I love nature even when I am contemplating suicide. But nature is beautiful because it comes to my eyes in their last extremity."
Akutagawa committed suicide in 1927, at the age of thirty-five.
In my essay, "Eyes in their Last Extremity", I had to say: "How ever alienated one may be from the world, suicide is not a form of enlightenment. However admirable he may be, the man who commits suicide is far from the realm of the saint." I neither admire nor am in sympathy with suicide.

“Great men have the nature of a child. They are always a child before Him; so they are free from pride. All their strength is of God and not their own. It belongs to Him and comes from Him.”

Ramakrishna (1836–1886) Indian mystic and religious preacher

Source: Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna (1960), p. 124
Context: If you feel proud, let it be in the thought that you are the servant of God, the son of God. Great men have the nature of a child. They are always a child before Him; so they are free from pride. All their strength is of God and not their own. It belongs to Him and comes from Him.

“Philosophy is certainly the medicine of the soul. Its aid is to be sought not from without, as in diseases of the body; and we must labour with all our resources and with all our strength to cure ourselves.”
Est profecto animi medicina, philosophia; cuius auxilium non ut in corporis morbis petendum est foris, omnibusque opibus viribus, ut nosmet ipsi nobis mederi possimus, elaborandum est.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

Book III, Chapter III; translation by Walter Miller
Tusculanae Disputationes – Tusculan Disputations (45 BC)

“Here the free spirit of mankind, at length,
Throws its last fetters off; and who shall place
A limit to the giant's unchained strength,
Or curb his swiftness in the forward race!”

William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) American romantic poet and journalist

The Ages http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16341/16341-h/16341-h.htm#page1, st. XXXIII (1821)

“I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun
Brilliance of moon
Splendor of fire
Speed of lightning
Swiftness of wind
Depth of sea
Stability of earth
Firmness of rock.”

Saint Patrick (385–461) 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland

The Lorica of Patrick

“To him, the one Absolute Conscience, in every moral disaster our conscience turns for assured refuge and certain renewal of moral courage and strength. That is the real act and infallible function of Prayer.”

George Holmes Howison (1834–1916) American philosopher

Source: The Limits of Evolution, and Other Essays, Illustrating the Metaphysical Theory of Personal Ideaalism (1905), Appendix B: The System in its Ethical Necessity and its Practical Bearings, p.403

“You will perhaps say that the sinews and muscles of a bird are incomparably more powerful than those of a man… But the reply to this is that such great strength gives it a reserve of power beyond what it ordinarily uses…”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938), XVII Flight

“Show me what I have to do,
Every hour my strength renew;
Let me live a life of faith,
Let me die Thy people's death.”

John Newton (1725–1807) Anglican clergyman and hymn-writer

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 266.

“Give, and thou shalt receive. Give thoughts of cheer,
Of courage and success, to friend and stranger.
And from a thousand sources, far and near,
Strength will be sent thee in thy hour of danger.”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American author and poet

Give
Poetry quotes, New Thought Pastels (1913)

“I was too shy to ask him for advice so I watched him carefully and tried to dissect everything he did. Then I would try to emulate his strengths.”

Paul Scholes (1974) English footballer

http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2014/07/juventus-star-pogba-i-became-a-better-player-from-watching-scholes-at-manchester-united/
Paul Pogba

“Germany is the power in whose strength, prosperity, and vigorous government, Europe has the most vital interest, because she is the Power best able from her position to deal with Russia.”

John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Liberal statesman, writer and newspaper editor

Fortnightly Review (January 1877), p. 139
1870s

“It is easy to romanticise, say, tigers or lions and cats. We admire their magnificent beauty, strength and agility. But we would regard their notional human counterparts as wanton psychopaths of the worst kind.”

David Pearce (philosopher) (1959) British transhumanist

1.10 On the Misguided Romanticisation of Feline Psychopaths https://www.hedweb.com/hedethic/hedon1.htm#feline <br class="br"> The Hedonistic Imperative https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/514875 (1995)

“Walking away from an abusive relationship is a sign of strength. It shows the world that you know your worth and your rights and that you will not allow anyone to walk all over you.”

Patricia de Lille (1951) Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

Source: On 30 August 2018, De Lille spoke to 130 residents of a women's shelter in Cape Town. As quoted by Dave Chambers in Like you‚ I will survive‚ De Lille tells abused women https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-08-30-like-you-i-will-survive-de-lille-tells-abused-women/. TimesLIVE, (30 August 2018)