Quotes about power
A collection of quotes on the topic of power, use, people, doing.
Quotes about power
“We are just cogs and nuts of a few stupid people in power.”
José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor
Source: La Otra Historia.
Radio show.
Andrzej Majewski (1966) Polish writer and photographer
Niewolnik marzy o wolności, człowiek wolny o bogactwie, bogacz o władzy, a władca o wolności.
Aphorisms. Magnum in Parvo (2000)
Sukavich Rangsitpol (1935) Thai politician
All for Education
Marek Żukow-Karczewski (1961) Polish historian, journalist and opinion journalist
Tenczyn - a "Bastille"-type castle of the Tenczyński family, "Aura" 2, 1990-02, p. 19-21. http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.agro-7ab5a4ef-bee9-490b-8838-4917699dfedc?q=d88195b-abee-4385-bd61-43f313e62483$6&qt=IN_PAGE
“WITH GREAT POWER THERE MUST ALSO COME--GREAT RESPONSIBILITY!”
Stan Lee (1922–2018) American comic book writer
Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) – The first Spider-Man story.
In later stories and adaptations, including the 2002 movie, this has appeared as "With great power comes great responsibility."
The saying pre-dates Amazing Fantasy. The phrase "with great power goes great responsibility" was spoken by J. Hector Fezandie in an 1894 graduation address at The Stevens Institute of Technology - "The Moral Influence of a Scientific Education", The Stevens Indicator, Volume 11, Page 217. The exact phrase was repeated during a speech by President Harry S. Truman in November 1950 - Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 6666 (published 1965), Page 703. A UK Member of Parliament implied in 1817 that a variant of it was already a cliché ([1817, 1227, Parliamentary Debates, Thomas C. Hansard, http://books.google.co.uk/books?lr=&output=text&as_brr=0&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1850&id=B6w9AAAAcAAJ&dq=%22great-power+*+great-responsibility%22&q=%22%22that%2Bthe%2Bpossession%2Bof%2Bgreat%2Bpower%2Bnecessarily%2Bimplies%2Bgreat%2Bresponsibility%22%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26ei%3DYX5WUqnYGaiO4wT9poCwBQ%26ved%3D0CDMQ6wEwAA%23v%3Donepage%26q%3D%22that+the+possession+of+great+power+necessarily+implies+great+responsibility%22%26f%3Dfalse%22#v=onepage&q=%22%22that%2Bthe%2Bpossession%2Bof%2Bgreat%2Bpower%2Bnecessarily%2Bimplies%22&f=false, October 10, 2013, He should, however, beg leave to remind the conductors of the press of their duty to apply to themselves a maxim which they never neglected to urge on the consideration of government—" that the possession of great power necessarily implies great responsibility."] The editor is quoting William Lamb (pp. 1125–1229)). The sentiment is also found in Luke 12:48: "from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (NIV).
“Tell the your emperor; Where my power has reached, Emperor's dreams can not reach!”
Mehmed II (1432–1481) Ottoman sultan
While Constantinople was besieged, Mehmed's response to the Byzantine ambassador
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) British singer, songwriter and record producer
As quoted in "Rock On Freddie" (1985).
Audre Lorde book The Cancer Journals
The Cancer Journals, Special Edition, Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco, CA, 1997, p. 13.
“I feel safe in the midst of my enemies, for the truth is all powerful and will prevail.”
Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist
“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
Marcus Aurelius book Meditations
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII
“The only thing greater than the power of the mind is the courage of the heart”
John Nash (1928–2015) American mathematician and Nobel Prize laureate
Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Often attributed to Stalin, there is not a single source which show that Stalin said this at any given time. There is only one source outside the blogosphere which attributes the quote to Stalin, but does not provide any evidence for the attribution. That source is the book Quotations for Public Speakers : A Historical, Literary, and Political Anthology (2001), p. 121 by the former US senator Robert Torricelli.
Misattributed
“When the power of love overcomes love of power the world will know peace.”
Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) American musician, singer and songwriter
This quote has been attributed to Hendrix on the internet, and is flatly denied to have ever been said by him, without presenting any evidence as to why, beyond such unsupported, derisive and denigrative statements such as the author rants about others making in "WHAT HENDRIX NEVER SAID : They Don't Want to Know What He Really Said and Demand a Slacker Fantasy Instead" (22 March 2010) by Michael Fairchild, at rockprophecy.com http://www.rockprophecy.com/hendrix_quotes_hoax.html. Whether or not he ever spoke them, they are very similar to those reportedly of British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, quoted in The Forbes Book of Business Quotations (1997) edited by Edward C. Goodman and Ted Goodman, p. 639: "We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace." A similar quotation he provides of Sri Chinmoy predates any currently located source of either the Hendrix or Gladstone attributions, yet he accuses Chinmoy of simple plagiarism of Gladstone (or "Gladwell" at one point). From Chinmoy's book My Heart Shall Give A Oneness-Feast (1993) he quotes: "My books, they all have only one message: the heart's Power Of Love must replace the mind's Love Of Power. If I have the Power Of Love, then I shall claim the whole World as my own … World Peace can be achieved when the Power Of Love replaces the Love Of Power." An even earlier statement of Chinmoy is found in Meditations: Food For The Soul (1970): "When the power of love replaces the love of power, man will have a new name: God." <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
“Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat.”
Hermann Göring (1893–1946) German politician and military leader
Radio broadcast (1936), as quoted in The New Language of Politics: An Anecdotal Dictionary of Catchwords, Slogans, and Political Usage (1968) by William L. Safire, p. 178
Variants:
Guns will make us strong, butter will only make us fat.
We have no butter... but I ask you, would you rather have butter or guns? Preparedness makes us powerful. Butter merely makes us fat.
Morihei Ueshiba (1883–1969) founder of aikido
Speaking of a vision of the "Great Spirit of Peace" in 1942, during World War II, as quoted in Adjusting Though Reflex : Romancing Zen (2010) by Rodger Hyodo, p. 76
Context: The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst thing a human being can do. The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent such slaughter — it is the Art of Peace, the power of love.
Billie Eilish (2001) American singer-songwriter
Source: https://www.wmagazine.com/story/billie-eilish-new-ep/
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician
Attributed to Goethe by popular British novelist Marie Corelli in her essay "The Spirit of Work" as published in The Queen's Christmas carol : an anthology of poems, stories, essays, drawings and music / by British authors, artists and composers in 1905 by The Daily Mail of London. <br class="br">Attributed to Goethe by William Hutchinson Murray, in his book The Scottish Himalayan Expedition (1951), this has been shown to be a misattribution at "German Myth 12: The Famous 'Goethe' Quotation", Answer.com http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth12.htm and "Popular Quotes: Commitment", Goethe Society of North America http://www.goethesociety.org/pages/quotescom.html <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”
George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian
“Perhaps a man really dies when his brain stops, when he loses the power to take in a new idea.”
George Orwell book Coming Up for Air
Source: Coming Up for Air, Part 3, Ch. 1
“We must leave our mark on life while we have it in our power.”
Karen Blixen (1885–1962) Danish writer
Marcus Aurelius book Meditations
Variant: If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
Source: Meditations
“Have faith in creator of this universe believe that he is omnipresent and Supreme power.”
Basava (1134–1196) a 12th-century Hindu philosopher, statesman, Kannada Bhakti poet of Lingayatism
Basavanna's Preachings
Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) German philosopher and founder of the Order of Illuminati
Die neuesten Arbeiten des Spartacus und Philo in dem Illuminaten-Orden (1794) pp. 9-10.
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party
Speech to the Reichstag, 30 January 1939, as quoted at The History Place http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/threat.htm. <br class="br">1930s
Suleiman (1494–1566) Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Mansel, Philip, Constantinople: city of the world's desire 1453-1924 (1995), p. 84
Poetry
Anton LaVey book The Satanic Bible
The Satanic Bible (1969)
Michael Jackson (1958–2009) American singer, songwriter and dancer
Handwritten note published in People (12 October 1987)
Sitting Bull (1831–1890) Hunkpapa Lakota medicine man and holy man
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5712889.Sitting_Bull <br class="br">Attributed quotes
Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights
Source: Wuthering Heights
Context: I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death; and flung it back to me. People feel with their hearts, Ellen, and since he has destroyed mine, I have not power to feel for him.
“Where there is power, there is resistance.”
Michel Foucault (1926–1984) French philosopher
Source: The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction
“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”
Stan Lee (1922–2018) American comic book writer
“The power of unfulfilled desires is the root of all man's slavery”
Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi
Source: Autobiography of a Yogi
“The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.”
Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) American novelist
Variant: The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.
Ram Dass (1931–2019) American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now
“There is only one who is all powerful, and his greatest weapon is love.”
Stan Lee (1922–2018) American comic book writer
“Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.”
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) Russian painter
Source: Concerning the Spiritual in Art
Thomas Sankara (1949–1987) President of Upper Volta
Source: Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle
Bismillah Khan (1916–2006) Indian musician
He said ‘play my son’ but I was sweating. I stopped playing.
Khan used to do riyaz (practice) before the temple of Balaji as advised by his mamu (maternal uncle) who had also told him not talk to any body about anything that might happen. But when he told his mamu about his seeing Balaji, mamu was annoyed and slapped him.
Quote, Power Profiles
Edward Jenner (1749–1823) English physician, scientist and pioneer of vaccination
The Life of Edward Jenner M.D. Vol. 2 (1838) by John Baron, p. 447
“Letters are signs of things, symbols of words, whose power is so great that without a voice they speak to us the words of the absent; for they introduce words by the eye, not by the ear.”
Litterae autem sunt indices rerum, signa verborum, quibus tanta vis est, ut nobis dicta absentium sine voce loquantur. Verba enim per oculos non per aures introducunt.
Isidore of Seville book Etymologiae
Bk. 1, ch. 3, sect. 1; p. 96.
Etymologiae
Madhvacharya (1199–1278) Hindu philosopher who founded Dvaita Vedanta school
strength
Ya, Hindu Online
Patch Adams (1945) Physician, activist, diplomat, author
As quoted in "Entrevista com o médico americano P. Adams" in Roda Viva - Entrevista (13 November 2007)
“If it ever lay in my power, I will work the Cardinal as much displeasure as he has done to me”
Anne Boleyn (1501–1536) Second wife of Henry VIII of England, mother of Queen Elizabeth I of England
About her dislike of Cardinal Wolsey, "Anne Bleyn" http://www.sixwives.info/anne-boleyn.htm, quote under section "Anne Boleyn and Henry Percy", The Tudors
Madhvacharya (1199–1278) Hindu philosopher who founded Dvaita Vedanta school
Quoted from [Martha Bush Ashton, Martha Bush Ashton-Sikora, Bruce Christie, Yakṣagāna, a Dance Drama of India, 23, http://books.google.com/books?id=ug3DNI-1xwUC&pg=PA23, 1977, Abhinav Publications, 23–].
“Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence.”
Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) Indian religious leader
Abide as the Self
Hermann Göring (1893–1946) German politician and military leader
To Leon Goldensohn (24 May 1946)
The Nuremberg Interviews (2004)
“Do not hurry over punishments and do not be pleased and do not be proud of your power to punish.”
Ali book Nahj al-Balagha
Nahj al-Balagha, Letter 53: An order to Malik Al-Ashtar
Serena Williams (1981) American tennis player
usopen.org http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2014-08-30/201408301409438446669.html
“Women in most cultures have been stripped of their spiritual power.”
Dan Brown (1964) American author
Interview at Brown's official site http://www.danbrown.com/novels/davinci_code/faqs.html <br class="br">Context: Two thousand years ago, we lived in a world of Gods and Goddesses. Today, we live in a world solely of Gods. Women in most cultures have been stripped of their spiritual power.
Paul Karl Feyerabend book Science in a Free Society
pg 9.
Science in a Free Society (1978)
Context: A free society is a society in which all traditions have equal rights and equal access to the centers of power. A tradition receives these rights not because the importance the cash value, as it were) it has for outsiders but because it gives meaning to the lives of those who participate in it.
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
"Experiments With Alternate Currents Of High Potential And High Frequency" (February 1892)
Context: Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point of the universe. This idea is not novel. Men have been led to it long ago by instinct or reason; it has been expressed in many ways, and in many places, in the history of old and new. We find it in the delightful myth of Antaeus, who derives power from the earth; we find it among the subtle speculations of one of your splendid mathematicians and in many hints and statements of thinkers of the present time. Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic! If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic — and this we know it is, for certain — then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature.
“My top priority is for people to understand that they have the power to change things themselves.”
Aung San Suu Kyi (1945) State Counsellor of Myanmar and Leader of the National League for Democracy
Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights
Heathcliff (Ch. XIV).
Source: Wuthering Heights (1847)
Context: I was a fool to fancy for a moment that she valued Edgar Linton's attachment more than mine; if he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn't love as much in eighty years as I could in a day. And Catherine has a heart as deep as I have; the sea could be as readily contained in that house-trough as her whole affection be monopolized by him. Tush! He is scarcely a degree dearer to her than her dog, or her horse. It is not in him to be loved like me; how can she love in him what he has not?
Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer
A New Earth (2005)
Variant: Nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now, and if the past cant prevent you from being present now, what power does it have?
Source: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian
Source: The Essential Groucho: Writings For By And About Groucho Marx
“Know that the philosopher has power over the stars, and not the stars over him.”
Paracelsus (1493–1541) Swiss physician and alchemist
“Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Source: Books, Coningsby (1844), Endymion (1880), Ch. 8.
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
British Telecom advertisement (1993), part of which was used in Pink Floyd's Keep Talking (1994) and Talkin' Hawkin'<nowiki/> (2014)
Context: For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn't have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.
“Saying farewell is also a bold and powerful beginning.”
Aron Ralston Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Source: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach
Source: Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court


