Quotes about power
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“I believe in the power of laughter and tears as an antidote to hatred and terror”

Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British comic actor and filmmaker

Tear, Laughter

“Power consists to a large extent in deciding what stories will be told.”

Carolyn G. Heilbrun (1926–2003) Academic, novelist

“For it is in your power to retire into yourself whenever you choose.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

“To confide is sometime to deliver into a person's power”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Les Misérables

Confidence, Personality

“Perhaps we shall learn, as we pass through this age, that the 'other self" is more powerful than the physical self we see when we look into a mirror.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Source: Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

Age, Learning

“Books, I found, had the power to make time
stand still, retreat or fly into the future.”

Jim Bishop (1907–1987) American journalist and author

Books, Time, Future, Flying

“Look at the rain long enough, with no thoughts in your head, and you gradually feel your body falling loose, shaking free of the world of reality. Rain has the power to hypnotize.”

Haruki Murakami book South of the Border, West of the Sun

Source: South of the Border, West of the Sun

World, Feeling, Reality

“Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

“Socrates and Jesus, two teachers of virtue and love, were executed because of the unsettling, threatening power of their souls, which was revealed in their personal lives and in their words.”

Thomas Moore (1779–1852) Irish poet, singer and songwriter

Source: Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life

Love, Soul, Teachers, Personality

“What is there possibly left for us to be afraid of, after we have dealt face to face with death and not embraced it? Once I accept the existence of dying as a life process, who can ever have power over me again?”

Audre Lorde book The Cancer Journals

Source: The Cancer Journals

Life, Death

“Nor did I need anyone's pity, but I would accept it with grace, because I have been well trained. Rudeness was a sign of weakness. Grace stemmed from power, the powere to accept anything and move on.”

Robin Wasserman book Skinned

Source: Skinned

Training

“Let me get this straight. First you decide I'm a demon because of a power I didn't ask for and don't even understand. Then when that falls through you label me a fallen sybil and a ho. Am I missing something or do you just not like me”

Karen Chance book Touch the Dark

Source: Touch the Dark

Understanding

“The history of the twentieth century was dominated by the struggle against totalitarian systems of state power. The twenty-first will no doubt be marked by a struggle to curtail excessive corporate power.”

Eric Schlosser book Fast Food Nation

Source: Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

History

“The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

James Madison Federalist Papers

Federalist No. 47 (30 January 1788) Federalist (Dawson)/46 Full text at Wikisource http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The <br class="br">Source: 1780s, Federalist Papers (1787–1788) <br class="br">Context: One of the principal objections inculcated by the more respectable adversaries to the Constitution is its supposed violation of the political maxim, that the Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary departments ought to be separate and distinct. In the structure of the Fœderal Government, no regard, it is said, seems to have been paid to this essential precaution in favor of liberty. The several departments of power are distributed and blended in such a manner, as at once to destroy all symmetry and beauty of form, and to expose some of the essential parts of the edifice to the danger of being crushed by the disproportionate weight of other parts.<br>No political truth is certainly of greater intrinsic value, or is stamped with the authority of more enlightened patrons of liberty, than that on which the objection is founded. The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.

“Power without guilt, love without doubt….”

Madonna (1958) American singer, songwriter, and actress

Love

“The intellectual tradition is one of servility to power, and if I didn't betray it I'd be ashamed of myself.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

Noam Chomsky in interview on BBC's "The Late Show," November 25, 1992, in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993), p. 465
Quotes 1990s, 1990-1994

“Transparency is for those who carry out public duties and exercise public power. Privacy is for everyone else.”

Glenn Greenwald (1967) American journalist, lawyer and writer

No Place to Hide (2014)
Source: No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State
Context: Democracy requires accountability and consent of the governed, which is only possible if citizens know what is being done in their name. [... ] Conversely, the presumption is that the government, with rare exceptions, will not know anything that law-abiding citizens are doing. [... ] Transparency is for those who carry out public duties and exercise public power. Privacy is for everyone else.

Penguin Books 2015 edition, page 209.

Exercises

“It's just like Yeats said. In dreams begin responsibilities. Flip this around and you could say that where there's no power to imagine, no responsibility can arise.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

Dreams, Imagination

“I think it’s more like a shirt that says, ‘I’m going to have to end this date early so I can go prepare my Power Point presentation”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Thinking

“every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer…”

Elie Wiesel book Night

Variant: He explained to me with great insistence that every question posessed a power that did not lie in the answer.
Source: Night

Question

“We ordinary people might lack your great speed or your X-Ray vision, Superman, but never underestimate the power of the human mind. We carry the most dangerous weapon on Earth inside these thick skulls of ours.”

Mark Millar book Superman: Red Son

Source: Superman: Red Son

People, Speed

“It sounds silly I know. But for me, the power of music rests in its ability to reach inside and touch the places where the deepest cuts lie. Like a benevolent god, a good song will never let you down.”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Source: How to Kill a Rock Star

God, Lie, Music

“It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Faith

“We have become, by the power of a glorious evolutionary accident called intelligence, the stewards of life's continuity on earth. We did not ask for this role, but we cannot abjure it. We may not be suited to it, but here we are.”

Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) American evolutionary biologist

Source: The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History

Life, Intelligence

“Before embarking on important undertakings sit quietly calm your senses and thoughts and meditate deeply. You will then be guided by the great creative power of Spirit.”

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) Yogi, a guru of Kriya Yoga and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship

Sense

“There is no truer gauge of a man's character than the way in which he employs his strength, his power.”

Jim Butcher book Storm Front

Source: Storm Front

Way, Gauge

“Consequently, if you believe God made Satan, you must realize that all Satan's power comes from God and so that Satan is simply God's child, and that we are God's children also. There are no children of Satan, really.”

Anne Rice book Interview with the Vampire

Source: Interview with the Vampire

God, Children

“Leap out the window, my inner Tigress cried. You aren't ready to face such a powerful Tiger. I frowned. I thought a true Tigress never backed down from a fight. Don't you know anything? When she's in heat, she avoids everything male. Now run!”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Animal Instincts

Fight

“Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax.”

David Allen (1945) American productivity consultant and author

Source: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“I have learned the power of surviving.”

Philippa Gregory book The Boleyn Inheritance

Source: The Boleyn Inheritance

Learning

“When power is scarce, a little of it is tempting.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

“Congratulations," I tell her with a slight bow. "I hope you and your power trip will be very happy together. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to go.”

Ally Carter book All Fall Down

Source: All Fall Down

Hope, Time, Happiness

“Strange as it may seem, horror loses its power to frighten when repeated too often.”

Michael Ende book The Neverending Story

Source: The Neverending Story

“My task, which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel--it is, before all, to make you see.”

Joseph Conrad Lord Jim

Variant: My task is to make you hear, to make you feel, and, above all, to make you see. That is all, and it is everything.
Source: Lord Jim

Feeling

“In your walks about London you will sometimes see bent, haggard figures that look as if they had recently been caught in some powerful machinery. They are those fellows who got mixed up with Catsmeat when he was meaning well.”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Mating Season

Source: The Mating Season

“When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

“If you've made your own hell, then only you have the power to escape it.”

Willie Nelson (1933) American country music singer-songwriter.

Hell

“Religion is like language or dress. We gravitate toward the practices with which we were raised. In the end, though, we are all proclaiming the same thing. That life has meaning. That we are grateful for the power that created us.”

Dan Brown book Angels & Demons

Source: Angels & Demons

Life, Religion

“I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist

Speech, quoted in The Times (February 15, 1923).
Other works
Variant: Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

“I call it Andskoti, the Adversary. It is woven with the most powerful paradoxes in the Nine Worlds—Wi-Fi with no lag, a politician’s sincerity, a printer that prints, healthy deep-fried food, and an interesting grammar lecture!”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

World, Food, Sincerity

“A fine work of art - music, dance, painting, story - has the power to silence the chatter in the mind and lift us to another place.”

Robert McKee (1941) American academic specialised in seminars for screenwriters

Source: Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

Art, Music, Silence, Dance

“The thing about light is that it really isn’t yours; it’s what you gather and shine back. And it gets more power from reflectiveness; if you sit still and take it in, it fills your cup, and then you can give it off yourself.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Light

“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.”

Peace Pilgrim (1908–1981) American non-denominational spiritual teacher

Deep, Powerful, Thinking

“Powerful people have no regrets.”

Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram

Source: Shantaram

People

“Thousands of people have talent. I might as well congratulate you for having eyes in your head. The one and only thing that counts is: Do you have staying power?”

Noel Coward (1899–1973) English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer

People

“People feel with their hearts, Ellen: and since he has destroyed mine, I have not power to feel for him.”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Source: Wuthering Heights

People, Feeling, Heart

“When you are writing laws you are testing words to find their utmost power. Like spells, they have to make things happen in the real world, and like spells, they only work if people believe in them.”

Hilary Mantel book Wolf Hall

Source: Wolf Hall

People, World, Law

“There is nothing so powerful as truth — and often nothing so strange.”

Daniel Webster (1782–1852) Leading American senator and statesman. January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852. Served as the Secretary of Sta…

Argument on the murder of Captain White (1830)

Truth

“The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Widely attributed to Shaw, this quotation is actually of unknown origin.
Misattributed
Variant: She had lost the art of conversation, but not, unfortunately, the power of speech.

“When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.”

Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

God

“If a person studies too much and exhausts his reflective powers, he will be confused, and will not be able to apprehend even that which had been within the power of his apprehension. For the powers of the body are all alike in this respect.”

Maimónides (1138–1204) rabbi, physician, philosopher

Study, Personality

“To operate within the matrix of
power is not the same as to replicate uncritically relations of domination.”

Judith Butler book Gender Trouble

Source: Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity

“The greatest and most powerful revolutions often start very quietly, hidden in the shadows. Remember that.”

Richelle Mead Vampire Academy

Source: Vampire Academy

“Far too many people opened their hearts and lives at the drop of a hat. Why give someone that power over you? Why endow them with the ability to hurt you that much? Let someone in and you were asking for an emotional kicking some day.”

Dorothy Koomson book My Best Friend's Girl

Source: My Best Friend's Girl

People, Heart, Hurt

“from Bill Clinton speech-
People are more impressed by the power of our example rather than the example of our power…”

Bill Clinton (1946) 42nd President of the United States

2000s
Variant: The world has always been more impressed by the power of our [America's] example than by the example of our power.
Context: Former U. S. president Bill Clinton has urged newspaper editors to focus more attention on the depletion of the world's oil reserves. In a June 17 speech to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies convention in Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton said a "significant number of petroleum geologists" have warned that the world could be nearing the peak in oil production. Clinton suggested that at current consumption rates (now more than 30 billion barrels per year, according to the International Energy Agency), the world could be out of "recoverable oil" in 35 to 50 years, elevating the risk of "And then finally, and I think most important of all, more important than the deficit, more important then healthcare, more important than anything, is we have got to do something about our energy strategy because if we permit the climate to continue to warm at an unsustainable rate, and if we keep on doing what we're doing 'til we're out of oil and we haven't made the transition, then it's inconceivable to me that our children and grandchildren will be able to maintain the American way of life and that the world won't be much fuller of resource-based wars of all kinds.”

People