Quotes about power
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“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

Variant: Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.

Fear, Freedom

“It's all mirror, mirror on the wall because beauty is power, the same way money is power, the same way a gun is power.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Variant: It's all mirror, mirror on the wall because beauty is power the same way money is power the same way a gun is power.
Source: Invisible Monsters

Money, Beauty, Way

“People with power always take advantage of those without power.”

Christopher Pike book The Last Vampire

Source: The Last Vampire

People

“There is nothing so eternally adhesive as the memory of power.”

Isaac Asimov book I, Robot

“The Evitable Conflict”, p. 189
Source: I, Robot (1950)

Memory

“The Vedanta recognizes no sin it only recognizes error. And the greatest error, says the Vedanta is to say that you are weak, that you are a sinner, a miserable creature, and that you have no power and you cannot do this and that.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Pearls of Wisdom

Error

“She stared at me. "Fly,; ole, in an airplane, which you were warned never to do lest Zeus strike you out of the sky, AND carrying a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?"
"Yeah," I said. "Pretty much exactly like that.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

Flying

“By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.”

Alan Moore V for Vendetta

Source: V for Vendetta

Truth, Universe

“Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

“Slavery… dishonors labor. It introduces idleness into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress. It enervates the powers of the mind and benumbs the activity of man.”

Alexis De Tocqueville book Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America

“Pain made you strong. Loss made you powerful.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Pain, Strong, Loss

“If we were to one day encounter a form of life more powerful and intelligent than our own, and it regarded us as we regard fish, what would be our argument against being eaten?”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Eating Animals

Source: Eating Animals

Life, Intelligence, Fish

“Men don't rape women because their women are ugly," cousin Jostien said, but there was a protest at his words.

"That's what my fa said! He says that inside their hearts and spirits they are nothing but little men who need to feel powerful.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Froi of the Exiles

Women, Men, Feeling, Heart

“Another power I don't have," said Lissa ruefully.
I grinned. "Hey, I have yet to meet any spirit user who can throw a punch like you can. That was poetry in motion, Liss." She groaned.”

Richelle Mead Blood Promise

Source: Blood Promise

“Let us never underestimate the power of a well-written letter.”

Jane Austen book Persuasion

Source: Persuasion

“We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.”

Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991) American television screenwriter and producer

As quoted in Can A Smart Person Believe in God? (2004) by Michael Guillen, Ch. 7 : Hope Springs Eternal, p. 90

God, Question

“I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

World

“There is nothing to fear except the power you give to your own demons.”

Sally Gardner book The Red Necklace

Source: The Red Necklace

Fear

“Laughter, like love, has power to survive the worst things life has to offer. And to do it with style.”

Jim Butcher book Blood Rites

Source: Blood Rites

Love, Life, Laughter

“L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.
"It means that love is the most powerful force in the world. That love can do anything.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Love, World

“In the second half of life, people have less power to infatuate you. But they also have much less power to control you or hurt you.”

Richard Rohr (1943) American spiritual writer, speaker, teacher, Catholic Franciscan priest

Source: Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

Life, People, Hurt

“The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

Essex's Device (1595)

“Some people still think knowledge is power.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

People, Knowledge, Thinking

“Names have power.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

“Fear can't hurt you," she said. "When it washes over you, give it no power. It's a snake with no venom. Remember that. That knowledge can save you.”

Maureen Johnson (1973) writer from the USA

Source: The Name of the Star

Fear, Knowledge, Hurt

“All I need is the power to be able to protect my comrades. So long as I can have the strength to do that, I don't care if I'm weaker than everyone in the world.”

Hiro Mashima (1977) Japanese manga artist

Source: Fairy Tail, Vol. 1

World

“Power, true power, comes from within. Not without. (Nick)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infinity

“Whatever you fear most has no power--it is your fear that has the power”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Fear

“I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”

William Wordsworth book Lyrical Ballads

Preface.
Source: Lyrical Ballads (1798–1800)

Feeling

“I cannot think of a better way to spread the faith. No thundering from a pulpit, no condemnation from bad churches, no peer pressure, just a book of scripture quietly waiting to say hello, as gentle and powerful as a little girl's kiss on your cheek.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi (2001), Chapter 73, p. 230

Books, Faith, Way, Girl

“No other human being, no woman, no poem or music, book, or painting can replace alcohol in its power to give man the illusion of real creation.”

Marguerite Duras (1914–1996) French writer and film director

Alcohol, Books, Music, Painting

“It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

“If he were any other man, I might have suspected him of substance abuse, of being coked up or something. But Barrons was too much a purist for that; his drugs were money, power, and control”

Karen Marie Moning book Darkfever

Source: Darkfever

Money

“We'll never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth.”

Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist

Wealth

“When people see you're happy doing what you're doing, it sort of takes the power away from them to tease you about it.”

Wendy Mass book Every Soul a Star

Source: Every Soul a Star

People, Happiness

“I know that love is about power, too. Who gives, who takes. Who is willing to risk showing their true self.”

Alison Goodman (1966) Australian science-fiction writer

Source: Eona: The Last Dragoneye

Love

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer

LOVE (1972)
Variant: Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest accomplishment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Wise, Relationship, Cute, Life

“… love is essentially a much simpler phenomenon--it becomes complicated, corrupted or obstructed by an unequal balance of power.”

Shulamith Firestone (1945–2012) Feminist

Source: The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution

Love

“4. Knowledge is the most democratic source of power.”

Alvin Toffler (1928–2016) American writer

Knowledge

“Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual sadness.”

Shakti Gawain (1948–2018) Author

Sadness, Feeling, Sense, Loss

“We cannot avoid
Using power,
Cannot escape the compulsion
To afflict the world,
So let us, cautious in diction
And mighty in contradiction,
Love powerfully.”

Martin Buber (1878–1965) German Jewish Existentialist philosopher and theologian

"Power and Love" (1926)
Context: p> Every morning
I shall concern myself anew about the boundary
Between the love-deed-Yes and the power-deed-No
And pressing forward honor reality.We cannot avoid
Using power,
Cannot escape the compulsion
To afflict the world,
So let us, cautious in diction
And mighty in contradiction,
Love powerfully.</p

Love, World, Affliction

“The way you look at things is the most powerful force in shaping your life.”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

Source: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Life, Way

“Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring, for His grace and power are such none can ever ask too much.”

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

Variant: Thou art coming to a King,
large petitions with thee bring,
for His grace and pow'r are such
none can ever ask too much.

Art

“Grace is the most perplexing, powerful force in the universe, and, I believe, the only hope for our twisted, violent planet.”

Philip Yancey (1949) American writer

Hope, Universe

“You cannot have power for good without having power for evil too. Even mother's milk nourishes murderers as well as heroes.”

George Bernard Shaw Major Barbara

Source: 1900s, Major Barbara (1905)

Evil

“My name is David Charleston.
I kill people with super powers.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: Firefight

People

“Never, never underestimate the power of desire. If you want to live badly enough, you can live. The great question, at least for me, was: How do I decide I want to live?”

Marya Hornbacher book Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

Source: Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

Question

“You have been created in order that you might make a difference. You have within you the power to change the world.”

Andy Andrews (1959) author and corporate speaker

Source: The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters

World, Change

“Jason settled back on the bench. 'I hate to break this to you, but as a rule, wizards are nasty people. They're powerful, capricious, ruthless, egotistical, used to getting their own way. That's being kind.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Hate, People, Way

“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”

Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) United States Secretary of State

As quoted in The New York Times (28 October 1973)
Lesser known variant: Power is the great aphrodisiac.
As quoted in The New York Times (19 January 1971)
1970s

“It's okay," I said soothingly. "You're just getting your stride back. Once you're up to full power, I'll go crack a rib or something so we can test it."
She groaned. "The horrible part is that I don't think you're joking.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

Hurtful, Thinking, Parting

“The point is not for women simply to take power out of men’s hands, since that wouldn’t change anything about the world. It’s a question precisely of destroying that notion of power.”

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist

Women, Men, World, Question

“… the invincible power that has moved the world is unrequited, not happy love”

Gabriel García Márquez book Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Variant: I became aware that the invincible power that has moved the world is unrequited, not happy, love.
Source: Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Love, World, Happiness

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely; and if you surrender your personal responsibility to a government which promises to take care of you, they will only take care of themselves.”

Howard Nemerov (1920–1991) Poet

Personality

“Stories are the single most powerful weapon in a leader's arsenal.”

Howard Gardner (1943) American developmental psychologist

Howard Gardner, cited in: Richard L. Daft (2014), The Leadership Experience, p. 273

“If men should read these words, let them know that power is a heavy burden. Seek not to be bound by its chains.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Final Empire

Men, Reading

“When I begin to doubt my ability to work the word, I simply read another writer and know I have nothing to worry about. My contest is only with myself, to do it right, with power, and force, and delight, and gamble.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Reading

“Passionately obsessed by anything we love--an avalanche of magic flattens the way ahead, levels, rules, reasons, dissents, bears us with it over chasms, fears, doubts. Without the power of that love….”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: The Bridge Across Forever: A True Love Story

Love, Fear, Way, Passion

“Monsters exist because they are part of the divine plan, and in the horrible features of those same monsters the power of the creator is revealed.”

Umberto Eco book The Name of the Rose

Source: The Name of the Rose

Parting

“Do you truly believe that life is fair, Senor de la Vega?
-No, maestro, but I plan to do everything in my power to make it so.”

Isabel Allende book Zorro

Source: Zorro

Life

“In every community, there is work to be done.
In every nation, there are wounds to heal.
In every heart, there is the power to do it.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Communication, Heart

“My doctrine is this, that if we see
cruelty or wrong that we have the
power to stop, and do nothing, we
make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”

Anna Sewell book Black Beauty

Source: Black Beauty (1877), Ch. XXXVIII, p. 192

“Memory, of all the powers of the mind, is the most delicate and frail.”

Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English writer

Memory

“It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement — that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life.”

Sigmund Freud book Civilization and Its Discontents

Man kann sich des Eindrucks nicht erwehren, daß die Menschen gemeinhin mit falschen Maßstäben messen, Macht, Erfolg und Reichtum für sich anstreben und bei anderen bewundern, die wahren Werte des Lebens aber unterschätzen.
Source: 1920s, Civilization and Its Discontents (1929), Ch. 1, as translated by James Strachey, p.25

Life, People, Success, Falseness

“I look forward to a great future for America, a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose. I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will protect the beauty of our natural environment, which will preserve the great old American houses and squares and parks of our national past, and which will build handsome and balanced cities for our future.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

1963, Speech at Amherst College

Wisdom, Beauty, Nature, Past

“The girls took into their own hands decisions better left to God. They became too powerful to live among us, too self-concerned, too visionary, too blind.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book The Virgin Suicides

Source: The Virgin Suicides

God, Girl, Decision

“The more healthy relationships a child has, the more likely he will be to recover from trauma and thrive. Relationships are the agents of change and the most powerful therapy is human love.”

Bruce D. Perry (1955) American psychiatrist

Source: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook

Love, Change

“Who's Chernabog?" Grumbled Maybeck.
Philby answered,"Only the most powerful villian Walt Disney ever created.”

Ridley Pearson (1953) American writer

Source: Disney at Dawn

“Power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed.”

Wally Lamb book I Know This Much Is True

Source: I Know This Much Is True

“True love can break the most powerful curse”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

Love

“Knowledge is power, community is strength and positive attitude is everything”

Lance Armstrong (1971) professional cyclist from the USA

Communication, Knowledge

“Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out. Maybe it's some place way off in de ocean where de black man is in power, but we don't know nothin' but what we see.”

Zora Neale Hurston book Their Eyes Were Watching God

Source: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Way

“I slammed the doors open a little harder than I needed to, stalked out to the Blue Beetle, and drove away with all the raging power the ancient four-cylinder engine should muster. Behold the angry wizard puttputt-putting away.”

Jim Butcher book Summer Knight

Source: Summer Knight

Rage

“As for her charmspeak, she’d gotten so powerful it made Leo nervous. If she told him to eat his vegetables, he might actually do it.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

“Sometimes people try to destroy you, precisely because they recognize your power—not because they don’t see it, but because they see it and they don’t want it to exist.”

Bell Hooks (1952) American author, feminist, and social activist

Variant: Sometimes people try to destroy you, precisely because they recognize your power — not because they don’t see it, but because they see it and they don’t want it to exist.

People

“Wisdom's daughter walks alone.
That didn't just mean without other people, Annabeth realized. It meant without any special powers.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Wisdom, People, Daughters

“I don’t understand hate. I’ve seen its power. I’ve known its wrath. I’ve even felt it coursing through my veins, pushing me on. But I don’t know where it comes from or why it lasts, how it can take hold in some people and grow.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: United We Spy

Hate, People, Understanding