Quotes About Power

freedom and civility were barriers to absolute power and to the adoration that the powerful could command of others.

Power is the central promise of evil, the dark light of that lamp, because nothing extinguishes the soul more quickly than pride in power.

Although Grandpa never put it in words for me, one thing I learned from him was that being admired gives you more power than being feared.

Over the centuries, the Miriams and the Bernies and the millions like them were the fonts of free and civil societies, which was why the likes of D. J. Michael so despised them and yearned to oppress them; freedom and civility were barriers to absolute power and to the adoration that the powerful could command of others.

Then perhaps you shouldn't sleep. The imagination has terrifying power.

Nature frequently works to impress upon us our absurdity and thereby remind us that we are not the masters of the universe that we like to suppose we are.

Every hour in every life contains such often-unrecognized potential to affect the world that the great days for which we, in our dissatisfaction, so often yearn are already with us; all great days and thrilling possibilities are combined always in this momentous day.

That stormy day in the desert, however, much changed for me. We must have our goals, our dreams and we must strive for them. We are not gods, however; we do not have the power to shape every aspect of the future. And the road the world makes for us is one that teaches humility if we are willing to learn.

Politics was an illusion of service that cloaked the corruption of power.

When a leader used his power over the ruled for the purpose of settling scores and inflating his self-esteem, for remaking society according to his own grand designs, class warfare and genocide ensued.

the darkest desire of humankind—to hold absolute power, to control, to command obedience, to eliminate all voices of disagreement and dissent—had found its full expression.

Boo seemed to be less a ghost than he was a guardian spirit, always happy and ready to serve, still on the earth not because he had remained behind after death but because he had been sent back. Consequently, perhaps he had the power and permission to move between worlds as he wished.

There's no middle ground in modern movies; you either save a kingdom and marry a princess or you are shot to death by assassins hired by the evil corporation that you are trying to bring to justice in the courtroom of a corrupt judge.

We are impatient for the future and try to craft it with our own powers, but the future will come as it comes and will not be hurried. If we are good at waiting, we discover that what we wanted of the future, in our impatience, is no longer what we want, that waiting has brought wisdom.

Earlier, she asked if I would die for her. Without hesitation, I said that I would—and meant it. I don't understand either my reaction to her or the source of her power. She is something other than she appears to be. She tells me that I already know what she is and that I only need to accept the knowledge that I already possess.

Laugh at tyrants and the tragedy they inflict. Such men welcome our tears as evidence of subservience, but our laughter condemns them to ignominy.

Probably they prefer we don't see them, but they want us to know what's happening with the weather because fear debilitates. Maybe they want us frightened, cowering, and pliable.

grossly evil people or very stupid people—or evil stupid people—are in charge of almost everything, and the good smart people are afraid to oppose them because the evil people are vicious and the stupid people are too clueless to see where all this is going, and the people who are both evil and stupid, well, they're the worst of all.

Arinwald's favorite film has become the version of 1984 starring John Hurt and Richard Burton; the moment that most satisfies in that production is when Burton says to Hurt, "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.

Balzac had written, "Behind every great fortune, there is a crime," which was both a cliché and a lie. However

She sat watching the street and its businesses melt away in the thick tides of mist, partially re-form, and melt away again, over and over, as if some celestial power had ordered the end of the world but kept having second thoughts.

nothing smaller would so reliably stop an assailant.

and takes the Glock in both hands.

Haters lived to hate, to exercise power over those they hated. They were obsessive about it. Focused. Relentless.