Quotes About Power

Christopher Lasch concluait cette passe d'armes : « La femme moderne ne peut résister à la tentation de vouloir dominer son mari ; et si elle y parvient, elle ne peut s'empêcher de le haïr. »

Similarly, the more tyrants pillage, the more they crave, the more they ruin and destroy; the more one yields to them, and obeys them, by that much do they become mightier and more formidable, the readier to annihilate and destroy. But if not one thing is yielded to them, if, without any violence they are simply not obeyed, they become naked and undone and as nothing, just as, when the root receives no nourishment, the branch withers and dies.

Celui qui vous maîtrise tant n'a que deux yeux, n'a que deux mains, n'a qu'un corps, et n'a autre chose que ce qu'a le moindre homme du grand et infini nombre de nos villes, sinon que l'avantage que vous lui faites pour vous détruire.

Première raison de la servitude volontaire, c'est la coutume

They only seem tall because we're on our knees.

I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.

It is true that in the beginning men submit under constraint and by force; but those who come after them obey without regret and perform willingly what their predecessors had done because they had to. This is why men born under the yoke and then nourished and reared in slavery are content, without further effort, to live in their native circumstance, unaware of any other state or right, and considering as quite natural the condition into which they were born.

No se puede negar que la naturaleza no tenga en nosotros gran influencia como para llevarnos donde quiere y hacernos bien o mal nacidos; pero hay que confesar que tiene sobre nosotros menor poder que la costumbre, porque lo natural, por bueno que sea, se pierde si no es cuidado, y la educación nos hace siempre a su manera, como ésta sea, a pesar de la naturaleza" Página 26, Discurso sobre la servidumbre voluntaria

Do not imagine that there is any bird more easily caught by decoy, nor any fish sooner fixed on the hook by wormy bait, than are all of these poor fools neatly tricked into servitude by the slightest feather passed before their mouths.

Somos subjugados porque concordamos e entregamos nossa liberdade por uso do nosso livre-arbítrio. Não se trata de natureza, não é sina ou destino, mas a vontade dos homens de se curvarem diante do poder. A servidão é escolha, e, naturalmente, escolha voluntária.

But if not one thing is yielded to them, if, without any violence they are simply not obeyed, they become naked and undone and as nothing, just as, when the root receives no nourishment, the branch withers and dies.

Yet, in the light of reason, it is a great misfortune to be at the beck and call of one master, for it is impossible to be sure that he is going to be kind, since it is always in his power to be cruel whenever he pleases.

FOR THE PRESENT I should to understand how it happens that so many men, so many villages, so many cities, so many nations, sometimes suffer under a single tyrant who has no other power than the power they give him; who is able to harm them only to the extent to which they have the willingness to bear with him; who could do them absolutely no injury unless they preferred to put up with him rather than contradict him.

C'est à cause de la légitimité que le peuple octroie à l'Etat que le dit Etat use de violence vis-à-vis du peuple lorsque celui-ci ne fait pas ce qu'il a décidé.

Mais, à parler à bon escient, c'est un extrême malheur d'être sujet à un maître, duquel on ne se peut jamais assurer qu'il soit bon, puisqu'il est toujours en sa puissance d'être mauvais quand il voudra ; et d'avoir plusieurs maîtres, c'est, autant qu'on en a, autant de fois être extrêmement malheureux.

Pour ce coup, je ne voudrais sinon entendre comme il se peut faire que tant d'hommes, tant de bourgs, tant de villes, tant de nations endurent quelquefois un tyran seul, qui n'a puissance que celle qu'ils lui donnent ;

Voir un nombre infini de personnes non pas obéir, mais servir ; non pas être gouvernés, mais tyrannisés ; n'ayant ni biens ni parents, femmes ni enfants, ni leur vie même qui soit à eux !

Y a trois sortes de tyrans : les uns ont le royaume par élection du peuple, les autres par la force des armes, les autres par succession de leur race.

Les théâtres, les jeux, les farces, les spectacles, les gladiateurs, les bêtes étranges, les médailles, les tableaux et autres telles drogueries, c'étaient aux peuples anciens les appâts de la servitude, le prix de leur liberté, les outils de la tyrannie.

é um extremo infortúnio estar-se sujeito a um senhor, o qual nunca se pode se certificar de que seja bom, pois sempre está em seu poderio ser mau quando quiser; e em ter vários senhores, quantos se tiver quantas vezes se é extremamente infeliz.

The fools did not realize that they were merely recovering a portion of their own property, and that their ruler could not have given them what they were receiving without having first taken it from them.

Mais, ô bon Dieu ! que peut être cela ? comment dirons-nous que cela s'appelle ? quelle malheur est celui-là ? quel vice, ou plutôt quel malheureux vice ? Voir un nombre infini de personnes non pas obéir, mais servir […].

I don't have to blow up everything I see... I just like to.

Why a good melody should have the power to move us has thus far defied all analysis.