There are some whom the applause of the multitude has deluded into the belief that they are really statesmen.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
The world is ruled only by consideration of advantages.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Give yourself the gift of time in coming to answers for your life…It takes time, and a lot of introspection and soul-searching, to get clear about what you really want to manifest in your life.
—David Emerald
Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Your life is a kind of laboratory where you’re constantly experimenting with your own higher knowing, always increasing your capacity to design the life you choose. Human beings must create; it’s hardwired. The question is, are you consciously creating or only sleepwalking through your human life?
—David Emerald
The tyrant is always stirring up some war or another,
in order that the people may require a leader.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Power is what men seek and any group that gets it will abuse it.
—Lincoln Steffens (1846–1936) American Journalist, Academic, Political Philosopher
The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Knowledge comes by eyes always open and working hands; and there is no knowledge that is not power.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for all mankind.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
An honest private man often grows cruel and abandoned when converted into an absolute prince. Give a man power of doing what he pleases with impunity, you extinguish his fear, and consequently overturn in him one of the great pillars of morality.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Justice without power is inefficient; power without justice is tyranny. Justice without power is opposed, because there are always wicked men. Power without justice is soon questioned. Justice and power must therefore be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Power is the ability to do good things for others.
—Brooke Astor (1902–2007) American Philanthropist, Writer
Choose to be in close proximity to people who are empowering, who appeal to your sense of connection to intention, who see the greatness in you, who feel connected to God, who live a life that gives evidence that Spirit has found celebration through them.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
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 (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
In our course we teach that “no thought lives in your head rent-free”. Each thought you have will either be an investment or a cost. It will either move you toward happiness and success or away from it. It will either empower you or disempower you. That’s why it is imperative you choose your thoughts and beliefs wisely.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
It has long been a grave question whether any government, not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong enough to maintain its existence in great emergencies.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Genius is the union of man and God in the acts of the soul. Great men are always greater than their deeds. They are in connection with a reserve power that is without limit.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
A man who enjoys responsibility usually gets it. A man who merely likes exercising authority usually loses it.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Wherever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience.
—Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796–1865) Canadian Author, Humorist, Businessperson, Judge
The way you create any outcome in your life is to hold the vision of your deepest desires. At the same time, though, you must honestly and accurately assess your current situation and how it relates to your greater vision. By doing this, you engage tension between what is and what can be. This tension is the primary creative force behind the manifestation of any outcome. It’s as natural and powerful as the force of gravity.
—David Emerald
The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
We were a silent, hidden thought in the folds of oblivion, and we have become a voice that causes the heavens to tremble.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Every country is renewed out of the unknown ranks
and not out of the ranks of those
already famous and powerful and in control.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
When you inhabit any of these three roles, you’re reacting to fear of victimhood, loss of control, or loss of purpose. You’re always looking outside yourself, to the people and circumstances of life, for a sense of safety, security, and sanity.
—David Emerald
Persistence prevails, like a stream that is temporarily blocked by boulders and then collects force enough to overflow onward.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher
Every natural power exhilarates; a true talent delights the possessor first.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Power doesn’t corrupt people, people corrupt power.
—William Gaddis (1922–98) American Novelist
The ordinary man with extraordinary power is the chief danger for mankind—not the fiend or the sadist.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
Every good communist should know that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.
—Ralph Lauren (b.1939) American Businessman
Power corrupts. Knowledge is power. Study hard. Be evil.
—Indian Proverb
Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
To achieve the mood of a warrior is not a simple matter. It is a revolution. To regard the lion and the water rats and our fellow men as equals is a magnificent act of a warrior’s spirit. It takes power to do that.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Simplicity has power. Founding our life on constructive, positive behavior is the simplest, most direct, and powerful approach I’ve ever found—simple, but not easy.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
No emperor has the power to dictate to the heart.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Authority founded on injustice is never of long duration.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society.
—Michel Foucault (1926–84) French Philosopher, Critic, Historian
I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Nothing, indeed, but the possession of some power can with any certainty discover what at the bottom is the true character of any man.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes what’er it touches; and obedience,
Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,
Makes slaves of men, and, of the human frame,
A mechanized automaton.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
I am talking about the power within the self. This means power over your perceptions of the world, power over how you react to situations in your life, power to do what is necessary for your own self-growth, power to create joy and satisfaction in your life, power to act, and power to love.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
It is the Baby Steps you take, the everyday things you do, that eventually lead to the manifestation of your outcome.
—David Emerald
Even in war moral power is to physical as three parts out of four.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Cling tooth and nail to the following rule: Not to give in to adversity, never to trust prosperity, and always to take full note of fortune’s habit of behaving just as she pleases, treating her as if she were actually going to do everything it is in her power to do. Whatever you have been expecting for some time comes as less of a shock.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
The quality of the will to power is, precisely, growth. Achievement is its cancellation. To be, the will to power must increase with each fulfillment, making the fulfillment only a step to a further one. The vaster the power gained the vaster the appetite for more.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
Be careful: they have arms, and no alternatives.
—Ryszard Kapuscinski (1932–2007) Polish Journalist
The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher