There are some whom the applause of the multitude has deluded into the belief that they are really statesmen.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power.
—Ashleigh Brilliant (1933–2025) American Epigrammatist, Author, Cartoonist
Knowledge is the most democratic source of power.
—Alvin Toffler (1928–2016) American Writer, Futurist, Businessman
Our power is in our ability to decide.
—Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) American Inventor, Philosopher
[The great questions of the day] are not decided by speeches and majority votes, but by blood and iron.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister
Faith—not a faith in one’s self or in one’s own powers but faith in principle; in the Something Great which upholds right, and which may be relied upon to give us the victory in due time. Without this faith it is not possible for any one to rise to real greatness.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Elected leaders who forget how they got there won’t the next time.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen events, meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!”
—William Hutchinson Murray (1913–92) American Mountaineer, Writer
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 (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The property of power is to protect.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
The personal power that comes from principle-centered living is the power of a self-aware, knowledgeable, proactive individual, unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of others or by many of the circumstances and environmental influences that limit other people.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken.
—Abigail Adams (1744–1818) American First Lady
Do the thing and you will have the power. But they that do not the thing, had not the power.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A cheery relaxation is man’s natural state, just as nature itself is relaxed. A waterfall is concerned only with being itself, not with doing something it considers waterfall-like.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Author, Philosopher
To create power is like a magnet, this is true because this creative power operates like a magnet. Give it a strong clear picture of what you want and this creative power starts to work magnetizing conditions about you—attracting to you things, resources, opportunities, circumstances and even the people you need, to help bring to pass in your outer life what you have pictured.
—Claude M. Bristol (1891–1951) American Journalist, Self-Help Author
Contact with men who wield power and authority still leaves an intangible sense of repulsion. It’s very like being in close proximity to fecal matter, the fecal embodiment of something unmentionable, and you wonder what it is made of and when it acquired its historically sacred character.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
Anyone can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way – that is not within everyone’s power and that is not easy.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
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-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
Those have most power to hurt us, that we love.
—Indian Proverb
Mighty things from small beginnings grow.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
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
Taking responsibility means not blaming yourself… Anything that takes away your power or your pleasure makes you a victim. Don’t make yourself a victim of yourself!
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
The art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men.
—James Arthur Hadfield (1882–1967) British Psychoanalysts
Authority’s for sharing only when the sharer is sure of his (or hers).
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
You have it made when you don’t care whether you have it made or not.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Author, Philosopher
I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Your great power lies not on the surface, but deep within your being.
—Roger McDonald (b.1941) Australian Novelist, Poet, Screenwriter
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
There is always room for a man of force, and he makes room for many. Society is a troop of thinkers, and the best heads among them take the best places.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
For good or for ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power and fleets and armies, however vital and important, must accept a subordinate rank.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
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