Quotes about power

We cannot import evolution and learning without exporting control.

There's nothing more addictive than being a god.

Don’t quibble with the king over pears, let him eat the ripe ones and give you the green ones.

Power is power. Its uses are in the hands of the user.

Power was dreadful and treacherous. When it was not great enough to accomplish its wielder’s desires, it turned against the hands which held it.

“The real problem,” Eberly burst out, “is that these regulations were written by people who live in a world that must be tightly controlled. They all share the same basic, underlying view that society must be hierarchical and controlled from the top.”

Wilmot felt pleased that the discussion was moving into his field of interest. “Aren’t all societies controlled from the top? Even so-called democracies are ruled by a small elite group; the only difference is that a democracy can shift its elite without bloodshed and give the general populace the illusion that they have made a telling change.”

'Tis but a Tent where takes his one day's rest

A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest;

The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash

Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest.

"How sweet is mortal Sovranty!"—think some:

Others — "How blest the Paradise to come!"

Ah, take the Cash in hand and wave the Rest;

Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep

The Courts where Jamshýd gloried and drank deep:

And Bahrám, that great Hunter—the Wild Ass

Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep.

Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai

Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day,

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp

Abode his destined Hour, and went his way.

“Oderint dum metuant,” O’Doull murmured….

“But it means, ‘let them hate, as long as they fear.’”

“Three words,” McDougald said admiringly. “Boy, that packs more into three words than anything this side of ‘I love you.’”

A man who expended power on a whim was a fool.