power quotes from influential philosophers, authors and people
"Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other."
69
"There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more dangerous."
154
"Boldness and hesitation elicit very different psychological responses in their targets: Hesitation puts obstacles in your path, boldness eliminates them."
157
"Genuinely innocent people may still be playing for power, and are often horribly effective at the game, since they are not hindered by reflection. Once again, those who make a show or display of innocence are the least innocent of all."
159
"Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame."
180
"The true man wants two things: danger and play."
355
"Become who you are."
359
"A living thing seeks above all to discharge its strength — life itself is will to power."
363
"What is happiness? The feeling that power increases - that a resistance is overcome."
419
"Joy is only a symptom of the feeling of obtained power. One does not strive for joy… joy accompanies."
420
"Man, the bravest of animals, and the one most accustomed to suffering, does not repudiate suffering as such; he desires it, he even seeks it out, provided he is shown a meaning for it, a purpose of suffering."
421
"The meaninglessness of suffering, not the suffering itself, was the curse that lay over mankind so far."
422
"Human beings do not seek pleasure and avoid displeasure. What human beings want… is an increase of power; driven by that will they seek resistance, they need something that opposes it - displeasure, as an obstacle to their will to power, is therefore a normal fact; human being do not avoid it; they are rather in continual need of it."
423
"And life itself confided the secret to me: behold, it said, I am that which must always overcome itself."
424
"Your own positive future begins in this moment. All you have is right now. Every goal is possible from here."
505
"Surrender your self-interest. Love others as much as you love yourself. Then you can be entrusted with all things under heaven."
512
"Silence is a source of great strength."
517
"Make your heart like a lake with a calm still surface and great depths of kindness."
518
"The best fighter is never angry."
526
"Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power."
541
"Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength."
563
"The measure of a man is what he does with power."
627
"There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain."
633
"If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize."
681
"The great question which, in all ages, has disturbed mankind, and brought on them the greatest part of their mischiefs ... has been, not whether be power in the world, nor whence it came, but who should have it."
954
"The most precious of all possessions is power over ourselves."
963
"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."
1
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."
6
"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will."
37
"Justice requires power, insight and will."
103
"Man is worthy of praise and blame solely in respect of such actions as it is within his power to do or abstain from."
106
"...go away and have a little relaxation; for when you come back to the work your judgement will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose the power of judgement."
117
"In our culture we tend to equate thinking and intellectual powers with success and achievement. In many ways, however, it is an emotional quality that separates those who master a field from the many who simply work at a job."
123
"Our levels of desire, patience, persistence, and confidence end up playing a much larger role in success than shear reasoning powers."
124
"..it is essential that you begin with one skill that you can master, and that serves as a foundation for acquiring others. You must avoid at all cost the idea that you can manage learning several skills at a time. You need to develop your powers of concentration, and understand that trying to multi-task will be the death of the process."
136
"Will power is to the mind like a strong blind man who carries on his shoulders a lame man who can see."
181
"To have a mission is to have a unifying focus for your career. It's more general than a specific job and can span multiple positions. It provides an answer to the question, What should I do with my life? Missions are powerful because they focus your energy toward a useful goal, and this in turn maximizes your impact on your world - a crucial factor in loving what you do."
207
"If, in the future, all life is programmable, those with the right knowledge and capability will be in possession of unfathomable power. They could create life, and tweak existing life forms, to do almost anything - be it good or bad."
219
"Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power."
235
"It is within the power of every man to live his life nobly, but of no man to live forever. Yet so many of us hope that life will go on forever, and so few aspire to live nobly."
236
"Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance."
310
"Fundamentalism is the philosophy of the powerless, the conquered, the displaced and the dispossessed. Its spawning ground is the wreckage of political and military defeat, as Hebrew fundamentalism arose during the Babylonian captivity, as white Christian fundamentalism appeared in the American South during Reconstruction, as the notion of the Master Race evolved in Germany following World War I."
322
"Between stimulus and response, there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
337
"The notions of matter and of space are inseparable. We derive the notion of space from matter and form. But we have no adequate conception either of matter or space. Matter in its ultimate resolution is as unintelligible as what men call mind, spirit, or by whatever other name they may express the power which makes itself known by acts."
342
"Happiness is the feeling that power increases — that resistance is being overcome."
367
"Words have a magical power. They can bring either the greatest happiness or deepest despair."
562
"My powers are ordinary. Only my application brings me success."
569
"Time crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of time and is forgotten through the lapse of time."
591
"Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than the one with all the facts."
607
"The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us."
714
"A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities."
737
"Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men."
746
"Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and make his dreams come true."
760
"Women are attracted to strength and power."
832
"A woman’s true power lies in her ability to inspire and support her man."
833
"Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power."
912
"And thus, the actions of life often not allowing any delay, it is a truth very certain that, when it is not in our power to determine the most true opinions we ought to follow the most probable."
915
"Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent."
959
"I have never thought, for my part, that man's freedom consists in his being able to do whatever he wills, but that he should not, by any human power, be forced to do what is against his will."
1012
"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!"
1072
"Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this."
1088
"You cannot be a powerful and life-changing presence to some people without being a joke or an embarrassment to others."
1171
"I measure the strength of a spirit by how much truth it can take."
1203