Power Politics Quotes

Yet while Vidal writes best about power, politics, and history White's strengths are sex, art and – sometimes – love. Each tends to stumble when he enters the other's domain. ~ Christopher Bram

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

The accession to power in Pyongyang of Kim Jong Un, son of Kim Jong Il and grandson of Kim Il Sung, is a unique achievement in world politics. ~ Elliott Abrams

There is nothing so eternally adhesive as the memory of power. ~ Isaac Asimov

Let the message go out - a new generation has taken charge of Labour which is optimistic about our country, optimistic about our world, optimistic about the power of politics. We are optimistic and together we will change Britain. ~ Ed Miliband

Aedan offered a grateful smile, but he knew the weight of the nobleman's word. Facts would not be determined by truth but by power. ~ Jonathan Renshaw

The [Dow-Alcoa and Alcoa-IG] negotiations [of 1929] reveal strikingly the technique of cartel diplomacy - the steady application of "pressure" and the resort alternatively to challenges and blandishments. The similarity to power politics in which trial by battle is a last resort is marked. The procedure discloses the vast gulf between big business in practice and the patterns of behavior assumed in a regime of free competition. It shows how the conference table superseded the market as the arena for decision making. ~ George W. Stocking

Politics is a matter of human transaction. I consider absolutely everything political, because all fiction involves relationships between people, and relationships between people always include matters of power, of equity, of communication. ~ Deborah Eisenberg

Men have the influence and power in business and politics. It is the mother who can make the child's bedtime earlier, take away desserts or ground the child. ~ Warren Farrell

When governments become large, voters cannot exercise close oversight, otherwise known as political power. ~ Maggie Gallagher

Cleopatra was on a political mission to save her country and her power, but what we remember about her are these two famed seductions, which are a matter of politics, not a matter of love. ~ Stacy Schiff

Politics is all about dividing up the power. Washington D.C. likes to talk about spreading the wealth, but never spreading the power. ~ Dan Groat

All that we make and do is shaped by the communities and traditions that contain us, not to mention by money, power, politics, and luck. And even should the artist or scientist think she as extracted herself from the world to stand alone in the studio, a tremendous array of faculties and mind-states may well attend her creativity. ~ Lewis Hyde

Anyone who thinks politics equals power has no understanding of either politics or power. The games of politics are sponsored by the powerful, and are designed to deliver a single end - to secure their power. ~ Graeme Rodaughan

You look at the pillars of the state: politics, the media, police, lawyers - they've all got their formal role, and then nestling above that is that power elite who are networked in through soft, social links, that are actually running the show. Why didn't I know that 10 years ago, and why didn't I rail against it? Why did I become part of it? ~ Tom A. Watson

Power politics is the diplomatic name for the law of the jungle. ~ Ely Culbertson

Korea can't become a 'first-class' nation unless regulation and 'a sense of power' disappear. The nation's politics is the fourth-class, bureaucratic are the third-class, and business is the second-class. ~ Lee Kun-hee

Politicians - power itself - are abject because they merely embody the profound contempt people have for their own lives. One should be grateful to the politicians for accepting the abstractness of power, and ridding others of its burden. This inevitably kills them but they get their revenge by passing onto others the corpse of power. ~ Jean Baudrillard

I think sometimes women are not driven by the same, albeit, testosterone power thing that pushes men to get into politics. ~ Morgan Fairchild

Politics means striving to share power or striving to influence the distribution of power, either among states or among groups within a state. ~ Max Weber

I was a political journalist; I came to writing novels through an interest in politics and power. ~ Robert Harris

The bizarre world of cards is a world of pure power politics where rewards and punishments are meted out immediately. ~ Ely Culbertson

People are always shouting they want to create a better future. It's not true. The future is an apathetic void of no interest to anyone. The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past. ~ Milan Kundera

Nothing is so unhealthy or unstable as the reputation for power that is not based on one's own power. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli

Power, in a nutshell, is the ability to get things done, and politics is the ability to decide which things need to be done. ~ Zygmunt Bauman

Politics is the attempt to achieve power and prestige without merit. ~ P. J. O'Rourke

The language history of the world shows more of the true impacts of past movements and changes of people, beyond the heraldic claims of their largely self-appointed leaders. They reveal a subtle interweave of cultural relations with power politics and economic expediency. ~ Nicholas Ostler

The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Power in politics, sovereignty in America is with we the people, and that is the path to turning this country around: empowering the people. ~ Ted Cruz

Rome had freed the Greeks, but on condition that both war and class war should end. Freedom without war was a novel and irksome life for the city-states that made up Hellas; the upper classes yearned to play power politics against neighboring cities, and ~ Will Durant

The way to have power is to take it. ~ Boss Tweed

The 'realist' conception of continuing old-fashioned 'balance of power' politics may have been well founded in the past, but it is inconsistent with our increasing interdependent world. On moral grounds alone there can be no justification for the 20th century level of killing. To settle disputes without violence must become the primary goal of foreign policy for every nation. ~ Robert McNamara

Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state, for every form of power politics and any dictatorship-run state has its roots in the street. ~ Joseph Goebbels

Politics is activity in relation to power. ~ Francis Parker Yockey

If you really think that ambition, power, lust, desire are not as applicable in the media as in politics or on Wall Street or anywhere else, you're deluding yourself. ~ Beau Willimon

Well, they really didn't have to worry, because the way power politics works, the World Court can't do anything. Look, there's one country in the world at the moment which has refused to accept World Court decision-that's the United States. Is anybody going to do anything about it? ~ Noam Chomsky

Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Religion forbids us from assuming a God-like character. This is especially true in politics and government, where limiting the power of the state, division of powers, and the doctrine of checks and balances are established in order to prevent accumulation of power that might lead to such Godly claims. ~ Abdolkarim Soroush

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of government is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is the history of the limitation of government, not the increase of it. ~ Woodrow Wilson

And the extraordinary thing is that according to these texts all powers, all the power and glory of the kingdoms, all that has to do with politics and political authority, belongs to the devil. It has all been given to him and he gives it to whom he wills. Those who hold political power receive it from him and depend upon him. (It is astonishing that in the innumerable theological discussions of the legitimacy of political power, no one has ever adduced these texts! [Matthew 4:8-9; Luke 4:6-7]) This fact is no less important than the fact that Jesus rejects the devil's offer. Jesus does not say to the devil: It is not true. You do not have power over kingdoms and states. He does not dispute this claim. He refuses the offer of power because the devil demands that he should fall down before him. This is the sole point when he says: 'You shall worship the Lord your God and you shall serve him, only him' (Matthew 4:10). We may thus say that among Jesus' immediate followers and in the first Christian generation political authorities - what we call the state - belonged to the devil and those who held power received it from him. ~ Jacques Ellul

Just by making a decision to stay out of politics, you are making the decision to allow others to shape politics and exert power over you. And if you are alienated from the current political system, then just by staying out of it, if you do nothing to change it, you simply entrench it. ~ Joan Kirner

I am convinced that those who get themselves involved in the machinery of power politics, even for the purpose of destroying it, are bound to fail in their purpose. To destroy it we have to stay out of it. If we want to cut down a tree, it is of no use to climb into its branches. The desire to keep contact with something, even to destroy it, is a subtle and insidious illusion. ~ Vinoba Bhave

The longing of the mind is to be extraordinary. The ego thirsts and hungers for the recognition that you are somebody. Somebody achieves that dream through wealth, somebody else achieves that dream through power, politics, somebody else can achieve that dream through miracles, jugglery, but the dream remains the same: ~ Rajneesh

In almost every country there are elements of opinion which would welcome such a conclusion because they wish to return to the politics of the balance of power, unrestricted and unregulated armaments, international anarchy, and preparation for war. ~ Arthur Henderson

Democracy literally means the power of people. Democracy is not about politics, it is about the people. ~ Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj

America's most dangerous diseases have developed an immunity to politics. We suffer not from a failure of political organization or power, but a failure of love. ~ Cal Thomas

Power politics existed before Machiavelli was ever heard of; it will exist long after his name is only a faint memory. What he did, like Harvey, was to recognize its existence and subject it to scientific study. ~ Max Lerner

If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual. ~ Frank Herbert

Robert Kennedy was such an inspiring figure. His interest in politics seemed to come not from a desire for power, but from a need to help our society live up to its ideals. ~ Elisabeth Shue

We must remember that politics is more than a power game. The core of politics in my view is to serve our citizens, to serve our fellow human beings. ~ Kjell Magne Bondevik

Perfectionism, no less than isolationism or imperialism or power politics, may obstruct the paths to international peace. Let us not forget that the retreat to isolationism a quarter of a century ago was started not by a direct attack against international cooperation but against the alleged imperfections of the peace. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Real politics are the possession and distribution of power. ~ Benjamin Disraeli

A Constitution should be short and obscure. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

If you invest all your energy in economics, world commerce, parliamentarianism, military engagements, power and power politics, -if you take the quantum of intelligence, seriousness, will, and self-overcoming that you embody and expend it all in this one direction, there there won't be any left for the other direction. Culture and the state - let us be honest with ourselves - these are adversaries. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Being a soldier [in the wars of modern power politics] was like being on a team in a sport that drew no crowds, except for the players' own parents and friends. ~ Dan Wakefield

It is true that those of us who have political experience could wrestle for power just as any other politician. But we have no time; we have more important things to do. And there is no doubt that the knowledge we hold to be sacred would be lost in the process. To acquire power, millions of people have to be fed illusions. This too is true: Lenin won over millions of Russian peasants, without whom the Russian Revolution would have been impossible, with a slogan which was at variance with the basic collective tendencies of the Russian party. The slogan was: "Take the land of the large land-owners. It is to be your individual property." And the peasants followed. They would not have offered their allegiance if they had been told in 1917 that this land would one day be collectivized. The truth of this is attested to by the bitter fight for the collectivization of Russian agriculture around 1930. In social life there are degrees of power and degrees of falsity. The more the masses of people adhere to truth, the less power-mongering there will be; the more imbued with irrational illusions the masses of people are, the more widespread and brutal individual power-mongering will be. ~ Wilhelm Reich

In a confrontation with the politics of power, the soft center has always melted away. ~ Lord Hailsham

A passion for politics stems usually from an insatiable need, either for power, or for friendship and adulation, or a combination of both. ~ Fawn M. Brodie

Any creed whose basic doctrines do not include respect for the creeds of others, is simply power politics masquerading as philosophy. ~ Sydney J. Harris

The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing. ~ John Adams

Britain is a European power. We cannot change our geography. Our involvement in the politics of European cooperation is one of necessity. Our wealth and our security depend upon it. ~ Charles Kennedy

I think it's perfectly possible for us to stay outside of power politics, or parliamentary politics, and speak about things like the American hegemony in the region or speak about the unjust war on terror that's been brought to our borders. ~ Fatima Bhutto

We're also far enough from the publishing power that we have no access to the politics of publishing, although there are interpersonal politics, of course. ~ Katherine Dunn

I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and like the grave, cries, 'Give, give.' ~ Abigail Adams

There is an absolute power that truly empowers without corrupting ~ Constance Friday

Lap-dogs and blood-hounds enjoy the greatest respect at court; house-dogs and no dogs at all are not even considered. ~ Franz Grillparzer

Spiritual movements are revolts of thought against inertia, of the few against the many; of those who because they are strong in spirit are strongest alone against those who can express themselves only in the mass and the mob, and who are significant only because they are numerous. ~ Ludwig Von Mises

There are those who would draw a sharp line between power politics and a principled foreign policy based on values. This polarized view - you are either a realist or devoted to norms and values - may be just fine in academic debate, but it is a disaster for American foreign policy. American values are universal. ~ Condoleezza Rice

The paradox of identity liberalism is that it paralyzes the capacity to think and act in a way that would actually accomplish the things it professes to want. It is mesmerized by symbols: achieving superficial diversity in organizations, retelling history to focus on marginal and often minuscule groups, concocting inoffensive euphemisms to describe social reality, protecting young ears and eyes already accustomed to slasher films from any disturbing encounter with alternative viewpoints. Identity liberalism has ceased being a political project and has morphed into an evangelical one. The difference is this: evangelism is about speaking truth to power. Politics is about seizing power to defend the truth…

If liberals hope ever to recapture America's imagination and become a dominant force across the country, it will not be enough to beat the Republicans at flattering the vanity of the mythical Joe Sixpack. They must offer a vision of our common destiny based on one thing that all Americans, of every background, actually share. And that is citizenship. We must relearn how to speak to citizens as citizens and to frame our appeals - including ones to benefit particular groups - in terms of principles that everyone can affirm. Ours must become a civic liberalism. ~ Mark Lilla

Is human dignity and human life so cheap that the rights protecting it can be traded away to appease the appetite for intimidation and prejudice of a vicious and self-centered group - for whatever reason, power, politics, nationalism, or unity? ~ Christina Engela

Politics and power is a realm of relative influence. ~ Fareed Zakaria

In the old days, money controlled politics. Today, information controls politics. So I think with the advent of the Internet, the power of wealth has been diminished. Look up all the people you know who spent millions and millions of dollars and fell short. ~ Foster Friess

Political realists see the world as it is: an arena of power politics moved primarily by perceived immediate self-interests, where morality is rhetorical rationale for expedient action and self-interest. ~ Saul D. Alinsky

It's no use organizing the mice if the cat doesn't agree. ~ Marty Rubin

All wealth is power, so power must infallibly draw wealth to itself by some means or other. ~ Edmund Burke

Let us put the normal divisions of politics aside. Let us come together as one country; let us seize this historic moment to shift the balance of power from the corridors of Westminster to the streets and communities of Scotland. ~ Nicola Sturgeon

Power for the King, Power for Neutralis. ~ M.M. Lindelo

The universe was not created through illogical assumptions of law. Law is its foundation. There are no miracles in science. Jesus did no miracles. All His marvelous works were done under laws that we may learn and use as He did. As the body is moved by mind, so the mind is moved by ideas; and right here in the mind we find the secret of the universe. This is where Jesus differed from ordinary men: He knew He was the Son of God; He knew the power of spiritual ideas to do mighty works: "The Father abiding in me doeth his works. ~ Charles Fillmore

we want to seize the value and perspective of passing things, and so to pull ourselves up out of the maelstrom of daily circumstance. We want to know that the little things are little, and the big things big, before it is too late; we want to see things now as they will seem forever-"in the light of eternity." We want to learn to laugh in the face of the inevitable, to smile even at the looming of death. We want to be whole, to coordinate our energies by criticizing and harmonizing our desires; for coordinated energy: is the last word in ethics and politics, and perhaps in logic and metaphysics too. ~ Will Durant

Leave the body in such a way that the Supreme Power gets notified and becomes aware, attentive and receptive to receive us, the way a child returns back home after decades of touring. ~ Vishal Chipkar

Then it is in me, too, the psychotic streak. A psychotic world we live in. The madmen are in power. How long have we known this? Faced this? And-how many of us do know it? ... Perhaps if you know you are insane then you are not insane. Or you are becoming sane, finally. Waking up. I suppose only a few are aware of all this. Isolated persons here and there. But the broad masses-what do they think? All these hundreds of thousands in this city, here. Do they imagine that they live in a sane world? Or do they guess, glimpse, the truth ... ? ~ Philip K. Dick

Living as she did in a state of perpetual nervous exhaustion, always driving herself beyond her strength lest the tasks of home and parish accumulate beyond her ability to cope with with them, afraid to relax lest she collapse altogether, she had largely lost the power of wonder, and with it the power of looking at familiar things with fresh appreciation. ~ Elizabeth Goudge

We don't want to impose our solutions by force, we want to create a democratic space. We don't see armed struggle in the classic sense of previous guerrilla wars, that is as the only way and the only all-powerful truth around which everything is organized. In a war, the decisive thing is not the military confrontation but the politics at stake in the confrontation. We didn't go to war to kill or be killed. We went to war in order to be heard. ~ Subcomandante Marcos

The average person just sees through their senses. The world is filled with wonderful mysteries and beauty. You need personal power to open up all of that, without it - these are just words. ~ Frederick Lenz

Someone who has experienced trauma also has gifts to offer all of us - in their depth, their knowledge of our universal vulnerability, and their experience of the power of compassion. ~ Sharon Salzberg

Our authentic power is found in our truth. This is the place that shows us how to give what is so very good about ourselves. ~ Jeanne McElvaney

The reason I wrote political satire was because I thought it - politics - was important ... that public policy was important. Then I transitioned into books, then into radio. ~ Al Franken

We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen. ~ Calvin Coolidge

You realize, this is not just a little studio we go to make these television episodes. This thing is reaching everybody in the world! Suddenly you realize the power of television. ~ Jamie Farr

For the corporation executives, the military metaphysic often coincides with their interest in a stable and planned flow of profit; it enables them to have their risk underwritten by public money; it enables them reasonably to expect that they can exploit for private profit now and later, the risky research developments paid for by public money. It is, in brief, a mask of the subsidized capitalism from which they extract profit and upon which their power is based. ~ C. Wright Mills

As all of us who strive to be good parents know, love is self-restricting when it comes to power.... Likewise God has left his servants freedom of choice. ~ William Sloane Coffin

Some moments are beyond the power of time for some feelings affect us for life and some pains never truly heal."
From He wrote Lily. ~ Ahmed Ghrib

Only you have the power to determine whether your future mimics your past. ~ Skip Prichard

Knowledge does away with darkness, suspense, and doubt; for these cannot exist where knowledge is ... In knowledge there is power. ~ Joseph Smith Jr.

Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great. You have no power over me! ~ Jim Henson

The richest persons in Africa are heads of state, governors and ministers. So every 'educated' African who wants to be rich - and there is nothing wrong with wanting to be rich - heads straight into government or politics. ~ George Ayittey

The great mass of society are far from being depraved; for if a large majority were criminal or inclined to break the laws, where would the force or power be to prevent or constrain them? And herein is the real blessing of civilization, because this happy result has its origin in her bosom, growing out of her very nature. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Disobedience is essentially a prideful power struggle against someone in authority over us. It can be a parent, a priesthood leader, a teacher, or ultimately God. A proud person hates the fact that someone is above him. He thinks this lowers his position. ~ Ezra Taft Benson

There is inestimable blessing in a cheerful spirit. When the soul throws its windows wide open, letting in the sunshine, and presenting to all who see it the evidence of its gladness, it is not only happy, but it has an unspeakable power of doing good. ~ Orison Swett Marden

The rich people not only had all the money, they had all the chance to get more; they had all the know-ledge and the power, and so the poor man was down, and he had to stay down. ~ Upton Sinclair