The power of the crown, almost dead and rotten as prerogative, has grown up anew, with much more strength, and far less odium, under the name of Influence. Edmund Burke
After a man has far more money than he possibly can spend for pleasures, what is left to excite him? For those with a ruling-class mentality the answer is power. Raw power over other human beings. The Capitalist Conspiracy, 1969
The hierarchy of everything in my life has always bothered me. I’m bothered by power. People, whoever they might be, whether it’s the government, or the policeman in the uniform, or the man on the door – they still irk me a bit. From school, from the first nun that belted me – people used to think of the nice sweet little ladies ... they used to knock the fuck out of you, in the most cruel way that they could. They’d find bits of your body that were vulnerable to intense pain – grabbing you by the ear, or by the nose, and lift you, and say ‘Don’t cry!’ It’s very hard not to cry. I mean, not from emotion, but pain. The priests were the same. And I sit and watch politicians with great cynicism, total cynicism. Dave Allen
The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses. Malcolm X
All power is a trust ... from the people, and for the people, all springs, and all must exist. Benjamin Disraeli, Vivian Grey, 1826
Power has only one duty – to secure the social welfare of the People. Benjamin Disraeli
And of course politics and power. Francesco da Mosto, Shakespeare in Italy I BBC 2012
Can anyone be trusted with power? ibid.
What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? How do we get rid of you? Tony Benn
People at the top do not want to share their power. They’ve always got some marvellous reason: I’m following my religion; I’m following the laws of economics. Even Stalin: I’m representing the vanguard of the working class, so please don’t cause trouble. That is the battle that every generation has, and yet we mustn’t be pessimistic about it. Tony Benn, interview January 2003
It’s all about power and where it is. Too much power is in the hands of too few people … It’s secret powerful people who’ve got positions in industry and in society. And unless that power is exposed, it’ll continue to exercise undue influence and maintain the underclass and the injustices we’ve seen. Tony Benn, Last Will & Testament ***** Youtube 1.31.36
The people who stay true to those who put them in power, these are the people I admire. Not the people who climb into power on the backs of others, kick away the ladder and are presented as ‘men of principle’ and ‘moderates’. Tony Benn
Both Bernays’ and Lippmann’s concept of managing the masses takes the idea of democracy and it turns it into a palliative. It turns it into giving people some kind of feel-good medication that will respond to an immediate pain or an immediate yearning, but will not alter the objective circumstances one iota. The idea of democracy at its heart was about changing the relations of power that governed the world for so long; and Bernay’s concept of democracy was one of maintaining the relations of power. Stuart Ewan, public relations historian
Those in power must spend a lot of their time laughing at us. Alice Walker
Power from any source tends to create an appetite for additional power ... It was almost inevitable that the super-rich would one day aspire to control not only their own wealth but the wealth of the whole world.
To achieve this they were perfectly willing to feed the ambitions of the power-hungry political conspirators who were committed to overthrow all existing governments and the establishment of a central world-wide dictatorship. W Cleon Skousen, The Naked Capitalist, 1970
It is the curse of the powerful to be blind to their own faults. Robert Fanney
Are you seeking power in the hereafter or are you seeking it now? It seems to me very obvious – the inescapable conclusion – that it’s temporal power that’s being talked about. And of a very dictatorial kind. Christopher Hitchens v Marvin Olasky
It [religion] gives to those [people] power in the here and now … The arrogance of power when it thinks it is backed by the divine … Christopher Hitchens vs Marvin Olasky, debate Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum April 2007
All empire is no more than power in trust. John Dryden, 1631-1700, Absalom and Achitophel
The strongest and most effective force in guaranteeing the long-term maintenance of power is not violence in all the forms deployed by the dominant to control the dominated, but consent in all the forms in which the dominated acquiesce in their own domination. Robert Frost
It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. David Brin
Each candidate behaved well in the hope of being judged worthy of election. However, this system was disastrous when the city had become corrupt. For then it was not the most virtuous but the most powerful who stood for election, and the weak, even if virtuous, were too frightened to run for office. Niccolo Machiavelli
Is not the pleasure of feeling and exhibiting power over other beings, a principle part of the gratification of cruelty? John Foster, 1770-1843
Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it ... one must have the courage to dare. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness; only power, pure power ... Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. George Orwell, 1984
Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. ibid.
Always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever. ibid.
It will be a world of terror as much as a world of triumph. The more the Party is powerful, the less it will be tolerant: the weaker the opposition, the tighter the despotism. ibid.
Power resides where men believe it resides. It’s a trick. A shadow on the wall. And a very small man can caste a very long shadow. Game of Thrones s2e3: What Is Dead May Never Die, Varys to Tyrion, HBO 2012
This power in you – you resist it and that’s a mistake. Game of Thrones s5e4: Sons of the Harpy, magic bird to John Snow
The Law always limits every power it gives. David Hume
The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
The only power deserving the name is that of masses, and of governments while they make themselves the organ of the tendencies and instincts of masses. ibid.
If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. ibid.
A party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life. ibid.
A power base is a power base, gentlemen. So don’t knock it. Particularly if you haven’t got one of your own. Alan Bleasdale, GBH II: Only Here on a Message, Robert Lindsay & Lindsay Duncan & Michael Palin & Julie Walters & Tom Georgeson & Andrew Schofield & Jane Danson & David Ross et al, director Robert Young, Michael in meeting with Militant reps, Channel 4 1991
Power should always be distrusted, in whatever hands it is placed. William Jones, letter 5th October 1782
You only have power over people as long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything he’s no longer in your power – he’s free again. Alexander Solzhenitsyn
These satanic bloodlines give their bodies over to these demonic entities. When we put these bloodlines in power we are putting the entities in power. David Icke
Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, speech House of Lords 2nd March 1770