Theme
Power
Influence, authority, and how it is used.
Every quote here is provenance-checked. AI will happily put a fake quote on a beautiful slide — these are the ones you can actually use, with the right name on them.
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Verified quotes about power
Each is traced to a real source and correctly credited. ✓ Free to use = public domain, cleared for commercial reuse. Open one for a paste-ready credit line and its reuse status.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand”
“A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation”
“Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications and to watch over their fate”
“All art is propaganda”
“All warfare is based on deception”
“All wars are planned by older men in council rooms apart”
“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”
“Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven”
“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful”
“Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy”
“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude”
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard”
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists”
“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods”
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed”
“Every joke is a tiny revolution”
“Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are”
“For our last number, I'd like to ask your help. Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery”
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”
“He who overcomes others is strong; he who overcomes himself is mighty”
“I came, I saw, I conquered”
“I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones”
“I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves”
“I owe the public nothing”
“I probably have a 20,000-word vocabulary. I'll match my wits with anyone on literature, science and the arts”
“I think our society is run by insane people for insane objectives”
“I'm the best ever. I'm the most brutal and vicious, and most ruthless champion there's ever been. There's no one that can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No, I'm Alexander! He's no Alexander. I'm the best ever. There's never been anybody as ruthless. I'm Sonny Liston. I'm Jack Dempsey. There's no one like me. I'm from their cloth. There is no one that can match me. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah!”
“If you aren't careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing”
“If You Want to Know What a Man's Like, Look at How He Treats His Inferiors”
“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule”
“In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman”
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex”
“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem”
“It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both”
“It is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to be wanting”
“It's a big club and you ain't in it”
“Knowledge itself is power”
“Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens”
“Money is gold, and nothing else”
“Money is like muck, not good except it be spread”
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”
“Now is the winter of our discontent”
“Our patience will achieve more than our force”
“Our strategy in going after this army is very simple. First we are going to cut it off, and then we are going to kill it”
“People are taking their comedians seriously and their politicians as a joke”
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
“Read my lips: no new taxes”
“Software is eating the world”
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”
“Speak softly and carry a big stick”
“The day of combination is here to stay. Individualism has gone, never to return”
“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse”
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven”
“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help”
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help”
“The pen is mightier than the sword”
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting”
“There are four hundred thousand words in the English language, and there are seven you can't say on television”
“There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more”
“There is no such thing as society”
“These books ain't window dressing. I think Machiavelli's the most sophisticated writer outside of Shakespeare”
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”
“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace”
“Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it”
“We go to openings of envelopes”
“We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first — rock and roll or Christianity”
“Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”
“Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches”
“Don't Tax You. Don't Tax Me. Tax That Fellow Behind the Tree”
“Give me a place to stand, and I shall move the earth”
“God gave me my money”
“I believe in a benevolent dictatorship - as long as I am the benevolent dictator”
“I do not believe in using women in combat, because females are too fierce”
“If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back”
“Imagination rules the world”
“In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual”
“It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal”
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake”
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”
“Religion is the opiate of the masses”
“Republicans buy sneakers, too”
“The ballot is stronger than the bullet”
“The greatest joy is to conquer your enemies and drive them before you”
“The greatest victory is that which requires no battle”
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any”
“The way to make a million dollars is to start a religion”
“Well, I don't know as I want a lawyer to tell me what I cannot do. I hire him to tell how to do what I want to do”
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it”
“Your margin is my opportunity”
No public-domain quotes on this theme yet — try another, or use an in-copyright one with attribution.
Don’t get caught out
Commonly shared about power — but misattributed
Popular power lines that get pinned on the wrong name. If you use one, credit it correctly.
“Any Time You See Anything Big and Working Well, You Want To Take It Over”
ReallyUnknown · not Winston Churchill
“News Is What Somebody Does Not Want You To Print. All the Rest Is Advertising”
ReallyUnknown · not George Orwell
“Now We’re Just Haggling Over the Price”
ReallyUnknown — a circulating anecdote · not Bertrand Russell
“Life Isn't Fair, But Government Must Be”
ReallyAnn Richards · not John F. Kennedy
“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one”
ReallyA. J. Liebling · not H. L. Mencken
“I never vote for anybody. I always vote against”
ReallyW. C. Fields · not H. L. Mencken
“When somebody says it's not about the money, it's about the money”
ReallyKin Hubbard · not H. L. Mencken
“There Are Only Three Great Cities in the U.S.: New York, San Francisco, and Washington. All the Rest Are Cleveland”
ReallyUnknown · not Mark Twain
“Whiskey Is for Drinking; Water Is for Fighting Over”
ReallyUnknown · not Mark Twain
“As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron”
ReallyH. L. Mencken
“Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across”
ReallyUnknown · not Sun Tzu
“The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan”
ReallyKenneth V. Lanning · not Carl Sagan
“Academic Politics Are So Vicious Because the Stakes Are So Small”
ReallyWallace S. Sayre · not Henry Kissinger
“Every Ambitious Would-Be Empire Clarions It Abroad That She Is Conquering the World to Bring It Peace”
ReallyTaylor Caldwell · not Henry David Thoreau
“I Would Rather Go To Bed With That Woman Stark Naked Than With Ulysses S. Grant in Full Military Regalia”
ReallyMark Twain · not James Montgomery Flagg
“Laws are Like Sausages. Better Not to See Them Being Made”
ReallyJohn Godfrey Saxe · not Otto von Bismarck
“Military Intelligence is a Contradiction in Terms or an Oxymoron”
ReallyJohn Charteris · not George Carlin
“Whatever is Not Nailed Down is Mine and Whatever I Can Pry Loose is Not Nailed Down”
ReallyDavid Starr Jordan · not Upton Sinclair