Power Quotes: The Essence of Strength and Control
Power comes in many forms, whether it’s physical, intellectual, or emotional. The way we use power defines not only our character but also the world around us. These quotes reveal the deeper truths about power and its effect on individuals and society.
- When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
- Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich. – Lao Tzu
- If you want to know the real character of a person, give him power and see what he does.
- Ignorance and power and pride are a deadly mixture, you know. – Robert Fulghum
- You need power only when you want to do something harmful otherwise love is enough to get everything done. – Charlie Chaplin
- You will never know the power of yourself until someone hurts you badly.
- Power is nothing without control.
- Power never takes a back step – only in the face of more power. – Malcolm X
- Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. – James Allen
- There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women. – Malala Yousafzai
- Knowledge is power, understanding is using it, wisdom is controlling it, magic is knowing how.
- Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. – Abraham Lincoln
- Knowledge is power. Power to do evil…or power to do good. Power itself is not evil. So knowledge itself is not evil. – Veronica Roth
- Be a reason for someone’s happiness, not just part of it, and be a part of someone’s sadness, never be the reason for it.
- Power, once possessed, is never relinquished except under delusion or necessity. – Dr. Idel Dreimer
- 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. – Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
- Those who want power are the ones who least deserve it. – Elon Musk
- Knowledge will give you power, but character respect. – Bruce Lee
- The measure of a man is what he does with power. – Plato
- Persistence. Perfection. Patience. Power. Prioritize your passion. It keeps you sane. – Criss Jami
- Knowledge is power, and no one can take it away from you.
- You gain power by pretending to be weak. – Chuck Palahniuk
- Silence is the ultimate weapon of power. – Charles de Gaulle
Power and Responsibility Quotes
With great power comes great responsibility. How one handles their power can lead to justice or corruption. The balance between power and responsibility is essential for creating a fair world.
- The less people know about what is really going on, the easier it is to wield power and authority. – Prince Charles
- Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love. – Martin Luther King Jr.
- Pride and power fall when the person falls, but discoveries of truth form legacies that can be built upon for generations. – Criss Jami
- The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. – Roseanne Barr
- The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful and then only for a short while. – Albert Einstein
- Power is when you have every justification to kill someone, and then you don’t. – Oskar Shindler
- It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. – David Brin
- He is most powerful who has power over himself. – Seneca
- When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.
- Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just. – Blaise Pascal
- Power and money are marvelous sources if they remain in your pockets, but they are terrible masters if they enter your brains.
- The great secret of power is never to will to do more than you can accomplish. – Henrik Ibsen
- Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best. – Edward Abbey
- The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. – Alice Walker
- Whoever has the gold makes the rules.
- Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
- Knowledge is power therefore learning is the fundamental path to power.
- All power is within you. You can do anything and everything. Believe in that. Do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. Stand up and express the divinity within you. – Swami Vivekananda
- Power is not evoked through fear but gained from respect.
- People around the world have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power. – Bill Clinton
- Power is born from the choices you make and can be lost in the same way.
- True power does not come from anger but comes only from truth.
Quotes on the Corrupting Nature of Power
Power, if not handled with care, has the potential to corrupt even the best of people. These quotes illustrate the dark side of power and the risks it presents.
- Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat. – John Lehman
- It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. – David Brin
- Power was my weakness and my temptation. – J.K. Rowling
- When forces of oppression come to maintain themselves in power against established law, peace is considered already broken. – Che Guevara
- When a man sees himself as superior to others, he will soon step on people’s toes.
- Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.
- To brag about your strength only means you don’t know how to use it.
- Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty. – Ronald Reagan
- Power without abuse loses its charm. – Paul Valery
- True power is getting people to want to do what you want them to do.
- A powerful person is a person who has conquered himself.
- The only true power comes from within.
- Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power. – John Steinbeck
- Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. – George Orwell
- Our power resides not only in what we do but also in what we refuse to do. – Paulo Coelho
- Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best. – Edward Abbey
- When we attempt to exercise power or control over someone else, we cannot avoid giving that person the very same power or control over us. – Alan Watts
- Pretense cannot sustain blind power. – Dejan Stojanovic
- Power without abuse loses its charm. – Paul Valery
- Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it.
Power is a double-edged sword, capable of creating positive change or causing destruction. How we handle power, and how we respond to it, shapes our world. As we navigate life, these quotes remind us that true power lies in self-control, responsibility, and integrity. Power should uplift, not destroy, and when used wisely, it can lead to a more just and compassionate world.