Power intoxicates men. It is never voluntarily surrendered. It must be taken from them.
To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who seek it: the pains of power are real, its pleasures imaginary.
Power may justly be compared to a great river; while kept within its bounds it is both beautiful and useful, but when it overflows its banks, it is then too impetuous to be stemmed; it bears down all before it, and brings destruction and desolation wherever it comes.
The tempest uproots not the soft grasses that bow low on all sides; on the lofty trees it strikes hard. It is against the mighty that the mighty puts forth his prowess.
If it were in my power, I would be wiser; but a newly felt power carries me off in spite of myself; love leads me one way, my understanding another.
Knowledge comes by eyes always open and working hard, and there is no knowledge that is not power.
He never sold the truth to serve the hour, Nor paltered with Eternal God for power.
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, these three alone lead life to sovereign power.