13 quotes
Every man would like to be God, if it were possible; some few find it difficult to admit the impossibility.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
To acquire immunity to eloquence is of the utmost importance to the citizens of a democracy.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
Most people, at a crisis, feel more loyalty to their nation than to their class.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
Power may be defined as the production of intended effects.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
Among human beings, the subjection of women is much more complete at a certain level of civilization than it is among savages. And the subjection is always reinforced by morality.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
Competition for power is of two sorts: between organizations, and between individuals for leadership within an organization.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
The merits of democracy are negative: it does not insure good government, but it prevents certain evils.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
The "social contract," in the only sense in which it is not completely mythical, is a contract among conquerors, which loses its raison d'être if they are deprived of the benefits of conquest.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
In democratic countries, the most important private organizations are economic. Unlike secret societies, they are able to exercize their terrorism without illegality, since they do not threaten to kill their enemies, but only to starve them.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
An individual may perceive a way of life, or a method of social organisation, by which more of the desires of mankind could be satisfied than under the existing method. If he perceives truly, and can persuade men to adopt his reform, he is justified. Without rebellion, mankind would stagnate, and injustice would be irremediable.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
I greatly doubt whether the men who become pirate chiefs are those who are filled with retrospective terror of their fathers, or whether Napoleon, at Austerlitz, really felt that he was getting even with Madame Mère. I know nothing of the mother of Attila, but I rather suspect that she spoilt the little darling, who subsequently found the world irritating because it sometimes resisted his whims.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)
We thus have a kind of see-saw: first, pure persuasion leading to the conversion of a minority; then force exerted to secure that the rest of the community shall be exposed to the right propaganda; and finally a genuine belief on the part of the great majority, which makes the use of force again unnecessary.
Power: A New Social Analysis (1938)