We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.

I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and like the grave, cries, "Give, giver

The weight of great power crushes the goodness of the man who rules and the honesty of those who are ruled.

Chairman Mao once said that political power comes from the barrel of a gun. He was only partly right: power that comes from the barrel of a gun can be effective only for a short time. In the end, peoples love for truth, justice, freedom, and democracy will triumph. No matter what governments do, the human spirit will always prevail.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they have resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress.

When one reaches absolute power, one loses total contact with reality.

He who is able to conquer others is powerful; he who is able to conquer himself is more powerful.

Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression.

Power never takes a back step-only in the face of more power.

Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.