William Wycherley - As wit is too hard for power in council, so pow

As wit is too hard for power in council, so power is too hard for wit in action.

Topics

Citations

Wycherley, William. The Posthumous Works of William Wycherley, Esq; in Prose and Verse. A. Bettesworth, 1728.

Related Quotes

Mark McKinnon

Politics at bottom is not all that complicated. It's all about timing.

Edgar Bronfman Sr.

In politics, as in business, leadership is crucial.

Fareed Zakaria

It's not possible for two countries to be the leading dominant political power at the same time.

Winston Churchill

I am not invested with dictatorial powers. If I were, I should be quite ready to dictate.

He was then the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Axel Oxenstierna

Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?

William J. Brennan Jr.

Each age must … contend anew with the question of power and accountability.

Winston Churchill

Certainly I shall not be one of those who, having gained power, do not wish to use it.

Churchill's first government job was as Undersecretary of the Colonies. Shortly after his appointment he observed:

Richard Armitage

The Executive Branch, when they put the point on the spear, can get things done.

Winston Churchill

In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.

Henry IV of France

Great Council

Henry of Navarre. The Great Council was the first proposed International governing body—a precursor to the EEC, the UN and the League of Nations. Henry's plan included an international army and navy to enforce the decisions. See {622121} for another name for the idea.

Walter Raleigh

Whoso desireth to govern well and securely, it behoveth him to have a vigilant eye to the proceedings of great princes, and to consider seriously of their designs.

Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada

Taking power is fine. But what do you do when you are in power?

Michael Ignatieff

Cynics who say power is all that counts in politics forget that power without ideas is just improvisation.

Tacitus

Power is more safely retained by cautious than by severe councils.
[Lat., Potentiam cautis quam acribus consiliis tutius haberi.]

Zora Neale Hurston

The liquor of statecraft is distilled from the mash you got.

George Orwell

Power is not a means; it is an end.

Heinrich Heine

The men of action are, after all, only the unconscious instruments of the men of thought.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.

Karen Bass

It's so much easier to throw rocks than it is to govern.

Adam Michnik

Politics is the art of realizing what there is to realize.

Aleksandr Lebed

I counted on sixty days only, but I held out for 133. I didn't go into power, but to get power I borrowed some power from the President and made him sign a number of decrees and give me enough power to create a system capable of handling crisis situations.