Tom Wicker Quotes

Your part can be the king, but unless people are treating you like royalty, you ain't no king, man.

They can't pooh-pooh me now, because of who I am.

I think it's poignant and powerful, this idea that if someone knows your name, they have the ability to kind of hail you and make demands upon you.

Being powerful is so much more interesting than being beautiful.

The power and influence of a movie star is curious: I didn't ask for it or take it; people gave it to me. Simply because you're a movie star, people empower you with special rights and privileges.

Power is fortified not just by what it destroys, but also by what it creates. Not just by what it takes, but also by what it gives. And powerlessness reaffirmed not just by the helplessness of those who have lost, but also by the gratitude of those who have (or think they have) gained.

This is the power of the powerful to define, to structure, to say, 'This is the way the world works.' It's enormous power. Among the powers of the weak, I think the first one is the power not to believe the powerful.

People above you, they never want to share power with you. Why you look to them? They give you nothing. People below you, you give them hope, you give them respect, they give you power, cause they don't think they have any, so they don't mind giving it up.

Pierre Bordieu was right: "The all powerful is he who does not wait but makes others wait. Absolute power is the power to make oneself unpredictable and deny other people any reasonable anticipation, to place them in total uncertainty by offering no scope for their capacity to predict."

If one meets a powerful person - Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates - ask them five questions: 'What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?' If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.

The target of power is more interesting than its quantity.

Political organizations are formed to keep the powerful in power.

I would like to walk in a room and people know who I am and be like, "Oh, I respect his opinion."

He who has the bigger stick has the better chance of imposing his definitions of reality.

Power is not a material possession that can be given, it is the ability to act. Power must be taken, it is never given.

If you have power, you have to empower.

If I cannot retain my moral influence over a man except by occasionally knocking him down, if that is the only basis upon which he will respect me, then for the sake of his soul I have got occasionally to knock him down.

What matters is what happens among the powerful.

While few judges or prosecutors would be afraid to exercise their perfectly legitimate discretion in favour of an ordinary man, not to mention a minority group member, most would be terrified to exercise the same discretion for someone politically, financially or socially powerful.

You see what power is holding someone else's fear in your hand and showing it to them.

If one meets a powerful person--Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates--ask them five questions: "What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?

I am a believer in the adage - performance leads to recognition, recognition leads to respect and respect leads to power.

A lot of people refer to power as shooting a loaded gun. When you have to shoot the gun, you've lost the power. Other people's knowledge of your gun should be enough.

Power educates the potentate.

Distinguish between power and control, delegate, be decisive - and always remember people's first names.