Aldous Huxley Quotes

Authority doesn't work without prestige, or prestige without distance.

You'll never see the president carry his own luggage, and why? Because even though we know he has luggage, it would reduce his stature if he was too much like us. We need to think of our leaders as being above us, even though they must still relate to us.

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

A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.

I tend to discourage people from calling me 'Sir Ian,' because I don't like being separated out from the rest of the population. Of course, it can be useful if you're writing an official letter, like trying to get a visa or something passed through Parliament. They're impressed by these things.

Rank does not intimidate hardware. Neither does the lack of rank.

A good name is rather to be chosen than riches.

Like most animals, we're wired to associate height with power.

It's hard to put into words, shaking hands with the most powerful man in the world.

Power says if you are a committee chairman, your idea is good only because you have got power.

Kings need the company of the intelligent far more than the intelligent need the company of kings.

While a vice-president of the United States may lack power, he never lacks; his rank is similar to that of a crown prince, though his succession is considerably less certain.

Lofty posts make great men greater still, and small men much smaller.

You know our nation. If a citizen officer of one town has just one more silver button on his epaulette than another, great hue and cry arises and the important cause goes by the board …

When people start to perceive you as the big guy, you're not allowed to be scrappy, fierce.

It'd be nice if people consider me somewhat of an ambassador.

What's certain is that ranking powerful people is inherently self-defeating. For starters, true potentates know who they are without being told, and they have no need to announce it.

I have no interest in the trappings of power.

I don't care about keeping seats of power.

Reputation is the road to power

Closeness to power heightens the dignity of all men.

Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering.

The sole purpose of a crown is to make anyone not wearing one feel like an insignificant pauper. They're obscene to the point of satire.

In Mexico, the perception of power is power.

I wanted to be respected by filmmakers, and why should they respect me if they saw that my superiors did not treat me with respect.