Jeane Kirkpatrick Quotes

Control is the source of strategic power.

You have no power at all if you do not exercise constant power.

Power is not a means; it is an end.

I can paint pictures, but I cannot rule men.

Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society.

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

You run the party or the party runs you.

They who possess the prince possess the laws.

Politics is the art of acquiring, holding and wielding power.

The people who exercise the power are not always the same people over whom it is exercised.

Leadership and power vacuums will be filled.

Politics is power, and communications is power,

I never had a political power base.

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

Every decision that affects our lives will be made by the person who has the power to make that decision, not the 'right' person or the 'smartest' person or the 'best' person. Make peace with this fact.

[On power:] Some people really have almost a disdain for that word. They feel it is alien to conscience. Power for power's sake, no. But the positive use of power for positive purposes is very important. You have to understand that. You've got to have a seat at the policy table if you want to make a difference.

How many kings are governed by their ministers, how many ministers by their secretaries? Who, in such cases, is really the chief?

Those who have ruled human destinies, like planets, for thousands of years, were not handsome men.

Clout is something some seem to have-until they try exercising it.

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 hand that controls the supper dish rules the world!

Influence is not government.

Even when you’re in charge, you’re not sure who’s in charge.

I was not a presider; I was a leader.

The person who manages the state is me.