Leo Tolstoy Quotes

In the hands of vicious men, a mob will do anything. But under good leaders it's quite a different story.

Real politics are the possession and distribution of power.

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

What is politics, after all, but the compulsion to preside over property and make other people's decisions for them?

Power goes to two poles: to those who've got money and those who've got people.

It is easier to give directions than advice, and more agreeable to have the right to act, even in a limited sphere, than the privilege to talk at large.

An expert is someone who articulates the needs of those in power.

Isolation from power makes men look for a mob in which they can be strong.

Power is founded upon opinion.

Power, from the standpoint of experience, is merely the relation that exists between the expression of someone's will and the execution of that will by others.

You can't forge a new sort of consensus, you can't forge public opinion, by following public opinion.

Politics and power is a realm of relative influence.

In America, public opinion is the leader.

The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, all the more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyone has a small part of himself in both.

The word power has such a generally negative implication in our society. What are people talking about? Are they talking about muscles, or control?

I used to pull rank and wait until the wind was blowing out.

You don't have to be captain to have an opinion.

Leadership is a choice, not a position.

The most powerful men were those who most effectively used the power of adult competence to enforce childish agreements.

Decisions are made by those who show up.

It matters whether women sit at the table. No one speaks up for you when you are standing outside with your nose pressed up against the glass. You cannot window-shop for power.

The prime minister found something hopeful in the man's eyes and manner. The 30 or so people who run this world analyze one another that way and then make decisions of life and death for us. Scary, but true.

It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people's lives.

Always, in every human action, there are leaders.

Power gravitates to the man who knows how.