Basil of Caesarea Quotes

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

A seat in the council is honor without profit.

To make sense of bossiness, we need to tease apart two fundamental aspects of social hierarchy that are often lumped together: power and status. Power lies in holding a formal position of authority or controlling important resources. Status involves being respected or admired.

Must! Is must a word to be addressed to princes? Little man, little man! Thy father, if he had been alive, durst not have used that word.

People in power, they're so used to people kind of playing up to them.

It doesn't matter how much wisdom you have. If you don't have position, you have nothing. That's the tragedy of India.

Don't go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you'll land in trouble too big for you.

The only thing I command is respect.

People desire power. I don't know why they want it so. It seems to me it implies a hugely superior intellect which separates them from most of the populace.

In my day you didn't speak until spoken to.

Prestige is the shadow of money and power.

You know, if you think about it, the most powerful people on this earth probably never raise their voices - they just say it and people hop to, because they have that power.

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

Politicians respect a lot of things, but nothing so much as success.

The influence of the leaders is due in very small measure to the arguments they employ, but in a large degree to their prestige. The best proof of this is that, should they by any circumstance lose their prestige, their influence disappears.

Authority may be as much injured by words as by actions.

You don’t need to admire power, but you must always, however grudgingly, respect and understand it.

The power of recognition gives you the power to set the agenda.

You must be a power on earth, and must therefore accept all the consequences of this position

I found early on that having a position of power really doesn't bring the fulfillment that many people think it does.

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable.

Power in itself has never attracted me, nor has position been my goal.

You don't talk to Richard Petty unless he talks to you.

I got taught respect because if not, somebody's gonna make you respect them.

If someone in a powerful position acts in a certain way or expresses a certain view, we implicitly assume that those actions and views are associated with power, and that emulating them may be to our advantage.