Symbolic Power Quotes

I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword.

Power resides only where men believe it resides. [...] A shadow on the wall, yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.

Palestine is our unforgettable historic home. The very name would be a force of marvelous potency for summoning our people together.

I believe that magic is art, and that art, whether that be music, writing, sculpture, or any other form, is literally magic. Art is, like magic, the science of manipulating symbols, words or images, to achieve changes in consciousness… Indeed to cast a spell is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change peoples consciousness, and this is why I believe that an artist or writer is the closest thing in the contemporary world to a shaman.

Power may be at the end of a gun, but sometimes it's also at the end of the shadow or the image of a gun.

The coronation is a symbol of power, but it's not a symbol for us the people. It's a symbol for that person, who is a human, to become a higher being and become one with God. The church, the scepter, and the crown have been around forever. And the line of kings of England goes back thousands of years.

When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ ’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ ’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.

[Visual images are] the surest way of conveying an idea. A leader or an interest can make itself master of current symbols to master the current situation.

There aren't any magical words, really. Words just hold the magic.

Constitutions are in politics what paper money is in commerce. They afford great facilities and conveniences. But we must not attribute to them that value which really belongs to what they represent. They are not power, but symbols of power, and will, in an emergency, prove altogether useless unless the power for which they stand be forthcoming.

Words are the source of all power. And names are more than just a collection of letters.

Words and magic were in the beginning one and the same thing, and even today words retain much of their magical power.

I say that a myth is a story which has particular energy, mythic resonance. I always say that a myth is a tear in the fabric of reality through which all of this spiritual energy pours.

Your words are containers for power, and by the words you speak you frame your world!

A champion without his belt is like a knight without his sword. I've got to have it.

Mexico was conquered more by manipulation of myth and archetype.

The more elusive and ambiguous a symbol is, the more it gains significance and power.

Inanimate objects sometimes appear endowed with a strange power of sight. A statue notices, a tower watches, the face of an edifice contemplates.

Language is inexorably tied to power and understanding. And power and understanding are the roots of magic. Just the act of writing something down is a magical act.

Is there a connection between language and magic? Yes. Ten times yes. So much yes that it almost doesn't bear talking about. It's as pointless that arguing that the sun is hot.

The symbolic power of Barack Obama's presidency - that whiteness was no longer strong enough to prevent peons taking up residence in the castle - assaulted the most deeply rooted notions of white supremacy and instilled fear in its adherents and beneficiaries.

Many and subtle are the ideological weapons that the State has wielded through the centuries. Once excellent weapon has been tradition. The longer that the rule of a State has been able to preserve itself, the more powerful this weapon; for then, the X Dynasty or the Y State has the seeming weight of centuries of tradition behind it.

What I love most about icons is finding out what's behind them, exploring the price of their power.

I decided that we should have a flag, that a flag fit us as a symbol, that we are a people, a tribe if you will. And flags are about proclaiming power, so it's very appropriate.

The great monuments are raised up like dams, pitting the logic of majesty and authority against all the shady elements: it is in the form of cathedrals and palaces that Church and State speak and impose silence on the multitudes.