Quotes About Control

Success is both an addiction and an enslavement.

When someone asks, 'Does success make you into a monster?' I always say, 'No, it enables you to be a monster.'

Success is the result of a delicate balance between making things happen and letting things happen.

The more control you have over your life, the more responsible you feel for your own success - or failure.

Nothing is more diminishing than trying to control success or hold on to things.

So far, then, said Danglars, mentally, all has gone as I would have it. I am, temporarily, commander of the Pharaon, with the certainty of being permanently so, if that fool of a Caderousse can be persuaded to hold his tongue. My only fear is the chance of Dantes being released. But, there, he is in the hands of Justice; and, added he with a smile, she will take her own. So saying, he leaped into a boat, desiring to be rowed on board the Pharaon, where M. Morrel had agreed to meet him.

The cause was not in Dantes, but in providence, who, while limiting the power of man, has filled him with boundless desires.

Il est mon maître et je suis son esclave; il a le droit de ne rien voir.

You cannot control circumstances, my dear sir; 'man proposes, and God disposes.

But the kings of modern times, restrained by the limits of mere probability, have neither courage nor desire. They fear the ear that hears their orders, and the eye that scrutinizes their actions.

The reign of Mazarin is over, but that of the financiers is begun. They have the money; your majesty will not often see much of it. To live under the paw of these hungry wolves is hard for a man who reckoned upon independence.

vous autres, qui tenez le pouvoir, vous n'avez que les moyens que donne l'argent ; nous autres, qui l'attendons, nous avons ceux que donne le dévouement.

In a moment he restrained himself so powerfully that the tempestuous heaving of his breast subsided, as turbulent and foaming waves yield to the sun's genial influence when the cloud has passed.

El señor Morrel comprendió que nada podía intentarse: un comisario con su faja no es ya un hombre, es la estatua de la ley, fría, sorda, muda.

It must not be forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details of life. For my part, I should be inclined to think freedom less necessary in the great things than in the little ones, if it were possible to be secure of the one without the other.

The prestige of royal power has evaporated, but the majesty of the law has failed to take its place. People nowadays despise authority yet still fear it, and fear extracts from them more than they previously gave out of respect and love.

Under the absolute sway of an individual despot the body was attacked in order to subdue the soul, and the soul escaped the blows which were directed against it and rose superior to the attempt; but such is not the course adopted by tyranny in democratic republics; there the body is left free, and the soul is enslaved.

It would seem that if despotism were to be established among the democratic nations of our days, it might assume a different character; it would be more extensive and more mild; it would degrade men without tormenting them.

The tyranny of the executive power will come in its turn, but at a more distant period.

Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.

The deeper we penetrate into the working of these parties, the more do we perceive that the object of the one is to limit, and that of the other to extend, the popular authority.

Ainsi donc, en s'alliant à un pouvoir politique, la religion augmente sa puissance sur quelques-uns, et perd l'espérance de régner sur tous.

What good is it to me to have an authority always ready to see to the tranquil enjoyment of my pleasures, to brush away all dangers from my path without my having to think about them, if such an authority, as well as removing thorns from under my feet, is also the absolute master of my freedom or if it so takes over all activity and life that around it all must languish when it languishes, sleep when it sleeps and perish when it perishes.

The whole military power of the State is at the disposal of the Governor. He is the commander of the militia, and head of the armed force.