Quotes About Control

Fate comes in and sweeps us all like a big broom, you hear? And the dust goes flyin' and it lands where it lands, and we get no say in the matter.

Well, of course it was Billy screwing with his mind. That's what Billy did. Dear Old Dad had a PhD in mind screwing. The question was, was it just Billy screwing with his mind?

That's what I thought I was. A stalker of stalkers. A predator preying on predators.

Do you think I was wrong to let that pitch go by?" "Yes. Absolutely." "You're right." "Then why did you---" "Because I didn't know it was wrong until I did it. I had to learn, don't you see? I had to see what would happen when I let my hatred for coach go like that. I had to take control completely, just for once in my life, and see where it led me.

Bang, they say. Bang. And bang. And bang. I pull my hand into my lap, lest my acid touch sear her. Bang. Guns. Big guns. Yes, I've fired one once. Yes, I'll do it again. But maybe. I look over at Aneesa. Maybe not just yet. Maybe not right away.

they propound the first principle of totalitarianism: that the State is competent to do all things and is limited in what it actually does only by the will of those who control the State. It is clear that this view is in direct conflict with the Constitution which is an instrument, above all, for limiting the functions of government, and which is as binding today as when it was written.

Throughout history, government has proved to be the chief instrument for thwarting man's liberty. Government represents power in the hands of some men to control and regulate the lives of other men. And power, as Lord Acton said, corrupts men. "Absolute power," he added, "corrupts absolutely.

State power, considered in the abstract, need not restrict freedom: but absolute state power always does. The legitimate functions of government are actually conducive to freedom.

But in the genealogical plots of Dickens, which manage, against all the odds, and through extravagantly implausible coincidences, to work themselves out against the hostile background of the vast London crowds, we can identify the same narratological problem to which Joyce and Proust seek a queer structural solution: the competition for control of the narrative between the genealogical family and alternative forms of human connections.

Thus, from cradle to grave, having control over one's life matters.

What you can control are your attitudes about the things in your life. And so it is your inner self, your attitudes, that you should be concerned about.

Sometimes you hurt people for no reason. Just because you can.

The supreme mystery of despotism, its prop and stay, is to keep men in a state of deception, and with the specious title of religion to cloak the fear by which they must be held in check, so that they will fight for their servitude as if for salvation.

Ambition is the immoderate desire for power.

Laws which prescribe what everyone must believe, and forbid men to say or write anything against this or that opinion, are often passed to gratify, or rather to appease the anger of those who cannot abide independent minds.

The greatest secret of monarchic rule...is to keep men deceived and to cloak in the specious name of religion the fear by which they must be checked, so that they will fight for slavery as they would for salvation, and will think it not shameful, but a most honorable achievement, to give their life and blood that one man may have a ground for boasting.

everyone endeavors as much as possible to make others love what he loves, and to hate what he hates... This effort to make everyone approve what we love or hate is in truth ambition, and so we see that each person by nature desires that other persons should live according to his way of thinking...

Les stoïciens ont voulu soutenir que nos passions dépendent entièrement de notre volonté, et que nous pouvons les gouverner avec une autorité sans bornes; mais l'expérience les a contraint d'avouer, en dépit de leurs principes, qu'il ne faut pas peu de soins et d'habitude pour contenir et régler nos passions .

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself; neither do we rejoice therein, because we control our lusts, but contrariwise, because we rejoice therein, we are able to control our lusts.

The mind has greater power over the emotions, and is less subject thereto, insofar as it understands all things to be necessary.

The greatest power requires the gentlest touch. If you have to intervene or force yourself on someone else, then what that's actually an indication of is that you don't actually believe in your own power. Because if you believed in your own power - if you knew you were powerful enough to create the reality that you prefer - why would you need in any way shape or form to interfere with anyone else's process?

Circumstances do not determine your state of being. Your state of being determines your circumstances.

People who are saying that they are afraid of heights are usually not actually afraid of heights. They are afraid of falling, which means it's a synonym for losing control. So they have to get in touch with the definitional belief to find out what's really going on.

For nothing can be greater than seduction itself, not even the order that destroys it.