Quotes About Control

The situation in which a person, imagining fondly that he is in charge of his own destiny, is, in fact, the sport of circumstances beyond his control, is always fascinating.

Because 'achievers' have to be 'good,' they tend to keep their feelings under careful control, and they often suffer from ulcers or high blood pressure.

One ship goes East another West, By the self-same winds that blow; 'Tis the set of the sail and not the gale Which determines the way they go.

What is the system? It revolves around the banks, the system is built on the power of the banks, so it can be destroyed through the banks.

never occurred to me that perhaps I wasn't responsible for everything that happened in the world.

an important thing to know about JavaScript: there's one queue and one "thread of control," meaning there is only one of me going through the events one at a time.

There's a strong message of divine righteousness in dictatorships. Every megalomaniac has to believe his actions are sanctioned by God.

America: the name itself is synonymous with imperialism - you've taken the name of two entire continents & claimed it as your own, & shut out anyone else from using it.

Even dictators become dictators because somehow, deep in their hearts, they believe they've been chosen to save the world. Everyone is chosen. There lies the problem. Every wants to do something. Everyone thinks his, & no other's, is the only way. Everyone is deranged with purpose .

There is a patent conflict between the need to reverse or at least to control the impact of our economy on the biosphere and the imperatives of a capitalist market: maximum continuing growth in the search for profit.

The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep.

The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.

The self-styled intellectual who is impotent with pen and ink hungers to write history with sword and blood.

Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.

Our sense of power is more vivid when we break a man's spirit than when we win his heart.

People unfit for freedom - who cannot do much with it - are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a "have" type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a "have not" type of self.

If you don't learn how to practice power, someone else will do it for you—in your name, on your turf, with your voice, and often against your interests.

Every person and institution with power in our society today has it because we give it to them.

herding cats and shoveling smoke.

one's thoughts were regulated by the power of the state, how could one really be free?

It's only logical that if God always answered our prayers as we wanted him to, those answers to our prayers could hardly be considered miraculous. They would only be part of a predictable system that we could manipulate, if only we knew how. It really makes God not God, but a "God" or a god whom we are ultimately able to control through our efforts, whether via prayer or via our "moral" actions designed to elicit a favorable response.

Religion is the most fragile of all freedoms. And that's because it is the most threatening to those in power.

corporal discipline was de rigueur

With the tools of democracy, democracy was murdered and lawlessness made "legal." Raw power ruled, and its only real goal was to destroy all other powers besides itself.