Robert Heilbroner Quotes

To some people, power is a noun. To others, it's a verb.

Which shall rule - wealth or man; which shall lead - money or intellect.

They who possess the prince possess the laws.

Men love power.

Force is never more operative than when it is known to exist but is not brandished.

In all Places it is observed, that Great Men alwayes have their Followers, who hang on their Skirts; and some who have no thoughts of their own, make the Rich and Powerful their Oracle

Power over a man's support is a power over his will.

…property in fact generally confers power, though the possessor of it may not have much more wit than a mole or a mugwash…

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him.

The central factor in most human beings is power. Politics is the manifestation of the quest for power.

The drive for control, or the perception thereof, is truly the strongest force in human nature.

Action men are the unvoluntary slaves of wise men.

You see the names of places roundabout? They're mine now, and I've turned them inside out.

You have no power at all if you do not exercise constant power.

Power tires only those who do not have it.

Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals.

Power has long been regarded as morally corrosive, and we often suspect the intentions of those who seek it.

I like power and I like to use it.

To depend upon the Will of a Man is Slavery.

Possessions. The very word is potent - suggestive as it is of ownership both material and erotic. To possess. Possession. Possessed.

He was always testing you. He was always testing his power.

I think it was when I realised I could talk anybody into doing just about anything I wanted them to.

The power to command has never meant the power to remain mysterious.

Power is not just political. It can be cultural; it can be spiritual.

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