Dario Fo Quotes

The law, unfortunately, has always been retained on the side of power; laws have uniformly been enacted for the protection and perpetuation of power.

The word power has such a generally negative implication in our society. What are people talking about? Are they talking about muscles, or control?

Real politics are the possession and distribution of power.

The strongest and most effective force in guaranteeing the long-term maintenance of power is not violence in all the forms deployed by the dominant to control the dominated, but consent in all the forms in which the dominated acquiesce in their own domination.

There are two things that interest me - and they're both power, ultimately. One is not having it and one is abusing it.

Institutions are more powerful than men.

It is not the misuse of power that is evil; the very existence of power is an evil.

...a state is not the same thing as a society ... A state is an organization of power on a territorial basis.

In no form of government is there an absolute identity of interest between the people and their rulers

Sometimes it's hard to tell which evokes more anger – businesses that know and care about nothing except profits or governments that know and care about nothing except power and paper-pushing. However, anger is not a solution. Anger attempts to shout down problems, and it never works.

If those in charge of our society – politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television – can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.

Only powerful people have liberty.

As the oppressor minority subordinates and dominates the majority, it must divide it and keep it divided in order to remain in power.

The theory of politics that emerges from the political literature of the pre-Revolutionary years rests on the belief that what lay behind every political scene, the ultimate explanation of every political controversy, was the disposition of power

What is new in our time is the increased power of the authorities to enforce their prejudices.

About 10,000 years ago, the winners of wars began incorporating the losers into larger societies. The victors found that the only way to make these larger societies work was by developing stronger governments; and one of the first things these governments had to do, if they wanted to stay in power, was suppress violence among their subjects.

Bureaucracy is ever desirous of spreading its influence and its power. You cannot extend the mastery of the government over the daily working life of a people without at the same time making it the master of the people's souls and thoughts.

The will of the capitalist is certainly to take as much as possible. What we have to do is not to talk about his will, but to enquire about his power, the limits of that power, and the character of those limits.

Moved by the need for control, for an unchallenged top tier, the power elite in American history has thrived by placating the vulnerable and creating for them a false sense of identification—denying real class differences wherever possible.

As I got older, I was able to articulate why I was rebelling against authority - because their motives were much more forceful and hurtful than I had ever thought.

Laughter does not please the mighty.

The effect of dominance is not always the result of an intention to dominate.

It's the oldest story in human existence. We've colonized someone or been colonized throughout human history. It's amazing how fast we comply and try to get a life out of that.

I think the greatest lesson that power has to teach us is, once you've had it, once you are a part of it, you're never free.

People who are divided are easier to control.