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.
Interpretation
Absolute power enables individuals to shape reality through both truth and deceit.
This quote suggests that individuals who hold absolute power possess the ability not only to foresee or influence events but also to manipulate truth. It highlights the potential dangers of power, as those in control can distort reality to fit their narratives, blurring the line between honesty and deception.
In practice
During a keynote speech on leadership, one might reference this quote to discuss the responsibility that comes with power.
Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions.
Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one's religion, nation, race, party or family-what is it but the visualization of that eternal something to which we attach the self that is about to be annihilated?
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.
Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence, by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life. Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
all I wanted to do was sneak out into the night and disappear somewhere, and go and find out what everybody was doing all over the country.
Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with his blood.
He who allows oppression shares the crime.
The possession of power inevitably spoils the free use of reason.
The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others.
In all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny.
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