The reputation of power IS power.
Interpretation
Power derives its strength from the reputation and perception it holds in society.
This quote by Thomas Hobbes suggests that the influence and authority associated with power are largely contingent upon how it is perceived by others. In other words, the mere reputation of having power can yield real power; it shapes interactions, behaviors, and societal dynamics significantly, implying that perception can be as important as reality in matters of power and authority.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about political authority and its societal implications.
Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
For it is not the shape, but their use, that makes them angels.
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.
Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti.
The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done.
Ashram means a community of men of religion. I feel that an ashram was a necessity of life for me.
There is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it.
History will never change because of politics or conquests or theories or wars; that's mere repitition, it's been going on since the beginning of time. History will only change when we are able to use the energy of love, just as we use energy of the wind, the seas, the atom.
An integrated cup of coffee isn't sufficient pay for four hundred years of slave labor.
Your past is your shadow. It has form but no substance, except in the places you allow it to touch you. (
The most interesting thing in the world is another human being who wonders, suffers and raises the questions that have bothered him to the last day of his life, knowing he will never get the answers.
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