Desires are only the lack of something: and those who have the greatest desires are in a worse condition than those who have none, or very slight ones.
He who does not desire power is fit to hold it.
- Topic: Leadership, Power
- Photo: Jeffrey Benjamin
More Quotes from Plato
No man should be angry with what is true.
Perfect wisdom has four parts; Wisdom, the principle of doing things right. Justice, the principle of doing things equally in public and private. Fortitude, the principle of not fleeing danger, but meeting it. Temperance, the principle of subduing desires and living moderately.
Let us affirm what seems to be the truth, that, whether one is or is not, one and the others in relation to themselves and one another, all of them, in every way, are and are not, and appear to be and appear not to be.
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The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.
At the center of your being you are the answer. You know who you are, and you know what you want.
When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, butt in favors - When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you - When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - You may know that your society is doomed.
The heights by great men reached and kept Where not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night.
Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men—the other 999 follow women.
When whole races and peoples conspire to propagate gigantic mute lies in the interest of tyrannies and shams, why should we care anything about the trifling lies told by individuals?
Here the people could stand it no longer and complained of the long voyage; but the Admiral cheered them as best he could, holding out good hope of the advantages they would have.
There is only one time that is important—now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.
An aspiration is a joy forever, a possession as solid as a landed estate, a fortune which we can never exhaust and which gives us year by year a revenue of pleasurable activity.
Nowadays the world is becoming increasingly materialistic, and mankind is reaching toward the very zenith of external progress, driven by an insatiable desire for power and vast possessions. Yet by this vain striving for perfection in a world where everything is relative, they wander even further away from inward peace and happiness of the mind.
My way of joking is to tell the truth. It is the funniest joke in the world.
Those who enjoy responsibility usually get it; those who merely enjoy exercising authority usually lose it.
Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.
There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with.