#powerless

It is in the power of every individual to do that which the community as a whole is powerless to effect. ↗

— William Thomas Stead

#effect #every #individual #power #powerless

It has been rightly said that nothing is unimportant, nothing powerless in the universe; a single atom can dissolve everything, and save everything! What terror! There lies the eternal distinction between good and evil. ↗

— Gerard De Nerval

#been #between #dissolve #distinction #eternal

Women are the only exploited group in history to have been idealized into powerlessness. ↗

— Erica Jong

#been #exploited #group #history #idealized

But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist. ↗

— Lysander Spooner

#authorized #been #case #certain #constitution

Any man who has ever tried to use political power for the common good has felt an awful sense of powerlessness. ↗

— Robert Casey

#awful #common #common good #ever #felt

Delphine witnessed awful things occurring to other humans. Worse than that, she was powerless to alter their fate. It would be that way all her life--disasters, falling like chairs all around her, falling so close they disarranged her hair, but not touching her. ↗

— Louise Erdrich

#powerlessness #witnessing #life

Statistics show that the nature of English crime is reverting to its oldest habits. In a country where so many desire status and wealth, petty annoyances can spark disproportionately violent behaviour. We become frustrated because we feel powerless, invisible, unheard. We crave celebrity, but that’s not easy to come by, so we settle for notoriety. Envy and bitterness drive a new breed of lawbreakers, replacing the old motives of poverty and the need for escape. But how do you solve crimes which no longer have traditional motives? ↗

— Christopher Fowler

#crime #crime-solving #habits #motives #poverty

Power is fortified not just by what it destroys, but also by what it creates. Not just by what it takes, but also by what it gives. And powerlessness reaffirmed not just by the helplessness of those who have lost, but also by the gratitude of those who have (or THINK they have) gained. ↗

— Arundhati Roy

#helplessness #human-nature #humility #power #powerlessness

The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us. ↗

— Theodor Adorno

#insoluble #neither #nor #others #our

A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together. ↗

— Margaret Atwood

#fully #gift #go #human #possible