Quotes about Control

Practical experience and accurate observation show that one cannot influence one's own dreams. There are people, it is true, who assert that they can influence them. But if you look into their dream material, you find that they do only what I do with my disobedient dog: I order him to do those things I notice he wants to do anyhow, so that I can preserve my illusion of authority.

Kings are not born: they are made by artificial hallucination.

The art of government is the organisation of idolatry.

The man who listens to Reason is lost reason enslaves all whose minds are not strong enough to master her.

This is what women want: to be safe, to be valued, to live in peace, to have their own resources, to be connected, to have control over their bodies and lives, and above all, to be loved.

The writer and the dreamer have so much in common: They can't control the plot, they are always part of the story or the dream.

They made you believe you had power; they hammered at your brain over the barracks loudspeakers; they commanded you in the name of your country; and they gave you your share of guilt so you could not wash your hands of it but would be forever bound by ties of blood.

Be God or let God.

Man is not the creature of circumstances, Circumstances are the creatures of men.

Men are like stone jugs - you may lug them where you like by the ears.

The emotions are not always subject to reason ... but they are always subject to action. When thoughts do not neutralize an undesirable emotion, action will.

As Charles Lamb says, there is nothing so nice as doing good by stealth and being found out by accident, so I now say it is even nicer to make heroic decisions and to be prevented by 'circumstances beyond your control' from ever trying to execute them.