Et qui nolunt occidere quemquam
Posse volunt.
Those who do not wish to kill any one, wish they had the power.
Without his rod revers'd,
And backward mutters of dissevering power.
Ut desint vires tamen est laudanda voluntas.
Though the power be wanting, yet the wish is praiseworthy.
A cane non magno sæpe tenetur aper.
The wild boar is often held by a small dog.
Nunquam est fidelis cum potente societas.
A partnership with men in power is never safe.
Unlimited power corrupts the possessor.
And deal damnation round the land.
The powers that be are ordained of God.
Kann ich Armeen aus der Erde stampfen?
Wächst mir ein Kornfeld in der flachen Hand?
Can I summon armies from the earth?
Or grow a cornfield on my open palm?
Ich fühle eine Armee in meiner Faust.
I feel an army in my fist.
Quod non potest vult posse, qui nimium potest.
He who is too powerful, is still aiming at
that degree of power which is unattainable.
Minimum decet libere cui multum licet.
He who has great power should use it lightly.
No pent-up Utica contracts your powers,
But the whole boundless continent is yours.
The awful shadow of some unseen Power
Floats, tho' unseen, amongst us.
Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience,
Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,
Makes slaves of men, and of the human frame
A mechanized automaton.
Male imperando summum imperium amittitur.
The highest power may be lost by misrule.
Suspectum semper invisumque dominantibus qui proximus destinaretur.
Rulers always hate and suspect the next in succession.
Imperium flagitio acquisitum nemo unquam bonis artibus exercuit.
Power acquired by guilt was never used for a good purpose.
Imperium cupientibus nihil medium inter summa et præcipitia.
In the struggle between those seeking power there is no middle course.
Potentiam cautis quam acribus consiliis tutius haberi.
Power is more safely retained by cautious than by severe councils.
Cupido dominandi cunctis affectibus flagrantior est.
Lust of power is the most flagrant of all the passions.—
I thought that my invincible power would hold the world captive, leaving me in a freedom undisturbed. Thus night and day I worked at the chain with huge fires and cruel hard strokes. When at last the work was done and the links were complete and unbreakable, I found that it held me in its grip.
He never sold the truth to serve the hour,
Nor paltered with Eternal God for power.
Et errat longe, mea quidem sententia,
Qui imperium credat esse gravius, aut stabilius,
Vi quod fit, quam illud quod amicitia adjungitur.
And he makes a great mistake, in my opinion at least, who supposes that authority is firmer or better established when it is founded by force than that which is welded by affection.
Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.
If I can not influence the gods, I shall move all hell.
An untoward event. (Threatening to disturb the balance of power.)
