Ideas have unhinged the gates of empires.
I don't want a trillion-dollar empire to run.
In response to my question about how we might rein in the empire, he said, "That's why I'm meeting with you. Only you in the United States can change it. Your government created this problem and your people must solve it. You've got to insist that Wa...
Great empires are not maintained by timidity.
To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty.
In summer the empire of insects spreads.
I have my fashion empire to build.
If the empire had been afflicted by any recent calamity, by a plague, a famine, or an unsuccessful war; if the Tiber had, or if the Nile had not, risen beyond its banks; if the earth had shaken, or if the temperate order of the seasons had been inter...
Kelsier smiled. 'It means that you, Vin, are a very special person. You have a power that most high noblemen envy. It is a power that, had you been born an aristocrat, would have made you one of the most deadly and influential people in all of the fi...
In families one can’t choose one’s siblings. Within regions one doesn’t choose one’s neighbors. And if you are one of the world’s leading producers of a critical industrial resource like copper, in the end you can’t really choose your cus...
Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And,...
Hao tried flagging down a couple of trucks that rumbled by. There was much cursing, and amid his frustration he ordered John to pursue one of the trucks with the pickup and cut it off. John simply sat there, nodding to the music that was playing loud...
Leia: They're getting closer. Han Solo: Oh, yeah? Watch this. [he throws the hyperdrive lever, the engine sputters and dies] Leia: Watch what? Han Solo: I think we're in trouble. C-3PO: If I may say so, sir, I noticed earlier the hyperdrive motivator...
[a tremor knocks Leia into Solo's arms] Princess Leia: Let go. Han Solo: Shh. Princess Leia: Let go, please. Han Solo: Don't get excited. Princess Leia: Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited. Han Solo: Sorry sweetheart. I ha...
[R2 is trying to open the door as Storm Troopers shoot at them; he beeps] C-3PO: No! We're not interested in the hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon, it's fixed! [R2 beeps again] C-3PO: Just open the door, you stupid lug! [he opens the door] C-3PO: I ...
For me, I do not wish to build an empire.
When the going gets tough, the tough get empirical.
Powerful indeed is the empire of habit.
The most fundamental purpose of government is defense, not empire.
London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.
A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.
