Why does naming a thing give it so much power?

Naming one thing after another cannot, logically, increase the chances of the new thing turning out like the old thing.

— Ned Beauman

“...by the time you've finished naming a thing, it has already changed and the name you gave it no longer defines it exactly...”

— Joann Sfar

“First you must give it a name,” said the snake. “Naming a thing takes away some of its power and gives it to you…

— Claire Legrand

More attention and thought goes into naming a character in 'Call Of Duty' than all the work that can go into certain movies. Blood…

— Stephen Gaghan

There's a lot of places where the image of a cube as a thing of power is pertinent. I don't know why that is.…

— Clive Barker

Doing the right thing has power.

— Laura Linney

I believe in one thing only, the power of human will.

— Joseph Stalin

Do the thing and you will have the power.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do the thing and you will have the power. But they that do not the thing, had not the power.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I believe in only one thing, the power of human will.”

— Joseph Stalin

If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?

— Sydney J. Harris

The most important thing about power is to make sure you don't have to use it.

— Edwin Land

“Prayer is one thing that can give us power to solve our problems.”

— Lailah Gifty Akita

“Whether a thought is spoken or not it is a real thing and it has power.”

— Frank Herbert

“On an individual basis, in most interactions, this thing we call power—authority—exists only as it is perceived.”

— Brandon Sanderson