--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have never sought power. We have…" description: "\"“We have never sought power. We have sought to disperse power, to set men and women free. That really means: to help them to discover that they are fre..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/291/robert-anton-wilson-1198_every-man_we-have-never-sought-power-we-have-sough_2682817.jpg" --- # We have never sought power. We have sought to disperse… ![“We have never sought power. We have sought to disperse power, to set men and women free. That really means: to help them to discover that they are free. Everybody's free. The slave is free. The ultimate weapon isn't this plague out in Vegas, or any new super H-bomb. The ultimate weapon has always…” quote by Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/291/robert-anton-wilson-1198_every-man_we-have-never-sought-power-we-have-sough_2682817.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/291/robert-anton-wilson-1198_every-man_we-have-never-sought-power-we-have-sough_2682817.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/291/robert-anton-wilson-1198_every-man_we-have-never-sought-power-we-have-sough_2682817.jpg) > ““We have never sought power. We have sought to disperse power, to set men and women free. That really means: to help them to discover that they are free. Everybody's free. The slave is free. The ultimate weapon isn't this plague out in Vegas, or any new super H-bomb. The ultimate weapon has always existed. Every man, every woman, and every child owns it. It's the ability to say No and take the consequences. 'Fear is failure.' 'The fear of death is the beginning of slavery.' "Thou hast no right but to do thy will.' The goose can break the bottle at any second. Socrates took the hemlock to prove it. Jesus went to the cross to prove it. It's in all history, all myth, all poetry. It's right out in the open all the time.”” [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Advocates dispersing power to individuals, viewing personal agency—the ability to say no—as the ultimate weapon against oppression. **In simple terms:** Personal agency is the greatest power. Key Takeaway Exercise the right to refuse and accept consequences. Themes freedom empowerment individualism Mood inspirational provocative Type philosophical political When to use this quote - Activism - personal decision making - social movements - education on rights Key Concepts Power dynamics psychology of fear philosophy of liberty Questions to Reflect On - What does saying no look like in your life? - How can collective action strengthen personal agency? A Different Perspective Power can be limited by systemic structures beyond individual control. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fear/) [Fear of death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fear-of-death/) [Men and women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-and-women/) ## Related quotes > [The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/the-truth-is-no-one-of-us-can-be-free-until-everybody-is-free/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Nobody's free until everybody's free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/nobody-s-free-until-everybody-s-free/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [“When you're dealing with these forces or powers in a philosophic and scientific way, contemplating them from an armchair, that rationalistic approach is useful.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/when-you-re-dealing-with-these-forces-or-powers-in-a-philosophic-and/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“But they can rule by fraud, and by fraud eventually acquire access to the tools they need to finish the job of killing off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/but-they-can-rule-by-fraud-and-by-fraud-eventually-acquire-access-to/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“Tell me, Harry, what difference would it make if it wasn't real?" Harry thought a moment, his chinless face sour. "We wouldn't have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/tell-me-harry-what-difference-would-it-make-if-it-wasn-t-real-harry/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“Privilege implies exclusion from privilege, just as advantage implies disadvantage," Celine went on. "In the same mathematically reciprocal way, profit implies loss. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/privilege-implies-exclusion-from-privilege-just-as-advantage-implies/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped. We are all absolutely free. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/there-is-no-governor-anywhere-you-are-all-absolutely-free-there-is-no/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [Everybody is born free. Not everybody is worthy of freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/everybody-is-born-free-not-everybody-is-worthy-of-freedom/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [Put simply, what I'd like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for everybody's who is willing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/put-simply-what-i-d-like-to-do-is-to-see-the-first-two-years-of/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [The assumption that we can keep societies open and free to everybody is going to have to stop. We are going to have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-m-buchanan/the-assumption-that-we-can-keep-societies-open-and-free-to-everybody/) [James M. 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Badman a dance we nuh waan…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elephant-man/everybody-free-up-oonu-self-or-di-car-deh-weh-yuh-pass-a-fi-yuh-wind/) [Elephant Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elephant-man/) > [One thing I learned in the military is we fight for everybody's rights to say and do as they please, so everybody is free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liz-carmouche/one-thing-i-learned-in-the-military-is-we-fight-for-everybody-s/) [Liz Carmouche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liz-carmouche/) ## More by Robert Anton Wilson > [Every fact of science was once Damned. Every invention was considered impossible. Every discovery was a nervous shock to some orthodoxy. Every artistic innovation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/every-fact-of-science-was-once-damned-every-invention-was-considered/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [The only way to stave off boredom, in a complex domesticated primate like humankind, is to increase one's intelligence. This is not appealing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/the-only-way-to-stave-off-boredom-in-a-complex-domesticated-primate/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [Disobedience was man's Original Virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/disobedience-was-man-s-original-virtue/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [In every state of the Union, Fundamentalists still fight to ban all the science they dislike and prosecute all who teach it. 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I detect the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/masturbation-is-not-the-happiest-form-of-sexuality-but-the-most/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [I like pacifists and people who have a heavy emotional identification with deathism and war would probably call me a pacifist, but I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/i-like-pacifists-and-people-who-have-a-heavy-emotional-identification/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/cynics-regarded-everybody-as-equally-corrupt-idealists-regarded/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [The most important truths always appear first as blasphemies or obscenities. That's why every great innovator is persecuted. And the sacraments look obscene, too,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/the-most-important-truths-always-appear-first-as-blasphemies-or/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“When you're dealing with these forces or powers in a philosophic and scientific way, contemplating them from an armchair, that rationalistic approach is useful.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/when-you-re-dealing-with-these-forces-or-powers-in-a-philosophic-and/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“And Spaceship Earth, that glorious and bloody circus, continued its four-billion-year-long spiral orbit about the Sun; the engineering, I must admit, was so exquisite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/and-spaceship-earth-that-glorious-and-bloody-circus-continued-its/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [Existence is larger than any model that is not itself the exact size of existence (which has no size).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/existence-is-larger-than-any-model-that-is-not-itself-the-exact-size/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/the-totally-convinced-and-the-totally-stupid-have-too-much-in-common/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) [Explore all 274 Robert Anton Wilson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) ## More Every man quotes > [I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture. 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This \[presidential\] election is about every… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/vote-for-donald-trump-you-re-going-to-see-something-and-you-ll-be-so/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [“The old intergenerational give-and-take of the country-that-used-to-be, when everyone knew his role and took the rules dead seriously, the acculturating back-and-forth that all of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/the-old-intergenerational-give-and-take-of-the-country-that-used-to/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/) [James A. 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