--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Power, carried to extremes, is always…" description: "\"Power, carried to extremes, is always liable to reaction.\" — Rufus Choate" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/rufus-choate-26933_extremes_power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liab_334631.png" --- # Power, carried to extremes, is always liable to reaction. ![“Power, carried to extremes, is always liable to reaction.” quote by Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/rufus-choate-26933_extremes_power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liab_334631.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/rufus-choate-26933_extremes_power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liab_334631.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/rufus-choate-26933_extremes_power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liab_334631.png) > “Power, carried to extremes, is always liable to reaction.” [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Power unchecked provokes resistance and backlash. **In simple terms:** Extreme power invites reaction. Key Takeaway Beware of overreaching authority. Themes power reaction responsibility Mood cautious critical Type political philosophical When to use this quote - leadership - government policy - activism - organizational change Key Concepts political theory human nature Questions to Reflect On - How do you check power in your life? - When does resistance become constructive? A Different Perspective Power can be justified if balanced with accountability. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Extremes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremes/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) ## Related quotes > [“.Such power, and carried with such careless grace. How that must burden him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-hawkins/such-power-and-carried-with-such-careless-grace-how-that-must-burden/) [Karen Hawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-hawkins/) > [All extremes are bad. All that is good and useful, if carried to extremes, may become-and beyond a certain limit is bound to become-bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/all-extremes-are-bad-all-that-is-good-and-useful-if-carried-to/) [Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/) > [I am an ordinary person, but carried to extremes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/i-am-an-ordinary-person-but-carried-to-extremes/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [It appears to be uncertain whether the journey of Mary with her husband was obligatory or voluntary. . . . Women were liable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-farrar/it-appears-to-be-uncertain-whether-the-journey-of-mary-with-her/) [Frederic Farrar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-farrar/) > [Every single means of communication amongst the public, the government has antennae into, to find out who is liable to be sympathetic and who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lloyd/every-single-means-of-communication-amongst-the-public-the-government/) [David Lloyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lloyd/) > [But Hey, Guess What Crazy means I'm not liable for my actions. So screw it, I'll go home, propped up on Prozac against distractions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/but-hey-guess-what-crazy-means-i-m-not-liable-for-my-actions-so-screw/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [Courage, like cowardice, is undoubtedly contagious, but some persons are not liable to catch it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-d-prentice/courage-like-cowardice-is-undoubtedly-contagious-but-some-persons-are/) [George D. Prentice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-d-prentice/) > [We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/we-are-far-more-liable-to-catch-the-vices-than-the-virtues-of-our/) [Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/) > [True charity is liable to excesses and transports.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-massillon/true-charity-is-liable-to-excesses-and-transports/) [Jean Baptiste Massillon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-massillon/) > [Inspiration is highly overrated. If you sit around and wait for the clouds to part, it's not liable to ever happen. More often than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-close/inspiration-is-highly-overrated-if-you-sit-around-and-wait-for-the/) [Chuck Close](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-close/) > [Men cannot labor on always. They must have intervals of relaxation. They cannot sleep through these intervals. What are they to do? Why, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/men-cannot-labor-on-always-they-must-have-intervals-of-relaxation/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [With respect to where we are now, we have a voluntary army. And if we ever go back to conscription I hope that at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-powell/with-respect-to-where-we-are-now-we-have-a-voluntary-army-and-if-we/) [Colin Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-powell/) > [Printers shall be liable to legal prosecution for printing and publishing false facts injurious to the party prosecuting: but they shall be under no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/printers-shall-be-liable-to-legal-prosecution-for-printing-and/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [That's the only way I can control my movie. If you shoot everything, then everything is liable to end up in the movie. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debbie-allen/that-s-the-only-way-i-can-control-my-movie-if-you-shoot-everything/) [Debbie Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debbie-allen/) > [The emerging church movement has come to believe that the ultimate context of the spiritual aspirations of a follower of Jesus Christ is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samir-selmanovic/the-emerging-church-movement-has-come-to-believe-that-the-ultimate/) [Samir Selmanovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samir-selmanovic/) ## More by Rufus Choate > [“Dalam berargumentasi jangan mengeluarkan ejekan mau pun sindiran tajam.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/dalam-berargumentasi-jangan-mengeluarkan-ejekan-mau-pun-sindiran-tajam/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [The final end of government is not to exert restraint but to do good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/the-final-end-of-government-is-not-to-exert-restraint-but-to-do-good/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [Knowledge is power as well as fame.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/knowledge-is-power-as-well-as-fame/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [The courage of New England was the courage of conscience. It did not rise to that insane and awful passion, the love of war…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/the-courage-of-new-england-was-the-courage-of-conscience-it-did-not/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [Happy is he who has laid up in his youth, and held fast in all fortune, a genuine and passionate love of reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/happy-is-he-who-has-laid-up-in-his-youth-and-held-fast-in-all-fortune/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [A book is the only immortality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/a-book-is-the-only-immortality/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [We join ourselves to no party that does not carry the flag and I keep step to the music of the Union.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/we-join-ourselves-to-no-party-that-does-not-carry-the-flag-and-i-keep/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [Happy is he who has laid up in his youth, and held fast in all fortune, a genuine and passionate love for reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/happy-is-he-who-has-laid-up-in-his-youth-and-held-fast-in-all-fortune-2/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [Its Constitution--the glittering and sounding generalities of natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/its-constitution-the-glittering-and-sounding-generalities-of-natural/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [We have built no temple but the Capitol. We consult no common oracle but the Constitution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/we-have-built-no-temple-but-the-capitol-we-consult-no-common-oracle/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [All that happens in the world of Nature or Man, - every war; every peace; every hour of prosperity; every hour of adversity; every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/all-that-happens-in-the-world-of-nature-or-man-every-war-every-peace/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [Neither irony nor sarcasm is argument.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/neither-irony-nor-sarcasm-is-argument/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [“The book is the only immortality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/the-book-is-the-only-immortality/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [There was a state without king or nobles; there was a church without a bishop; there was a people governed by grave magistrates which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/there-was-a-state-without-king-or-nobles-there-was-a-church-without-a/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) > [No lawyer can afford to be ignorant of the Bible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/no-lawyer-can-afford-to-be-ignorant-of-the-bible/) [Rufus Choate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) [Explore all 21 Rufus Choate quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/) ## More Extremes quotes > [It must be assumed and established as a principle, that the right of private property must be regarded as sacred. Wherefore, the law ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/it-must-be-assumed-and-established-as-a-principle-that-the-right-of/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/while-the-people-retain-their-virtue-and-vigilance-no-administration/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion, and in its ethical-humanitarian form it is a specific vehicle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-schmitt/the-concept-of-humanity-is-an-especially-useful-ideological/) [Carl Schmitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-schmitt/) > [One should try to locate power at the extreme of its exercise, where it is always less legal in character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-should-try-to-locate-power-at-the-extreme-of-its-exercise-where/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [It's fine to talk about politics with people you agree with. But it is rude to argue about politics with people you disagree with.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-lessig/it-s-fine-to-talk-about-politics-with-people-you-agree-with-but-it-is/) [Lawrence Lessig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-lessig/) > [Either dragons should exist completely or fail to exist at all, he felt. A dragon only half-existing was worse than the extremes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/either-dragons-should-exist-completely-or-fail-to-exist-at-all-he/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Playing for complications is an extreme measure that a player should adopt only when he cannot find a clear and logical plan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-alekhine/playing-for-complications-is-an-extreme-measure-that-a-player-should/) [Alexander Alekhine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-alekhine/) > [I strongly reject any conceptual scheme that places our options on a line, and holds that the only alternative to a pair of extreme…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-strongly-reject-any-conceptual-scheme-that-places-our-options-on-a/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [My childhood was extreme.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tori-amos/my-childhood-was-extreme/) [Tori Amos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tori-amos/) > [I like to push characters to extremes so they have to make really tough decisions and there is no life more extreme than that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-cleave/i-like-to-push-characters-to-extremes-so-they-have-to-make-really/) [Chris Cleave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-cleave/) > [An excessive preponderance of an idealistic mood is harmful to society: it creates daydreaming, political Don Quixotism, hope for heavenly intervention. This is an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henryk-sienkiewicz/an-excessive-preponderance-of-an-idealistic-mood-is-harmful-to/) [Henryk Sienkiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henryk-sienkiewicz/) > [I think that for thousands of years people have made the observation that there are certain kinds of extreme depressive states that seem to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-redfield-jamison/i-think-that-for-thousands-of-years-people-have-made-the-observation/) [Kay Redfield Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-redfield-jamison/) > [I find that Americans are all in the middle somewhere, except for the extreme nuts, and extreme nuts on both sides are the loudest.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-titus/i-find-that-americans-are-all-in-the-middle-somewhere-except-for-the/) [Christopher Titus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-titus/) > [I have what I call an iron prescription that helps me keep sane when I naturally drift toward preferring one ideology over another and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/i-have-what-i-call-an-iron-prescription-that-helps-me-keep-sane-when/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [I think the only real referent for anybody writing drama is probably Hamlet. You have the most extreme tragic drama, this sort of blood-boltered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-monahan/i-think-the-only-real-referent-for-anybody-writing-drama-is-probably/) [William Monahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-monahan/) [Browse all 1,963 Extremes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Power, carried to extremes, is always liable to reaction.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rufus Choate" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liable-to-reaction/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Extremes" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liable-to-reaction/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/rufus-choate-26933_extremes_power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liab_334631.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/rufus-choate-26933_extremes_power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liab_334631.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/rufus-choate-26933_extremes_power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liab_334631.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Power, carried to extremes, is always liable to reaction.” — Rufus Choate", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Rufus Choate", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-choate/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Power, carried to extremes, is always...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liable-to-reaction/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-choate/power-carried-to-extremes-is-always-liable-to-reaction/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```