--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Politics are always a struggle for power…" description: "\"Politics are always a struggle for power, disguised and modified by prudence, reason and moral pretext.\" — William Hurrell Mallock" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/william-hurrell-mallock-32719_moral_politics-are-always-a-struggle-for-power_1122583.jpg" --- # Politics are always a struggle for power, disguised and… ![“Politics are always a struggle for power, disguised and modified by prudence, reason and moral pretext.” quote by William Hurrell Mallock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/william-hurrell-mallock-32719_moral_politics-are-always-a-struggle-for-power_1122583.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/william-hurrell-mallock-32719_moral_politics-are-always-a-struggle-for-power_1122583.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/william-hurrell-mallock-32719_moral_politics-are-always-a-struggle-for-power_1122583.jpg) > “Politics are always a struggle for power, disguised and modified by prudence, reason and moral pretext.” [William Hurrell Mallock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurrell-mallock/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Power struggles are hidden behind rational arguments and moral justifications, masking true ambitions. **In simple terms:** Power is hidden behind reason and morals. Key Takeaway Question motives behind political rhetoric. Themes politics power ethics manipulation Mood skeptical critical Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - elections - legislative debates - policy negotiations - public speeches Key Concepts realpolitik moral philosophy social influence Questions to Reflect On - What moral pretexts do you see in current politics? - How can citizens discern true motives? A Different Perspective Might be overly cynical, ignoring genuine altruism. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Moral Pretext](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-pretext-3044121/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Politics Struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics-struggle-1081340/) [Power Disguised](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power-disguised-3044122/) [Pretext](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pretext/) [Prudence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prudence/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/struggle/) [Struggle Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/struggle-power-277383/) ## Related quotes > [International politics, like all politics, is a struggle for power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/international-politics-like-all-politics-is-a-struggle-for-power/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [All politics is a struggle for power; the ultimate kind of power is violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-wright-mills/all-politics-is-a-struggle-for-power-the-ultimate-kind-of-power-is/) [C. Wright Mills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-wright-mills/) > [Modern politics is, at bottom, a struggle not of men but of forces.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/modern-politics-is-at-bottom-a-struggle-not-of-men-but-of-forces/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [American politics is a struggle, not of men but of forces. The men become every year more and more creatures of force, massed about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/american-politics-is-a-struggle-not-of-men-but-of-forces-the-men/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [Modern politics is, at bottom, a struggle not of men but of forces. The men become every year more and more creatures of force,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/modern-politics-is-at-bottom-a-struggle-not-of-men-but-of-forces-the/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [“Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/those-who-profess-to-favor-freedom-and-yet-depreciate-agitation-are-2/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [I'm calling for dialogue. I'm gathering attention for dialogue which is what you do in a struggle for power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tupac-shakur/i-m-calling-for-dialogue-i-m-gathering-attention-for-dialogue-which/) [Tupac Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tupac-shakur/) > [“The struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical, but it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/the-struggle-may-be-a-moral-one-or-it-may-be-a-physical-one-or-it-may/) [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) > [The view of life as a struggle for power generates a language in which life has no significance and only power matters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-french/the-view-of-life-as-a-struggle-for-power-generates-a-language-in/) [Marilyn French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-french/) > [“The struggle for power had reached a new stage; it was fought with scientific formulas. The weapons vanished in the abyss like fleeting images,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-junger/the-struggle-for-power-had-reached-a-new-stage-it-was-fought-with/) [Ernst Jünger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-junger/) > [As regards the celebrated struggle for life, it seems to me for the present to have been rather asserted than proved. It does occur,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/as-regards-the-celebrated-struggle-for-life-it-seems-to-me-for-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [ “Creation has been taken down a very different path than We \[God\] desired. In your world the value of the individual is constantly weighed… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-p-young/creation-has-been-taken-down-a-very-different-path-than-we-god/) [William P. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-p-young/) > [What people do for the struggle of power is madness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-people-do-for-the-struggle-of-power-is-madness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Every revolution, bloody or not, has two phases. The first phase is defined by the struggle for freedom, the second by the struggle for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-michnik/every-revolution-bloody-or-not-has-two-phases-the-first-phase-is/) [Adam Michnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-michnik/) > [“For knowledge of death makes us wish to extend our lives at the expense of others. And this is the root of the struggle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/for-knowledge-of-death-makes-us-wish-to-extend-our-lives-at-the/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) ## More by William Hurrell Mallock > [Civilisation is never so charming as when it is an island in the middle of simplicity, or of a civilisation of an alien kind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hurrell-mallock/civilisation-is-never-so-charming-as-when-it-is-an-island-in-the/) [William Hurrell Mallock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurrell-mallock/) > [Whatever may be God's future, we cannot forget His past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hurrell-mallock/whatever-may-be-god-s-future-we-cannot-forget-his-past/) [William Hurrell Mallock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurrell-mallock/) > [“Most of man's finest heroism is merely disguised necessity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hurrell-mallock/most-of-man-s-finest-heroism-is-merely-disguised-necessity/) [William Hurrell Mallock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurrell-mallock/) > [The landscape of the mind, against which our thoughts and expectations move, when the wind of the imagination is active, changes as quickly as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hurrell-mallock/the-landscape-of-the-mind-against-which-our-thoughts-and-expectations/) [William Hurrell Mallock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurrell-mallock/) > [Socialism may be worthless as a scheme, but it is not meaningless as a symptom. 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Or was his position so high that even to offer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hurrell-mallock/was-my-guide-a-person-who-would-expect-what-is-vulgary-called-a-tip/) [William Hurrell Mallock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurrell-mallock/) > [“Some will be always strong, and some will be always weak; and though, if there is no God, no divine and fatherly source of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hurrell-mallock/some-will-be-always-strong-and-some-will-be-always-weak-and-though-if/) [William Hurrell Mallock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurrell-mallock/) > [“And with distance in time it is the same as with distance in place. The imagination has its atmosphere and its sunlight as well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hurrell-mallock/and-with-distance-in-time-it-is-the-same-as-with-distance-in-place/) [William Hurrell Mallock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurrell-mallock/) > [“Literature, I have always thought, is in most places and companies a singularly dull and uninteresting thing to talk about, but one may, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hurrell-mallock/literature-i-have-always-thought-is-in-most-places-and-companies-a/) [William Hurrell Mallock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurrell-mallock/) [Explore all 15 William Hurrell Mallock quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurrell-mallock/) ## More Moral quotes > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I raised another shot. 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To insist that science, or God, objectively defines moral values is to abandon our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenan-malik/humans-are-as-sartre-put-it-condemned-to-be-free-to-insist-that/) [Kenan Malik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenan-malik/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. 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