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A revolution was never fought, throughout history, for ideals. Revolutions were fought for much more concrete things: food, clothes, housing, and to relieve intolerable oppression. … I know of no one, outside of Patrick Henry, willing to die for an abstraction.

William Powell

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William Powell
Age: 91 †
Born: 1892
Born: July 29
Died: 1984
Died: January 1
Actor
Film Actor
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Pittsburg
Pennsylvania
William Horatio Powell
Willing
Fought
Food
Concrete
Patrick
Dies
Oppression
Relieve
History
Throughout
Intolerable
Much
Ideals
Revolutions
Things
Revolution
Henry
Never
Clothes
Housing
Outside
Abstraction

More quotes by William Powell

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Power is not a material possession that can be given, it is the ability to act. Power must be taken, it is never given.
William Powell
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If a man is to be a man, a free spirit unto himself, he must arm himself not only with weapons but with ideals and concepts he is willing to die for.
William Powell
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Treat any and all drugs with respect, for most of the time they are stronger than you are.
William Powell
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I can fully appreciate the fury and anger that a person can feel when put through a humiliating experience by a cop, but I would recommend strongly that a person maintain his cool, and in no circumstances lose his temper. If you lose your temper, you are playing right into the cop's hands.
William Powell
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I detest symbolic protest, as it is an outcry of weak, middle-of-the-road, liberal eunuchs. If an individual feels strongly enough about something to do something about it, then he shouldn't prostitute himself by doing something symbolic. He should get out and do something real.
William Powell
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A government creates its own revolution. There can be no revolt without it.
William Powell
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Unfortunately, or perhaps it is fortunate that I have always been forced to stand on my acting ability. I haven't a personality such as Jack Gilbert's, for instance, that attracts women and makes them like me for myself. When I am on the screen I must make them forget me entirely and think only of my acting.
William Powell
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Why did God make so many dumb fools and Democrats?
William Powell
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If I could come out in this book and advocate complete revolution and the violent overthrow of the United States of America, without being thrown in jail, I would not have written The Anarchist Cookbook, and there would be no need for it.
William Powell
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I do not hold that because the author did a bad job of writing the player need trump it with the same kind of acting. When I go into a picture I have only one character to look after. If the author didn't do him justice, I try to add whatever the creator of the part overlooked.
William Powell
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The only laws a man can truly respect are the ones he makes for himself.
William Powell
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A word of advice: If you get the choice between the upper and lower bunks in a cell, choose the lower. Prisons do not turn off their lights at night, and I spent a sleepless night, without a mattress, with a five-hundred-watt bulb shining directly into my eyes.
William Powell
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Never before have self-suffiency and education been so important, and they are virtually inseparable from survival.
William Powell
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I would warn against holsters with devices for quick-draw. Devices always fail when you need them most.
William Powell
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Believe it or not, bananas do contain a small quantity of Musa Sapientum bananadine, which is a mild, short-lasting psychedelic.
William Powell
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One of the greatest myths of all time is that so-called civilized man is no longer an animal, and for that reason can strive to disarm himself and grow fat with false concepts.
William Powell
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I highly recommend worrying. It is much more effective than dieting.
William Powell
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Unity is the only way in which the people of this country can overthrow the fascists, communists, capitalists, and all the other assholes who claim running a representative government is so difficult. The emphasis has been taken from the Bill of Rights and placed on the type of interpretation of the Constitution that best suits the people in power.
William Powell
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Every person, whether in wartime or not, should keep a pistol and rifle in his house at all times. If a person is not going to protect himself, and wishes the government to do it for him, how can he complain when the government decides to protect itself against him, and executes him?
William Powell
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There is only one purpose in hand-to-hand combat, and that is to kill. Never face an enemy with the idea of knocking him out. The chances are extremely good that he will kill you.
William Powell