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I don't think of power in terms of conquering people. I don't think of it as something to be imposed. That kind of power seldom lasts. But you should realize that power is a constant in the world. You shape your perceptions, or someone shapes them for you. You do what you want to do, or you respond to someone else's plan for you. To me, ultimate power is the ability to produce the results you desire most and create value for others in the process. Power is the ability to change your life, to shape your perceptions, to make things work for you and not against you. Real power is shared, not imposed. It's the ability to define human needs and to fulfill them—both your needs and the needs of the people you care about. It's the ability to direct your own personal kingdom—your own thought processes, your own behavior—so you produce the precise results you desire.

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Apr 03, 2025

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Quote Author: Dr. Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander

Dr. Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander

Dr. Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander

Dr. Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander (July 7, 1915 - November 30, 1998) was an African-American poet and author born in Birmingham, Alabama. She wrote as Margaret Walker. One of her most known poems is "For My People".

Her father Sigismund C. Walker was a Methodist minister and her mother was Marion Dozier Walker. They helped get her started in literature by teaching a lot of philosophy and poetry to her as a child.

In 1935, Walker received her Bachelors of Arts Degree from Northwestern University and in 1936 she began work with the Federal Writers' Project under the Works Progress Administration. In 1942 she received her master's degree in creative writing from the University of Iowa. In 1965 she returned to that school to earn her Ph.D. She also for a time served as a professor at what is today Jackson State University.

Her literature generally contained African American themes. Among her more popular works were her poem For My People , which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition and her 1966 novel Jubilee , which received critical acclaim. In 1988 she sued Alex Haley, claiming his novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family had violated on Jubilee's copyright. The case was dismissed.

Margaret Walker died of breast cancer in Chicago in 1998.

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