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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: Richard Lovelace

Richard Lovelace

Richard Lovelace

Richard Lovelace (1618 - 1659) was one of the Cavalier poets and a nobleman, born in Lovelace Place, Bethersden, Kent. He was the firstborn son of Sir William Lovelace, who was knighted by King James I after serving in the Low Countries and died in 1627 while fighting the Dutch at Grolle. Richard matriculated from Oxford in 1634. As Royalists, his family supported Charles I of England. Richard participated in the King's unsuccessful military expeditions to Scotland in 1639-40, and then returned to his family's estate in Kent.

On April 30, 1642, on behalf of Royalists in Kent, he presented to Parliament a petition asking them to restore the Anglican bishops to the Long Parliament; he was immediately imprisoned in Westminster Gatehouse. During his sentence, he wrote "To Althea, From Prison." He was released on bail June 21, 1642, and was considered to be on parole during the civil war. He sold most of his lands and gave money to his younger brothers, Francis and Dudley, so they could raise men for the Royalist army. In 1644, Francis was one of the defenders at Caermarthen.

After King Charles was captured in Oxford in 1646 and the city surrendered, Lovelace raised a regiment for the French king and served as its colonel; his brother Dudley was a captain under him. Richard was wounded at the Battle of Dunkirk (where the French were fighting the Spaniards) and left the field. When he and Dudley returned to England, they were imprisoned in October by the Commonwealth at Peterhouse Prison in Aldersgate, because of their being Royalists during the time of Oliver Cromwell. While in prison, Richard worked on a volume of poems, published after his release in April 1649 as Lucasta, considered his best collection. The "Colonel Francis" in Lucasta was his brother Francis.

The "Lucasta" to whom he dedicated much of his verse was Lucy Sacheverell, whom he often called Lux Casta. Unfortunately, she mistakenly believed that he died at the Battle of Dunkirk in 1646 and so married another.

Richard died in 1657. Two years later, his brother Dudley published a volume titled Lovelace's Posthume Poems.

His most quoted excerpts are from the beginning of the last stanza of To Althea, From Prison:

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