A Quote by Masha Gessen

Dictators fall when they're overconfident; they stay in power when they're paranoid.

Masha Gessen

Quote Topics

Power Dictators Fall Overconfident Paranoid Stay

Quote Author

Masha Gessen
Russian - Journalist
Born: January 13, 1967

There is a long history of research showing that people are overconfident about their abilities. But it turns out that people in general are not overconfident about their abilities; people with a fixed mindset are overconfident.

Carol S. Dweck

Well, I think we tried very hard not to be overconfident, because when you get overconfident, that's when something snaps up and bites you.

Neil Armstrong

Fact check: The examples of failed socialism that critics use are not socialist democracies but authoritarian states led by corrupt, ruthless, and paranoid dictators.

Jaboukie Young-White

Clearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons.

Bernie Sanders

Like most dictators, Col Gaddafi detests the metropolis. His vision of Libya is a kind of Bedouin romantic medievalism, suspicious of universities, theatres, galleries and cafes, and so monitors the cities' inhabitants with paranoid suspicion.

Hisham Matar

What was I like? I had a high-pitched voice. Sounded a bit like a girl. Spoke with a Stoke accent, tremendously naive. Overconfident. Tremendously overconfident. And underconfident at the same time - really, really bad combination! Gets you places, though.

Robbie Williams

Don't be afraid of losing a little power in daily associations. People who seek power and knowledge aren't misers. They aren't afraid. That is paranoid.

Frederick Lenz

Not many dictators announce their resignation, but I did because I didn't want to stay on and overstay my welcome.

Mahathir Mohamad

Humans are evolutionarily designed to be paranoid, and they believe in God because they are paranoid.

Satoshi Kanazawa

Paranoid? Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face.

Jim Butcher

Dictators can fix up their entire families in good jobs, in or around government, and often do. In democracies, such a practice is frowned upon. Privileged access to the corridors of power through family connections and a kind of old boys' network, is also deemed an abuse of power, and so it is.

Jimmy Reid

I know I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?

David Foster Wallace

Mobs and dictators were made for each other, and when mobs appear, dictators will soon flourish.

Jaron Lanier

So I'm gonna work out and stay busy, just go get my body back right. And whatever team it is that I fall on I fall on.

Shaquill Griffin

I really don't (stay calm) all the time. I just try to. Part of not just racing but in life, I try not to let the highs be too high and the lows be too low. I try to stay somewhere right in the middle. In racing it's not always easy to do. You can get too excited or overconfident when things are going good and it's easy to get too far in the ditch when things are going bad.