Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Power
Power, like the diamond, dazzles the beholder, and also the wearer; it dignifies meanness; it magnifies littleness; to what is contemptible, it gives authority; to what is low, exaltation.
—C. C. Colton
Power, like the hasty Vine, climbes up apace to the Supporter, but if not skilfully attended and dress’d, instead of spreading and bearing fruit, grows high and naked, and then, like empty title, being soon useless to others, becomes neglected and unable to support itself.
—Sir William Davenant
Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes whate’er it touches.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley