“When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace”

Entry in progress—B.P.
           
Wikiquote: Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix (27 November 1942 – 18 September 1970), born Johnny Allen Hendrix, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music; and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century.(...)
Disputed
When the power of love overcomes love of power the world will know peace.
This quote has been attributed to Hendrix on the internet, and is flatly denied to have ever been said by him, without presenting any evidence as to why, beyond such unsupported, derisive and denigrative statements such as the author rants about others making in “WHAT HENDRIX NEVER SAID : They Don’t Want to Know What He Really Said and Demand a Slacker Fantasy Instead” (22 March 2010) by Michael Fairchild, at rockprophecy.com. Whether or not he ever spoke them, they are very similar to those reportedly of British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, quoted in The Forbes Book of Business Quotations (1997) edited by Edward C. Goodman and Ted Goodman, p. 639: “We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” A similar quotation he provides of Sri Chinmoy predates any currently located source of either the Hendrix or Gladstone attributions, yet he accuses Chinmoy of simple plagiarism of Gladstone (or “Gladwell” at one point). From Chinmoy’s book My Heart Shall Give A Oneness-Feast (1993) he quotes: “My books, they all have only one message: the heart’s Power Of Love must replace the mind’s Love Of Power. If I have the Power Of Love, then I shall claim the whole World as my own … World Peace can be achieved when the Power Of Love replaces the Love Of Power.” An even earlier statement of Chinmoy is found in Meditations: Food For The Soul (1970): “When the power of love replaces the love of power, man will have a new name: God.”

Wikiquote: Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007) was a spiritual teacher, poet, humanitarian, musician and athlete. Born in Bengal, India, at age of 11 he moved to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram before moving to New York, in 1964.
 
Meditations: Food For The Soul (1970)
When the power of love replaces the love of power, man will have a new name: God.
January 20
Variant: When the power of love divinely replaces the love of power, man will have a new name: God. Source: Sri Chinmoy (1971): My rose petals: the master’s extemporaneous talks in Europe, Sri Chinmoy Centre, p. 31.
Variants: My books, they all have only one message: the heart’s Power Of Love must replace the mind’s Love Of Power. If I have the Power Of Love, then I shall claim the whole World as my own … World Peace can be achieved when the Power Of Love replaces the Love Of Power.
Cited to Chinmoy’s bookMy Heart Shall Give A Oneness-Feast (1993)
In The Forbes Book of Business Quotations (1997) edited by Edward C. Goodman and Ted Goodman, p. 639 a similar statement has become attributed to William Ewart Gladstone, and is also cited in “The National Elementary School Principal” Vol 28 published in 1948: “We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” A similar statement has also become attributed to Jimi Hendrix, though he could have been quoting or paraphrasing Chinmoy, or conceivably Gladstone: “When the power of love overcomes love of power the world will know peace.”
       
Newspapers.com
22 March 1949, Trenton (NJ) Evening Times, “Quotable Quotes,” pg. 14, col. 5:
“We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then our world will know the blessings of peace.”—Gladstone.

Newspapers.com
19 May 1950, The Daily Journal-Gazette and Commercial-Star (Mattoon, IL), pg. 9, col. 6:
“We shall know the blessings of Peace when the power of Love replaces the Love of Power.”—Gladstone

Newspapers.com
26 October 1956, The Journal-Tribune (Marysville, OH), pg. 8, col. 8:
We look forward to the time when the power of love will replace the love of power.  Then will our world know the blessings of peace.—Gladstone.
 
Newspapers.com
3 July 1958, Jackson (TN) Sun, pg. 10, col. 1 ad:
Bill Sez—
We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power.
WILL S. HALL
GENERAL INSURANCE
 
Newspapers.com
29 November 1966, Indianapolis (IN) Star, It appened Last Night” by Earl Wilson, pg. 23, col. 2:
REMEMBERED QUOTE: “Oh, for the day when the power of love will re[place the love of power.”
 
Google Books
The Inner Promise:
Paths to Self Perfection
Sri Chinmoy
New York, NY: Simon and Schuster
1974
Pg. 189:
There are two things we always observe: the power of love and the love of power. When we enter into the lowest form of occultism, we see the love of power. We do not have to go very far to see the love of power in politics; and in our daily activities also we are execising our love of power. But the power of love is something different. In the power of love, it is love that exercises power, sweetly, divinely and unconditionally. That is the power of love.

Now a spiritual man, a sincere seeker after the truth, will only care for the power of love and not the love of power. When he is one with God, with the infinite Consciousness, he will see the power of love; and those who want to show the world their capacity, those who want to exercise their power of ego, will naturally cry for love of power.
 
We know that when the power of love divinely replaces the love of power, man will have a new name: God.
(Also on the website SriCinmoy.org, “Saturday, November 14th, 1970. American Centre for Arts, Paris.”—ed.)
 
Google Groups: rec.music.phish
Guitar tab/chords for new songs
Nicademis
Nov 29, 1995, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
“Peace will come only when the power of love overcomes the love of power.”
-Jimi Hendrix

Google Groups: alt.music.van-halen
Sammy’s Solo Career?
Sterling
Mar 6, 1997, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
WHEN THE POWER OF LOVE OVERCOMES
THE LOVE OF POWER THERE WILL BE PEACE
[Source; Girls Lavatory, Boulder High School, Boulder, Colorado]

Google Groups: talk.origins
WHY WAR?
Mountain Man
4/14/97
(...)
  This might be summarised thus ....

  “When the power of love
  Overcomes the love of power
  There will be Peace.”
 
Twitter
Danica Radovanović
@danicar
when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. -J.Hendrix
6:46 PM · Aug 25, 2007·Twitter Web Client
 
Twitter 
Criss
@CrissWritess
Bumper sticker: When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
7:05 PM · Dec 30, 2008·Twitter SMS
   
Rock Prophecy (2010)
WHAT HENDRIX NEVER SAID
They Don’t Want to Know
What He Really Said
and Demand a Slacker Fantasy Instead
by Michael Fairchild
(...)
Hendrix never said it. It’s not his vernacular, nor syntax, nor even his sentiments. But it’s impossible to explain this to his mostly remedial teen fan base who haven’t a clue as to what “vernacular” and “syntax” mean, and are incapable of comprehending those terms even when patiently explained, no matter how simplistic and infantile the description is dumbed down to accommodate the lame.
(...)
Walden and Santana, both at one time followers of Chinmoy, also befriended Jimi’s father, Al Hendrix, and Al’s adopted Japanese-American daughter Jane, in the 1990s. My theory is that either McLaughlin or Santana have said they heard Jimi say the quote in question. Narada Walden, who was a follower of Chinmoy, but didn’t know Jimi, was actively pursuing projects with Al Hendrix and Jane while I was at the Hendrix company in the 1990s. After Microsoft’s Paul Allen took action to end my career at the Hendrix company, and I was exiled, along with the autobiography of Jimi, suddenly William Gladstone’s “Power Of Love” quote, used by Sri Chinmoy, was not only attributed to Jimi, but was affixed to a car bumper sticker that went up for sale online around 2004 and has since circulated all over the internet to such an extent that millions today believe it’s from Jimi. Ads for the sticker were a fixture on hundreds of websites for years.
 
Twitter
day
@x_BasedBeauty
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” -Jimi Hendrix
6:16 PM · Dec 31, 2012·Twitter Web Client
 
Twitter
Ben Garmoe
@bengarmoe
When the power of love overcomes the love of power you will still have a stupid bumper sticker.
6:47 PM · Dec 31, 2014 from Bowie, MD·Twitter for iPhone
   
Facebook
Alexandra Hickson Corwin to TheOffice.org
June 27, 2016 ·
I KNEW I’d heard this quote attributed to someone other than Sri Chimoy!
 
The quote, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace,” seems invariably to be attributed to Jimi Hendrix.
 
However, William Gladstone once said (prior to Hendrix): “We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” (William Gladstone 1809-1898)
 
In addition, at around the same time that Jimi Hendrix said his words, Sri Chinmoy Ghose said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then there will be true peace.”
   
Google Books
Title When The Power Of Love Overcomes The Love Of Power The World Will Know Peace: A Soft Cover Blank Lined Journal to Jot Down Ideas, Memories, Goals, and Anything Else that Comes to Mind.
Author Standard Booklets
Publisher Independently Published, 2019
ISBN 1080770569, 9781080770564
Length 122 pages
 
Twitter
Ling
@Ling59464608
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
6:02 PM · Apr 28, 2020·Twitter for Android

X/Twitter
Uncle Bob 🍩
@UncleBob56
This is too cool.  Top of the Empire State Building…
“When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace.”
(A photo is shown where this saying is on a banner at the top of New York City’s Empire State Building.—ed.)
3:36 PM · Jul 1, 2026

Eyewitness News (ABC-7, New York City)
Daredevil couple climbs to top of Empire State Building with pro-peace banner, gets engaged
The climbers, identified as Angela Nikolau and Ivan Kuznetsov, were arrested and charged
By Eyewitness News
Wednesday, July 1, 2026 11:36PM
(...)
It appeared to read, “When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace.”

Their banner is a take on a quote frequently attributed to guitarist Jimi Hendrix, but actually spoken by 19th-century British politician William Gladstone.