How we cite our quotes: (Story title.paragraph)
Quote #7
"All normal life, Peter, consciously or otherwise, resents domination. If the domination is by an inferior, or by a supposed inferior, the resentment becomes stronger. Physically, and, to an extent, mentally, a robot—any robot—is superior to human beings." (Little Lost Robot.65)
We think this is the central issue of Power in I, Robot: robots are superior in almost every way (smarter, stronger, more moral), but humans are still in control. Calvin thinks that this situation would lead to resentment and hate on the part of the robots, but luckily we have the First Law to protect us—so long as the robots are stable and built with all the Three Laws.
Quote #8
"But even so," insisted Calvin, "we couldn't take chances. Listen, from now on, no one is to as much as breathe to The Brain. I'm taking over." (Escape.66)
Calvin gets bossed around some in this book. She's an employee of Robertson and Lanning and she's under the command of the military in "Little Lost Robot." But she's also a brilliant scientist who commands a certain amount of respect (and more so as her career goes on), so she has some power to throw around. Of course, she only uses her power for good, right?
Quote #9
…Quinn neither ran for office nor canvassed for votes, made no speeches and stuffed no ballot boxes. Any more than Napoleon pulled a trigger at Austerlitz. (Evidence.9)
Quinn isn't a politician, but he has a lot of political power. It's funny that Asimov doesn't tell us a lot about Calvin's job, but he spends some time talking about Quinn's. It's as if Asimov wants us to understand just how Quinn has this behind-the-scenes kind of power. This sets up Quinn as someone who is not to be trusted, so we probably don't mind when he loses.