Quotes About Authority

Judge Fang got to eat this way only when someone really important was trying to taint him, and though he had never knowingly allowed his judicial judgment to be swayed, he did enjoy the chow.

The people who know the most are not allowed to ask questions—or even to make suggestions. The least common denominator sets the standards. Just wait until you see Washington, Betsy—these goddamn car salesmen and small-town lawyers come into town every two years not knowing their ass from a hole in the ground, and this enormously sophisticated and powerful and dangerous system is at their mercy. The Agency distorts information to fit the half-assed policies they scheme up.

Edzard screamed at the men on the starboard side, threatening to throw them overboard if they didn't match the pace of the port team.

It became sort of obvious that one of them was the boss. Tall guy, a little older than the others, in a Manu jersey." "Manu jersey?" "Manu Ginobili," Peter said, almost angry that Zula did not understand the reference. "He plays for the Spurs.

That's even worse. They'll steal it. Then they'll say they didn't steal it, they confiscated it. I know you Feds, you're always confiscating shit.

The padlocks are carried away in pomp and laid out on the stone bench where important men make it their business to keep an eye on them.

If he's got a big yellow scarf over his left shoulder, he's the king. Bow lower in that case.

Any power structure one of whose main goals was to prevent humans from fucking each other at will had to be extremely formidable.

Only because Rachel knows him," I said. "Being a den-mother to wayward witches is not in my job description, and I will not play along if it requires armed men in my living room.

Yes, I am, but I'm also referring to certain white men in suits. It only takes a single generation to revert to savagery.

It is just that — according to some who style themselves in the know — you are destitute.

but gets to be in the Pantheon anyway and sit on Olympus with the Gods, as if you went to the Supreme Court and found Bozo the Clown planted among the justices.

But one of the responsibilities of leadership is to mask one's own fears, to project confidence at all times.

I am Death," she said. "Now, which one of us is going to open the gate?

Boys, he said, only want to know two things: who is in charge, and what are the rules.

Now we're back in a situation where the people who have the power and the money can get what they want by dictating what the mass of people ought to believe.

Ah," Reagan says, raising his waxed and penciled eyebrows, and cocking his pompadour in Shaftoe's direction. "Smarrrt—you target them because they're the officers, right?" "No, fuckhead!" Shaftoe yells. "You kill 'em because they've got fucking swords! You ever had anyone running at you waving a fucking sword?

Then he remembers that he is not just some interloper. He is a shareholder, and an important officer, in the corporation that employs them—he is paying them or oppressing them, take your pick.

I just about got this planet all sewn up." Rife delivers this line with an incredibly sardonic and contemptuous twang, the exaggerated accent of a cowboy who suspects that some Yankee pencilneck is looking down his nose at him.

Your ass is busted," the second MetaCop says. "As your demeanor has been nonaggressive and you carry no visible weapons, we are not authorized to employ heroic measures to ensure your cooperation," the first MetaCop says. "You stay cool and we'll stay cool," the second MetaCop says.

ultima ratio regum mean?" " 'The Last Argument of Kings

All the potential emperors are assholes, and they're all related to each other, it hardly matters which one wins. So

He can control these people by grafting radio receivers into their skulls, broadcasting instructions—me—directly into their brainstems.

Princes were taught a thing or two about being rational, as they were taught to play a little lute and dance a passable ricercar. But what drove their actions was their own force of will; in the end they did as they pleased, rational or not.