Quotes About Authority

I have no problem dropping players.

I said you could ask, Mr. Marsh. I didn't say that I would answer. -Lexie Darnell

one of the main things that school taught, I realized, was how to lie to get by.

When society gives censors wide and vague powers they never confine themselves to deserving targets. They are not snipers, but machine-gunners. Allow them to fire at will, and they will hit anything that moves.

Voltaire's pointed question, 'What to say to a man who tells you he prefers to obey God than to obey men, and who is consequently sure of entering the gates of Heaven by slitting your throat?

that perennial type of middle-class girl whose revolt against parental authority consists of a search for more domineering masters than her parents had ever been.

I've come to believe that the function of torture in our society is not about getting information, in spite of what we might want to believe. It is merely about power. It tells the world that there is now no limit to what we will do when we feel threatened.

Sitting at the table with the kids, and being told off like a kid, has liberated me; my disenfranchisement has empowered me.

But they were corrupt, Father! - They were human, my child. And if we were to reject all worldly authority for that reason, we would have to reject everything: marriage and government and society; the family, the state, and the church. We would have to abolish the world. Is that what you propose to do?

He had developed a trick in college for speaking with authority. He believed that breaking his argument into numbers forced people to pay attention. How you said something could be more important than what you said.

Todo príncipe prudente ha desechado las tropas auxiliares y refugiado en las propias; y ha preferido perder con las suyas que ganar con las otras

Sucede siempre que las armas ajenas o se caen de los hombros del príncipe, o le pesan, o le oprimen.

Un príncipe que no es sabio no puede ser bien aconsejado y, por ende, no puede gobernar.

She [my mother] was the force around which our world turned. My mother was propelled through the universe by the brute force of reason. She was the judge in all our arguments. One disapproving word from her was enough to send us off to hide in a corner, where we would cry and fantasize our own martyrdom. And yet. One kiss could restore us to princedom. Without her, our lives would dissolve into chaos.

My mother was the force around which our world turned. Unlike our father, who spent his life in the clouds, my mother was propelled through the universe by the brute force of reason. She was the judge in all of our arguments. One disapproving word from her was enough to send us off to hide in a corner, where we would cry and fantasize our own martyrdom. And yet. One kiss could restore us to princedom. Without her, our lives would dissolve into chaos.

I always feel a little pang of hurt that first day when darkness falls without warning. It's the slight, sickening feeling of being reminded of the reckless authority of time, of losing your bearings in a world whose dimensions you thought you'd learned to live with.

He who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against

There is no other way of guarding against adulation, than to make people understand that they will not offend you by speaking the truth. On the other hand, when everyone feels at liberty to tell you the truth, they will be apt to be lacking in respect to you.

But it also had many large posters with messages of a more peaceful nature. These extolled the country's economic achievement since the Cultural Revolution, which was supposed to have liberated the forces of production and increased productivity. Of course, the Cultural Revolution had done just the opposite. Official lies like this, habitually indulged in and frequently displayed by the authorities, served no purpose except to create the impression that truth was unimportant.

While I listened to the words of homage to Mao, I remembered Mao's awesome power, like a blanket over China threatening to smother whomever he chose.

A vörösgárdisták még a forgalmi lámpák rendjét is meg akarták változtatni, mondván, hogy a piros szín nem jelenthet megálljt, csak haladást. addig is, amíg a vita folyt, kikapcsolták a lámpákat.

Plato thought that letting the people vote was like letting the passengers steer a ship – far better to let people who knew what they were doing take charge.

Toplumsal konumunu deÄŸiÅŸtirmeye kalk??an herkes, devletin istikrar? için potansiyel bir tehdittir.

You stuck listening devices all over the dacha--even in the bathroom. You spend the people's money to eavesdrop on my farts.