Quotes About Authority

they learned that an unmowed lawn would result in a polite but stern letter from the city, noting that their grass was over six inches tall and that if the situation was not rectified, the city would mow the grass—and charge them a hundred dollars—in three days. There were many rules to be learned.

So you banned all those books, Sadie said, and the teacher had blinked twice at her over her glasses. Oh no, sweetie, she said. People think that sometimes, but no. No one bans anything. Haven't you ever heard of the Bill of Rights? The class giggled, and Sadie flushed. Every school makes its own independent judgments, the teacher said.

Ter permissão para fazer algo e saber fazer algo são coisas diferentes.

She had been brought up to follow rules, to believe that the proper functioning of the world depended upon her compliance, and follow them—and believe—she did.

Being a PAO, the authorities reminded everyone, was not itself a crime. PACT is not about race, the president was always saying, it is about patriotism and mindset.

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He wonders who decided which books were too dangerous to keep, and who it was that had to hunt down and collect the condemned books, like an executioner, ferrying them to their doom.

Siyasî hürriyet dedikleri ferdin devlete ve kanunlara teslimiyetinden ibaret.

If you give only 80 percent leadership, your dog will give you 80 percent following. And the other 20 percent of the time he will run the show. If you give your dog any opportunity for him to lead you, he will take it.

Every punishment which does not arise from absolute necessity, says the great Montesquieu, is tyrannical. A proposition which may be made more general thus: every act of authority of one man over another, for which there is not an absolute necessity, is tyrannical.

Parmi un assurdo che le leggi, che sono l'espressione della pubblica volontà, che detestano e puniscono l'omicidio, ne commettono uno esse medesime, e, per allontanare i cittadini dall'assassinio, ordinino un pubblico assassinio.

Gli ignoranti saranno sempre ignoranti, perché la forza è nelle mani di chi ha interesse che la gente non capisca, nelle mani del governo, dei neri, dei capitalisti...

Per capire le cose bisogna studiare, non le sciocchezze che insegnavano a scuola a noialtri, ma com'è che si legge il giornale, com'è fatto un mestiere, chi comanda nel mondo. Si dovrebbe studiare per saper fare a meno di quelli che studiano. Per non farsi fregare da loro.

With credibility comes influence.

If a king is energetic, his subjects will be equally energetic. If he is reckless, they will not only be reckless likewise, but also eat into his works. Besides, a reckless king will easily fall into the hands of his enemies. Hence the king shall ever be wakeful.

Yet for all the shortcomings to the alliance with Union military power, freedpeople enjoyed more success in obtaining their objectives under military authority than they did under civil authority.

We who know both sides know that in giving up the belief in deity we have lost nothing of value, nothing that need cause us a single regret. And on that point we certainly can speak with authority; for we have been where the Theist is, he has not been where we are.

Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.

I would rather be ruled by people who think they're going to fry in Hell forever if they rule me poorly, than by people for whom I'm merely a convenient economic siphon who can be milked like a cow.

That science has long been neglected and declining in England, is not an opinion originating with me, but is shared by many, and has been expressed by higher authority than mine.

God is the only being who need not even exist in order to reign.

Anyway, what I've just told you was what prompted the chair incident. I had grown big, and he was trying to belittle me.

To the beautiful falls the right of command, he observes, quoting Aristotle, although he adds that this situation is not always just.

Ultimately the work has to command the podium. - David J. Schow