Quotes About Authority

HELL. A place where the Ten Commandments have a police force behind them.

Herman Melville, "Bartleby"

I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults.

I'm afraid that this is me getting on my high horse now but we have yob television, yob newspapers, and funny enough whereas it was my mum and dad, school, police, church who used to set the standards, now it's tabloids and yob television who set the standards by which people live.

Robert Wilmott was responsible for no small part of the Morro Castle's success. Passengers frequently made sure that he was still in command of the ship before buying a ticket. He was the perfect ship's captain for passengers who had never been on anything bigger than the ferryboat to Staten Island.

Acting Captain Warms was still unaware that at least one lifeboat had been launched without his authority and that passengers were jumping into the sea. The calmness which a few hours before had impressed the purser and First Officer Freeman was gone.

I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults.

There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.

Always a godfather, never a god.

The true beggar is the true king.

Ich will doch sehen, wer mich hält, - wer mich zwingt, - wer der Mensch ist, der einen Menschen zwingen kann.

It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.

It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

The court had handed her over to his charge. What a mistake! He should have had her when she was young if he was ever to hope to do anything with her. But he must do something. He reached out suddenly and took possession of the cigarette and case before the surprised girl had time to protest.

Give me a child until he is seven, thought Tom, and he is forever after mine. When the Fascists say it, they're bums and kidnappers, but when the Church says it, it is known as putting a kid on the right track.

when you start telling a man he's got to do this, that or the other thing, you're coming pretty damned close to infringing on a citizen's rights.

You manage things. You lead people.

This used to be a government of checks and balances. Now it's all checks and no balances.

Seu Tomás da bolandeira falava bem, estragava os olhos em cima de jornais e livros, mas não sabia mandar: pedia. Esquisitice um homem remediado ser cortês. Até o povo censurava aquelas maneiras. Mas todos obedeciam a ele. Ah! Quem disse que não obedeciam?

Liberdade completa ninguém desfruta: começamos oprimidos pela sintaxe e acabamos às voltas com a Delegacia de Ordem Política e Social, mas, nos estreitos limites a que nos coagem a gramática e a lei, ainda nos podemos mexer

The truth of God's Word cannot be subject to the puny light of man's self-centred reason

Dennis the Peasant: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. Arthur: Be quiet! Dennis: You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

One, two, ... five!" "Three, my lord.

For the state, theology is too important to be left to the theologians.