Quotes About Authority

What kind of power was it if it would never be used?

The emperor would prefer the poet to keep away from politics, the emperor's domain, so that he can manage things the way he likes.

created this framework to be useful for people who don't have scads of authority or resources. Some people can get their way by fiat. CEOs, for instance, can

her successes came despite a lack of authority and resources.

It's realizing that I can do this. I'm in charge.

it can be the honesty and trustworthiness of our sources, not their status, that allows them to act as authorities. Sometimes

In certain areas where it is not possible to check the validity of a certain concept, if somebody with a good track record states it, then one can consider that statement as "temporary truth" until one is in a position in the future to validate it.

Fundamentally, a society that asks questions and has the power to answer them is a healthier society than one that simply accepts what its told from a narrow range of experts and institutions.

In a world of infinite choice, context—not content—is king.

Leadership is influence—nothing more, nothing less.

It's the men, and the leadership they follow, who make all the difference.

How well it had suited me, that absolute license to march up to evildoers and demand who, what, where, when and why?

Habits are either the best of servants or the worst of masters.

Experience is the only teacher," Hey-Soos says. "Even if I could have told you, it would have been a lecture. Why do you think kids don't listen to their parents, or people don't leave churches and do what the preacher tells them?

There's only one thing to say to the censors: Shut up.

Americans have viewed their former presidents almost like a fourth branch of government.

I can never consent to being dictated to as to what I shall or shall not do. I, as President, shall be responsible for my administration.

Mr. Ball was Fairview Middle School's vice principal. Its disciplinarian. The guy who liked nothing better than running detention hall. He'd strut up and down the rows of chairs, tapping a ruler behind his back, his eyes darting from one inmate to the next, just itching to whip out his pink pad and give one of the troublemakers another hour in the after-school punishment zone.

No, I suppose not. Tell me, Jake, have the authorities apprehended this Monsieur Eriq LeVisqueux fellow?" "Not yet." "Good, good," Mrs. Malvolio muttered to herself. "Excuse me?" said Grace. "I was just remarking that it's good that you three look so good.

Most of these students are so conditioned to success that they become afraid to take risks. They have been taught from a young age by zealous parents, schools, and institutional authorities what constitutes failure and success. They are socialized to obey. They obsess over grades and seek to please professors, even if what professors teach is fatuous. The point is to get ahead, and getting ahead means deference to authority. Challenging authority is never a career advancer.

Independent inquiry is essential in our search for truth. Each of us must strive to actively discern truth for ourselves rather than simply looking to or relying upon external authority figures to give it to us. If we allow another person or group to give us truth, or merely accept their truth as our own, we are depending on someone else for our spirituality, for our enlightenment, for our happiness, our success, etc.

Who gets to speak and why?, I wrote last week, is the only question.

In other words, speed, innovation, and global focus happen only when lots of delegated authority sits alongside lots of centralized authority.

If so, why do you listen? Is it authority because it is in your head? Or is it in your head because it is authority?