Quotes About Authority

Yet how could I not have believed Hitler a genius and unique when every day I saw and heard how the major personalities of the Reich fawned over him and worshipped him with total devotion.

Before the war I often had the impression of being in the household of a busy architect and building tycoon rather than the Führer and Reich Chancellor.

Amid the chaos and confusion, one thing alone was certain: for the first time, a woman would sit upon the throne of England.

she at once put on an extremely arrogant demeanour instead of the modest gait and bearing proper to the gentle sex," the Gesta's author complained, "began to walk and speak and do all things more stiffly and more haughtily than she had been wont, to such a point that soon, in the capital of the land subject to her, she actually made herself queen of all England and gloried in being so called.

If she had truly been sent by God, she would not wear men's clothes in contravention of God's law and the Church's teaching. The nature of her supposed mission was no excuse for this abomination, since no 'greater' good could ever justify sin – and in any case women were forbidden to fight, just as they were forbidden to preach, to teach, to administer the sacraments, and all other duties that belonged to men.

supported by the National Socialist political party, or "Endeks," encouraged by teachers and university professors, condoned by the government, ignored by the police.

judges are men who in the cool of the evening undo work that better men do in the heat of the day.

the machinery of direct repression.

freedom of movement in 1940s Spain existed only as an exceptional political or social privilege: very few ordinary people escaped surveillance in a society in which travel anywhere required a safe conduct or pass from the authorities.

extra judicial murder (the ley de fugas – prisoners "shot while escaping")

allowing the maintenance of dictatorial "impunity".

The Republican authorities could not initially prevent extra-judicial killing in their territory because the military coup itself had completely collapsed the police and army as the instruments of public order while it had also generated a huge surge of fear and anger. But the regime subsequently rebuilt public order – not least to put an end to murder.

the rule of law.

Terror could only happen because the military allowed it.

The fascist Falangist or clerical Carlist militia and other volunteers of the right could at any time have been disciplined by the military authorities that underwrote public order from the beginning. Not only did this not happen, but instead the military actively recruited thousands of civilian vigilantes to carry out a dirty war.11

those with the habit of line-crossing as a mode of being would never and could never fit the requirements of any state narrative.

Confidence is the master of fate.

Sojourner [Truth]'s life exemplifies the process that occurs within ourselves as we grow to understand that we hold the authority to shape our own lives. This inner authority came when she embraced all of herself, which enabled her to speak from an authentic voice.

Voice is an important aspect of wholeness. Feeling our pain moves us into shadow, where we reclaim denied parts of our selves. This leads to developing a voice that grows increasingly more authentic and full-throated with each newly claimed aspect of our identity. We are no longer speaking from a foundation of self that is riddled with fault lines. The more unified we are, the more authority our voice contains. We voice ourself into being.

Nineteenth century feminists made a distinction between institutional authority and their own intensely personal religious experiences. The fact that the church wasn't supporting their efforts didn't mean that God wasn't supporting them, nor did it invalidate their religious faith.

If feminism doesn't frighten people with power, it is toothless.

Being powerful is so much more interesting than being beautiful.

She ought to know that if you want to set yourself up as queen and have everything the way you want it and keep sisters apart then you're not going to have a big fan club. She ought to know that where there's a queen there's often a plot to overthrow her.

Young men ... learn practical skills that set is in good stead for lives as the husbands of wealthy and educated women: Strong Handshakes, Silence, Rudimentary Car Mechanics, How to Mow the Lawn, Explosive Displays of Authority, Sport and Nutrition Against Impotance.