Quotes About Authority

That, Imperator, is of concern only to myself and to Titus. And further, do not address me as woman. My ancestors were priests at Jerusalem and kings at Megiddo when Rome was a circle of mud huts inhabited by brutes who had not yet learned to weave cloth or even to smelt copper. And as for this meeting, I think that I at least have had sufficient of it—and if you will permit me, I should like to go.

tinha descoberto a profunda diferença entre justiça e moralidade. A justiça era o instrumento dos fortes, para ser usada como os fortes desejavam; a moralidade, como os deuses, era a ilusão dos fracos.

When military men take over, honest men dance to the strings they pull. Your life is no longer your own.

The way an institution works is that you go along with the prevailing fiction.

Such a concept of morality sounds noble and high-minded; the supreme importance of morality means that it must be based on the highest authority, and this is the authority of reason itself. However, as MacIntyre and other critics of Kant have noted, the grandeur of the structure of Kant's ethics is matched by the emptiness of its content

Persecution is the first law of society because it is always easier to suppress criticism than to meet it.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely; and if you surrender your personal responsibility to a government which promises to take care of you, they will only take care of themselves.

Because not everyone can take charge of his or her destiny, those who do rise to positions of authority have a responsibility to those whose daily work keeps the enterprise running, not only to steer the correct course but to make sure no one is left behind.

You can't be a rebel if there aren't any rules.

submission. God doesn't want slaves.

There is in every person an inward sea, and in that sea there is an island and on that island there is an altar and standing guard before that altar is the 'angel with the flaming sword.' Nothing can get by that angel to be placed upon that altar unless it has the mark of your inner authority. Nothing passes 'the angel with the flaming sword' to be placed upon your altar unless it be a part of 'the fluid area of your consent.' This is your crucial link with the Eternal.

I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that's handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers.

I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that's handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers.

Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery - have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.

If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.

Harry grinned as the others laughed and took time out to take a poke on his cigarette, then rubbed the tip of his nose with the back of his hand. I should have you all locked up for interferin with religious freedom.

A man is not a dictator when he is given a commission from the people and carries it out.

There's no reason for the establishment to fear me. But it has every right to fear the people collectively - I am one with the people.

My comrades on the block continued to resist that authority, and I felt that I could not let college pull me away, no matter how attractive education was. These brothers had the sense of harmony and communion I needed to maintain that part of myself not totally crushed by the schools and other authorities.

One of the most ordinary weaknesses of the human intellect is to seek to reconcile contrary principles, and to purchase peace at the expense of logic. Thus there have ever been, and will ever be, men who, after having submitted some portion of their religious belief to the principle of authority, will seek to exempt several other parts of their faith from its influence, and to keep their minds floating at random between liberty and obedience.

If you want a place guarded properly, hire Germans.

The very helplessness of the public which makes it necessary for them to consult the experts also makes it impossible for them to judge how expert they are.

As knowledge increases, the verdict of yesterday must be reversed today, and in the long run the most positive authority is the least to be trusted.

A man cannot govern a nation if he cannot govern a city; he cannot govern a city if he cannot govern a family; he cannot govern a family unless he can govern himself; and he cannot govern himself unless his passions are subject to reason." By understanding many things, I have accomplished nothing." Hugo Grotius