Quotes About Authority

I never met an authority figure I didn't like.

The best surveillance is when everyone suspects that they're being watched all the time. The government then doesn't even have to watch the cameras—they need only let people believe someone might be watching.

It can often seem that those in power don't want us to enjoy making things for ourselves - they'd prefer to establish a cultural hierarchy that devalues our amateur efforts and encourages consumption rather than creation.

most of human history (chronologically speaking) has taken place in communities quite innocent of state power.

panjandrums

The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man

Keep saying no to her, Since she was a baby. Keep saying no to her, Not even maybe. from "Why?" by the Byrds

Except for little children, who must be rightfully restrained by their parents, no one should find themselves being controlled by another person.

Hey, who let you in here?!

Apocalyptic shows us what we're not seeing. It can't be composed or spoken by the powers that be, because they are the sustainers of "the way things are" whose operation justifies itself by crowning itself as "the way things ought to be" and whose greatest virtue is in being "realistic." Thinking through what we mean by "realistic" is where apocalyptic begins.

Give a member of Congress a junket and a mimeograph machine and he thinks he is secretary of state.

patience was not just a manner, it was the very form of seminar teaching. Columbia's core curriculum had been designed not to enshrine the authority of the lecturing professor (that was something done at Harvard) but to reach understanding through discussion, however clumsy and uncertain. Till this moment, I never knew myself. . . . Vanity, not love has been my folly!

systems of government are to be judged not for their prophetic ability to choose and install good leaders and policies, but for their ability to remove bad ones that are already there.

The Enlightenment (The beginning of) a way of pursuing knowledge with a tradition of criticism and seeking good explanations instead of reliance on authority.

But one thing that all conceptions of the Enlightenment agree on is that it was a rebellion, and specifically a rebellion against authority in regard to knowledge.

Rejecting authority in regard to knowledge was not just a matter of abstract analysis. It was a necessary condition for progress, because, before the Enlightenment, it was generally believed that everything important that was knowable had already been discovered, and was enshrined in authoritative sources such as ancient writings and traditional assumptions. Some of those sources did contain some genuine knowledge, but it was entrenched in the form of dogmas along with many falsehoods

one thing that all conceptions of the Enlightenment agree on is that it was a rebellion, and specifically a rebellion against authority in regard to knowledge.

on learning how to reject their authority. This is why the Royal Society (one of the earliest scientific academies, founded in London in 1660) took as its motto 'Nullius in verba', which means something like 'Take no one's word for it.

This is why the Royal Society (one of the earliest scientific academies, founded in London in 1660) took as its motto 'Nullius in verba', which means something like 'Take no one's word for it.

Thus 'how do we know…?' is transformed into 'by what authority do we claim…?' The latter question is a chimera that may well have wasted more philosophers' time and effort than any other idea. It converts the quest for truth into a quest for certainty (a feeling) or for endorsement (a social status). This misconception is called justificationism.

When I was about Walter's age, I remember asking my father why one's country should demand more loyalty than friends, family, or conscience, and seeing the look of surprise on his face when he found he lacked a convincing answer.

A good officer can get away with being wrong, but he can't be indecisive.

It's all right for a leader to be ruthless, Adele thought. He shouldn't be whimsical, though, and he especially shouldn't be whimsically ruthless.

So long as authority comes only from having a hand on a throat, wisdom and mercy are a moot point.