Quotes About Authority

It is woefully hard to find good, or even merely literate, writers, and they laugh at me when I say that sloppy, go-as-you-please writing carries less authority than decent prose. You must remember our public, they say. And indeed that is what I do, and I think the public is fully able to deal with the best they can produce. Patronizing the public, and assuming that it hangs, breathless, upon what it reads in the papers, is almost the worst of journalistic sins.

The new priest in his whitish lab-coat gives you nothing at all except a constantly changing vocabulary which he -- because he usually doesn't know any Greek -- can't pronounce, and you are expected to trust him implicitly because he knows what you are too dumb to comprehend. It's the most overweening, pompous priesthood mankind has ever endured in all its recorded history, and its lack of symbol and metaphor and its zeal for abstraction drive mankind to a barren land of starved imagination.

But in every church there are people who, for reasons which seem sufficient to them, do not approve of their pastor and seek to harry him and bully him into some condition pleasing to themselves. The democracy which the Reformation brought into the Christian Church rages in their bosoms like a fire; they would deny that they regard their clergyman as their spiritual hired hand, whom they boss and oversee for his own good, but that is certainly the impression they give to observers.

There is a touch of the fascist in most adolescents; they admire the strong man who stands no nonsense; they have no objection to seeing the weak trampled underfoot; mercy in its more subtle forms is outside their understanding and has no meaning for them.

Also," droned Helen, "Dr. Clinton Clark, Chief of Gynecology called, not his secretary, the doctor himself. And he sounded very angry. He wants you to call. And Mr. Drake wants a call too." The printout

Now is the time! Ysabelle cried. Now do I accede to the throne and claim my place as Handmaiden to Orion!

My father... raised me to make up my own mind. The way he did this was by yielding to me when I asked, even when I was foolish. I lived through it; and I know my own mind; and he will do what I ask him.

Say yes, babe, or I'll spill you off over the Wall next time - got it?

Mr. Responsible Media was looking rebellious, but this was my country. I was the Cinnamon Roll Queen and most of those assembled were my devoted subjects.

Fairy godmothers?" said the king dubiously. "We'll have a time getting that past the court council — and the bishop.

She had told the frog, Certainly, anything; and her father had brought her up to understand that she must always keep her word, the more so because as Princess there was no one who could force her to.

Physical bravery is essential in second lieutenants but dangerous in general officers. They should learn caution and judgement as they rise through the ranks; a general needs moral courage, not least the courage to make a hard decision and stick to it under pressure from his superiors and events.

Once you can name something, you're conscious of it. You have power over it. You're in control. You own it.

Titles don't interest me at all. Doing my best work is all that matters to me. And I don't need to have any formal authority to do that.

self-control is more indispensable than gunpowder.

It was truly his way or the highway.

Become the CEO of Your Life

There's a much deeper power than titled power

La mente es un magnífico criado pero un amo terrible.

No tengo miedo de un ejército de leones dirigidos por una oveja; tengo miedo de un ejército de ovejas dirigidos por un león».

We all need to start demonstrating leadership, Blake, regardless of our titles. It's no longer an excuse to say you don't have a high rank so you don't need to take ownership for the results of the organization. To succeed, everyone now must see themselves as part of the leadership team. You just don't need formal authority to lead anymore—only a desire to be involved and the commitment to making a positive difference.

Io non ho paura di un esercito di leoni, se sono condotti da una pecora. Io temo un esercito di pecore, se sono condotte da un leone".»

Be the CEO of your life

Words are the verbal embodiment of power.