Quotes About Authority

Os costumes, cuja excelência torna o governo quase inútil e cuja corrupção o torna quase impossível.

The whole military power of the State is at the disposal of the Governor. He is the commander of the militia, and head of the armed force.

The European generally submits to a public officer because he represents a superior force; but to an American he represents a right. In America it may be said that no one renders obedience to man, but to justice and to law.

No sooner does a government attempt to go beyond its political sphere and to enter upon this new track, than it exercises, even unintentionally, an insupportable tyranny; for a government can only dictate strict rules, the opinions which it favors are rigidly enforced, and it is never easy to discriminate between its advice and its commands.

Democratic nations often hate those in whose hands the central power is vested; but they love that power itself.

Democratic nations often hate those in whose hands the central power is vested; but they always love that power itself.

The man who in given cases consents to obey his fellows with servility, and who submits his activity and even his opinions to their control, can have no claim to rank as a free citizen.

Le suffrage universel ne me fait pas peur, les gens voteront comme on leur dira

In the United States the most able men are rarely placed at the head of affairs

By the choice of the master, or by the will of the slave, it will cease; and in either case great calamities may be expected to ensue.

In aristocracies the master often exercises, even without being aware of it, an amazing sway over the opinions, the habits, and the manners of those who obey him, and his influence extends even further than his authority.

I regard as impious and detestable the maxim that in matters of government the majority of a people has the right to do everything, and nevertheless I place the origin of all powers in the wishes of the majority. Am I in contradiction with myself? There exists a general law which has been made, or at least adopted not only by the majority of this or that people but by the majority of all men. This law is justice. Justice thus forms the limit to the right of each people.

Though he be not hedged in with ceremonial respect, his sons at least accost him with confidence; no settled form of speech is appropriated to the mode of addressing him, but they speak to him constantly, and are ready to consult him day by day; the master and the constituted ruler have vanished—the father remains.

American priests have realized this truth before everyone else and they allow it to guide their conduct. They saw that they had to forgo religious influence if they wished to win political power and they preferred to lose the support of authority rather than share its changing fortunes.

If Catholicism predisposes the faithful to obedience, it certainly does not prepare them for inequality; but the contrary may be said of Protestantism, which generally tends to make men independent, more than to render them equal.

The French lawyer is simply a man extensively acquainted with the statutes of his country; but the English or American lawyer resembles the hierophants of Egypt, for, like them, he is the sole interpreter of an occult science.

When I see that the right and the means of absolute command are conferred on any power whatever, be it called a people or a king, an aristocracy or a democracy, a monarchy or a republic, I say there is the germ of tyranny, and I seek to live elsewhere, under other laws.

It is at once necessary and desirable that the central power that directs a democratic people be active and powerful. There is no question of rendering it weak or indolent, but only of preventing it from abusing its agility and force.

A government which should only be able to crush its enemies upon a field of battle would very soon be destroyed.

Think of your goal as giving your child a kind of inoculation, providing him with the unconditional love, respect, trust, and sense of perspective that will serve to immunize him against the most destructive effects of an overcontrolling environment or an unreasonable authority figure.

The difference between a Welfare State and a Benevolent Despot is slight.

The law makes the silliest damned fuss about death. People die by the thousands everyday; but simply because someone has had the energy and enterprise to assist old D'Courtney to his demise, the law insists on turning him into an enemy of the people. I think it's idiotic, but please don't quote me.

EÈ™ti dement omule. Ai dat o arm? înc?rcat? unor copii. - ÎncetaÈ›i s?-i mai trataÈ›i ca pe niÈ™te copii È™i vor înceta s? se mai comporte ca niÈ™te copii. Cine dracu' sunteÈ›i voi s-o faceÈ›i pe supraveghetorii?... ExplicaÈ›i-le cum funcÈ›ioneaz? arma înc?rcat?... L?saÈ›i-i s? creasc?. Este momentul.

Observe this fact: in the history of mankind, every ruler who has lacked personal greatness has been forced to compensate for the deficiency by setting up the executioner at his right hand like a guardian angel