Quotes About Authority

And now the King is dead. Who knows who will replace him? Voting for a monarch! Have you ever heard of such a thing?

But laws did not appear at all the rigid pillars they once had. If the Great Change had proved anything, it was that—with enough force, with enough fear—one could bend them into whatever knots one pleased.

A man in charge can't have men putting questions. Just can't have it. They come with questions first, then they come with knives.

Jezal was beginning to doubt that anyone in a position of high authority ever really knew what they were doing. The best one could hope for was to maintain some shred of an illusion that one might.

A king was just a kind of bin for all the blame to go in.

As commander of a battalion his trade had been to fight the enemy with steel. As a staff officer, it seemed, his role was to fight his own side with paper, more secretary than soldier. He felt like a man trying to push a huge stone up a hill. Straining and straining, getting nowhere, but unable to stop pushing in case the rock should fall and crush him. Meanwhile, arrogant bastards who were in just the same danger lazed on the slopes beside him saying, "Well, it's not my rock.

Command was a trick. You had to spread the illusion that you knew what you were doing as deep and as wide through your men as you could. Spread the illusion and hope for the best.

The people far prefer a leader who appears great, Bialoveld wrote, to one who is.

Being in charge can seem like a thing iron-forged, but in the end it's just an idea everyone agrees to. By

What happens now?' 'The people will decide,' said Pike. Orso glanced about him. At the people. 'Really?' He gave a puzzled smile. 'Are they equipped for that?

The vast majority of men would far rather be told what to do than make their own choices. Obedience is easy.

You should get married." "So I can be ordered around by some idiot? Thank you, no." "Then don't marry an idiot. Marry a rich man who likes men. At least you'll have that in common.

the vast majority of men would far rather be told what to do than make their own choices. Obedience is easy.' The

Amazing how far you can get if you stick to a straight line and look like you've got every reason to be there.

Funny," said the Nail, back in his floppy slouch already. "Barbs don't sting so much from a man you can slap whenever you please.

That's kings for you. The shit ideas are always someone else's.

My master used to say that knowledge is the root of power, but I rather suspect power has a golden root these days.

A man with a balding pink head and a heavy chain of office started towards him. One weak chin had clearly not been weak enough, and he had opted for several spread across his fur-trimmed collar.

A king needs to be seen. And to be seen to be seen.

Nothing was stronger than the law! Now it seemed that fire was stronger still. Law alone, without enforcement, is just breath.

This nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power.

We should never wait for science to give us permission to do the uncommon; if we do, then we are turning science into another religion.

an immense power behind any individual

A good sign that an army has been around too long is that it starts getting top-heavy with officers.