Quotes About Authority

I had a beautiful childhood and a lovely childhood. I just didn't like being a child. I didn't like the rank injustice of not being listened to. I didn't like the lack of autonomy.

I'm interested in institutions, particularly in the way institutions close ranks. They have hierarchies and their own ethics.

I think people are rapidly losing confidence in the political class, and I don't blame them.

Vince McMahon is not a human being. They don't make people like Vince. Vince is Vince. I can't even describe to you what it's like being in a room with Vince McMahon. He is above man. That's the best way I can put it. Like-minded people take over the world, so I've always had a great rapport with him.

Men of routine or men who can do what they are told are not hard to find; but men who can think and plan and tell the routine men what to do are very rare.

It rarely adds anything to say, 'In my opinion' - not even modesty. Naturally a sentence is only your opinion; and you are not the Pope.

Rarely do we stop and consider whether the most prestigious of institutions is always in our best interest.

Let your kids pick their punishments. Our instinct as parents is to order our kids around. It's easier, and we're usually right! But it rarely works.

The biggest misconception people have about me is that I'm in control of every situation. I'm rarely in control of any situation.

I'd rather be the king of kids, than the prince of fools.

I am not interested in ratings by Freedom House or whatever.

Freedom rests on a rational distrust of government; government will always use its power to benefit the incumbent administration.

My dad, in the best way possible - not in an intimidating way, but with the physically intimidating qualities that every father has - can truly be scary. The only time you saw that side of him, the raw side of him, would be in a moment when you truly were the one that screwed up.

Any time a president is re-elected, he has a little more political clout to get things done.

The interesting thing about blockchain is that it has made it possible for humanity to reach a consensus about a piece of data without having any authority to dictate it.

Take Google Maps or Waze. On the one hand, they amplify human ability - you are able to reach your destination faster and more easily. But at the same time, you are shifting the authority to the algorithm and losing your ability to find your own way.

My grandmother was kind, but she knew what she wanted and she wasn't afraid to give a command. When, eventually, I ran my own kitchen, I realized I had a leadership model reaching back into my earliest memories.

When you screw with somebody's sense of ownership of something, that's when they react.

A book cannot apologize for what people may think it should be. It has to be authoritative. That's what I want as a reader - I want to be confident that the book will do its job.

What is missed when people talk about books is the moment of grace when the reader creates the book, lends it the authority of their life and soul. The books I love are me, have become me.

As writers we must, from our very opening sentence, speak with authority to our readers.

I am not yet ready to be Tsar. I know nothing of the business of ruling.

Ronald Reagan wasn't qualified to be governor, let alone president.

I do not espouse the unitarian position. President Clinton's assertion of directive authority over administration, more than President Reagan's assertion of a general supervisory authority, raises serious constitutional questions.