Quotes About Authority

We are the only government upon whose word every man may rely absolutely, and because of that we command infinite credit, infinite obedience, infinite respect If we say to anyone, "Do this and your reward will be such and such," there is no doubt in his mind that he will be rewarded. If we say villages breaking a certain ordinance will be burned to the ground, there is no doubt. We speak little, but every word drops like a weight of iron—

If we could have our way, no man would have to go roving or draw blood. But women did not make the world. All of you are torturers, one way or another.

Magic," Martha whispered breathlessly, "is diplomacy. It isn't just saying the words. It's who says them, how he says them, and when he says them.

Weak people believe what is forced on them. Strong people what they wish to believe, forcing that to be real. What is the Autarch but a man who believes himself Autarch and makes others believe by the strength of it?

In the old times, the lords of this world feared no one but their own people, and to defend themselves against them built a great fortress on a hilltop to the north of the city...Many of the people were angry at the building of that citadel, holding it to be their right to slay their lords without hindrance if they so desired.

We say, I will, and I will not, and imagine ourselves (though we obey the orders of some prosaic person every day) our own masters, when the truth is that our masters are sleeping. One wakes within us and we are ridden like beasts, though the rider is but some hitherto unguessed part of ourselves.

My master, the Marquis of Carabas, sends you greetings.

He wandered in the high, hot lands where men have few laws and many slaves.

He was the subject of a little respectful ribbing. But he was, of course, the captain, which meant he had to do lots of the ribbing himself.

Tyranny is a form of perversion. We come to love it. Every government is a tyranny to a degree, and the more evil it is, the more it is loved. The difficulty lies in judging the degree of tyranny under which you live.

In general, my liege lady,' he began, 'Women desire to have dominion Over their husbands, and their lovers too; They want to have mastery over them. That's what you most desire—even if my life Is forfeit. I am here; do what you like.

you will not be master of my body & my property

For thus men seyth, That on thenketh the beere, But al another thenketh his ledere.

A great fool is any counselor, serving a Lord of high honor, who dares presume, or even think, that his counsel should surpass his Lord's wit.

Vergüenza ha de tener el gobernante que no tenga piedad, si actúa y habla como un león a los que están arrepentidos y temerosos, del mismo modo que a los poderosos y altaneros que persisten en sus propósitos. Un príncipe tiene escaso discernimiento si no sabe distinguir en casos así y pasa al orgullo por el mismo rasero que a la humildad.»

When fatigue finally forced him to pause, he ordered the men who were left to have their hearts torn out and their carcasses burned

Wir sind das Volk und wir wollen, dass kein Gesetz sei; ergo ist dieser Wille das Gesetz, ergo im Namen des Gesetzes gibt's kein Gesetz mehr, ergo totgeschlagen!

Die Staatsform muss ein durchsichtiges Gewand sein, das sich dicht an den Leib des Volkes schmiegt.

The march of GOD in the world, that is what the state is.

The police don't enforce laws; they don't even get busy until after the laws are broken. They solve crimes at a pitifully low rate of success. What the police are, to be honest, is a kind of secretarial pool that records the names of the victims

between 1957 and 1990 there were more than 150 African heads of state and only six relinquished power voluntarily.

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.

Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.

All professions are conspiracies against the laity.