Quotes About Authority

Never had a general so effectively willed away the facts.

Against the certainties of the American command, the truth never stood a chance.

When asked what he did for a living, Dave would answer, "I work for local government," because if he said he was a cop, the mood instantly stiffened.

Steele gave the unapologetic impression that he could break you with his bare hands if it weren't for his strict devotion to Jesus and army discipline.

Leadership was partly showmanship, and Westy neglected no means of projecting confidence, strength, and moxie.

As far back as man's history goes the growth of police powers immediately preceded and caused the fall and destruction of each culture.

They knew that the police worked unremittingly, unceasingly, always and ever to bring every phase of human activity under their control.

To live as God meant us to live, we must trust him, and—to no small extent—trust those made in his image. Everyone in the Bible from Adam and Eve to the rogue rulers in the book of Revelation showed their evil fundamentally by denying God's authority and usurping it as their own.

Practically speaking, we were created to live all of life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, by the Word of God, to the glory of God. We were created to live all of life before the face of God, knowing that nothing in our life is secular or separated from the sight of God because all of life is sacred. To live otherwise is sacrilege

As a pastor, I recognize that in theological terms, narcissists want to be the center of attention, like a god, and have people worship them by paying attention to them, buying the products they promote, and emulating their behavior.

History is made by the winners... and written by those with the loudest voices...

when people tell you what to do it is usually confusing and does not make sense. For example, people often say "Be quiet," but they don't tell you how long to be quiet for. Or you see a sign which says KEEP OFF THE GRASS but it should say KEEP OFF THE GRASS AROUND THIS SIGN or KEEP OFF ALL THE GRASS IN THIS PARK because there is lots of grass you are allowed to walk on.

For example, people often say "Be quiet," but they don't tell you how long to be quiet for. Or you see a sign which says KEEP OFF THE GRASS but it should say KEEP OFF THE GRASS AROUND THIS SIGN or KEEP OFF ALL THE GRASS IN THIS PARK because there is lots of grass you are allowed to walk on.

I do not always do what I am told. And this is because when people tell you what to do it is usually confusing and does not make sense.

She could not be silent even if the men of science, many of them smug experts in white lab coats who promised "better living through chemistry," dismissed her warnings as feminine hysteria.

I am not a well educated man except that I have educated myself, and, because I have educated myself, what I say will not stand up, for lack of recognized authority. This in turn leaves me free to say what I will, in the hope that, like those small forces that do not threaten empires and are thus not fully pursued, the things in which I believe can survive in some high and forgotten place until the power of empire subsides.

Gen. de Gaulle is only concerned about history, and no jury can dictate the judgment of history. Georges Pompidou

Jesus was seen as dangerous because he rejected not only warfare and killing but any kind of force. Those in authority saw this as a challenge. How could there be authority without force?

It was one thing to talk of using technology to topple the authority of the aristocracy and the Church, but who or what would replace them? Diderot and the French revolutionaries had assumed it would be "the people." But as the nineteenth-century French historian Jules Michelet once wryly observed, "The people, in its highest ideal, is difficult to find in the people." As

The socialism. The alternative lifestyle. The rebellion against authority. I like that side of the Jesus story, but all the biggest Christians I know prefer him silent, dying or a little baby.

Wherever church government is mingled with ambition, we find leaders who value members primarily for how they contribute to the church's vision.

Church leadership has often used its positional authority to control believers who have expressed a desire for more individual freedom within the church. Because we haven't known what to do with individuals who are strong in their expression and who have a high view of their individual authority in Christ, we have over-preached collective Christianity.

In your position as leader, your actions are amplified; it's as if you are talking through a bullhorn every time you communicate with your employees. They hear your criticism more loudly than you mean it, and they hear your praise and thanks more loudly than it sounds to you. Use your bullhorn wisely.

Gandhi saw that the power of any tyrant depends entirely on people being willing to obey.