Quotes About Authority

I was always fighting the establishment, trying to run through brick walls.

This idea of walls, segregation, labels, and 'You against us' and 'We are superior and you are inferior.' Which people are legitimate? Which relationships are legitimate or not? Who declares that under which authority? These are things that are hugely important.

Every movement of mine was under the control of the Vietnamese government, a communist country. I was just a prisoner without walls.

I don't want to overthrow the government. I wanna fire 'em.

People have always asked me why I'm drawn to material about kids, and for me, it's - I remember being at that age and feeling completely and utterly powerless. You know, there's so many things you wanna do and so many things you're told you can't do.

It's just like anybody else - some people, most people don't wanna go to school. They just don't want to. It's... not fun. I was just somebody who got away with it.

I have a very strict gun control policy: if there's a gun around, I want to be in control of it.

Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

I don't want to be liked. I want to be respected.

Let them march all they want, as long as they continue to pay their taxes.

I want to be an old lady, with my cane, shouting, 'Action!' and 'Cut!'

An extraordinary affair. I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them.

I've said it before: Barack Obama is really the president Richard Nixon always wanted to be. You know, he's been allowed to act unilaterally in a way that we've fought for decades.

There is nothing that makes me more falsely arrogant, like, wanting to defend myself, than a TSA agent.

They decided that unpaid leave could only be granted through the decision of a council that consisted almost entirely of scientists who couldn't understand my reasons for wanting to go so. They said no, no unpaid. So I immediately resigned.

Conventional dogmas, even if endowed with the authority of an Aristotle - ancient or modern - must be tested vigorously. If they are found wanting, we need not bother with them. But if they are found to be substantially correct, we may not overlook them.

I think of myself as unconventional, I guess. I maybe always had a problem with authority, like a stubbornness about what's expected - despite wanting to get some recognition through performing - but also not always wanting to do the expected thing.

The object of rewards is to encourage; that of punishments, to prevent. If rewards are high, then what the ruler wants will be quickly effected; if punishments are heavy, what he does not want will be swiftly prevented.

Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarrelled with him?

A lasting order cannot be established by bayonets.

I'm not afraid to say I'm at war with the pigs.

Never take advice from anyone in a tie. They'll bankrupt you. Don't ask a general for advice on war, and don't ask a broker for advice on money.

The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.

The British soldier can stand up to anything except the British War Office.