Quotes About Authority

T]he art of the legislator is not to make a people free, but free enough...

The most powerful sovereign has only two arms; his power depends on the instruments he uses and what he is given by public opinion.

In all the acts of the French Revolution, one can hear the voice of divinity saying, 'I want to show you what you can do without me.

It is written, By me kings reign. This is not a phrase of the church, a metaphor of the preacher; it is a literal truth, simple and palpable. It is a law of the political world. God makes kings in the literal sense. He prepares royal races; maturing them under a cloud which conceals their origin. They appear at length crowned with glory and honour ; they take their places; and this is the most certain sign of their legitimacy.

Divine justice is no respecter of mathematicians or scientists.

The people count for nothing in revolutions, or at most count only as a passive instrument.

MacArthur strode before his men, armed only with a riding crop, a cigarette holder clamped jauntily between his teeth, without the slightest suggestion in bearing or movement that he was under fire.

The difference between God and a US senator? God doesn't think he's a senator.

instant-message-sending, mouse-clicking, iPod-listening, web-surfing pussies, and God didn't mean for the likes of them to run this planet on the backs of real men.

I can't tell you that, sir." The woman's voice had gone from bored-but-friendly to officious-and-stern.

There was a time, not so long ago, when private military contractors were outside the law, you know." "Above the law." "No. Outside the law. We weren't covered by military law, and we weren't covered by civilian law.

Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.

He is great enough that is his own master.

Why are they going to disappear him?' I don't know.' It doesn't make sense. It isn't even good grammar.

To be frank, politics is about wanting power, getting it, exercising it, and keeping it.

Love and fear. Everything the father of a family says must inspire one or the other.

It was agreed upon," Percy wrote, speaking in the passive voice of a decision that ought to have been his alone, "to put the children to death, the which was effected by throwing them overboard and shooting out their brains in the water." This

261. And for me, to be a ruler is a worthwhile ambition, even if you're in Hell.

And as the old men warned, power does not listen with honest ears to the whispers of the powerless.

In the war on terror, anyone may be designated the enemy. The president claims that only he may make this designation, and that his designation is conclusive and may not be reviewed by any court.

To meet this many-headed Hydra, the president claims he—and he alone—must have the flexibility to define the enemy as he sees fit, and to act against it no matter what form it takes.

Security is about how you configure power, and who has access to what. That is political," Song said.

Your conscious mind is the captain and the master of your ship, which represents your body, environment, and all your affairs.

Confronting authority, one has only two choices: Surrender, or try to confuse it.