Quotes About Authority

The separation of "church and state" of which America is so proud was established in Islam fourteen centuries ago, when it was decided that no Caliph would have religious authority over the community.

For every well-attested, heavily researched, and eminently authoritative argument made about the historical Jesus, there is an equally well-attested, equally researched, and equally authoritative argument opposing it.

RELIGIONS BECOME INSTITUTIONS when the myths and rituals that once shaped their sacred histories are transformed into authoritative models of orthodoxy (the correct interpretation of myths) and orthopraxy (the correct interpretation of rituals), though one is often emphasized over the other.

The Prophet himself sometimes openly suppressed or negated older verses, considering them to have been replaced by newer ones. That is because Muhammad did not consider the Quran to be a static Revelation, which may be why he never bothered to authorize its collection into a codified book. The Quran was for Muhammad a living scripture that consciously evolved alongside the Ummah, continually adapting itself to meet the specific needs of the developing community.

Like a Jewish rabbi, a Sunni cleric is a scholar, not a priest. His judgment is followed not because it carries the authority of God (it does not), but because the cleric's scholarship, his intimate knowledge of tradition, and his unbreakable bond with the past grant him special insight into God's will.

Rome named Herod "King of the Jews," granting him a kingdom that would ultimately grow larger than that of King Solomon.

No more client-kings. No more King of the Jews. Jerusalem now belonged wholly to Rome.

Unshackled by the state, the Ulama were now free to ascend to a position of unquestioned religious authority in the Ummah, which they used not only to institutionalize their legal and theological opinions into distinct schools of thought but also to formulate a binding, comprehensive code of conduct called the Shariah, forever transforming Islam from a religion into an all-embracing way of life: one that the Ulama claimed sole authority to define.

Se ha dicho que cada gobierno tiene su capo.

This man in Guatemala, he's your manager, isn't he?" Zemurray asked. Yes. "Then listen to what the man is telling you. You're here, he's there," said Zemurray. "If you trust him, trust him. If you don't trust him, fire him and get a man you do trust in the job.

We go by the will of the black rabbit. When he calls you, you have to go

They're all so much afraid of the Council that they're not afraid of anything else.

I'm sick and tired of it, he said, It's the same all the time. 'These are my claws, so this is my cowslip. 'These are my teeth, so this is my burrow.' I'll tell you, if I ever get into the Owsla, I'll treat outskirters with a bit of decency.

I dare say a good many... would have kept quiet and thought about keeping on the right side of the Chief, but I'm afraid I'm not much good at that.

Believe you know all the answers, and you know all the answers. Believe you're a master, and you are.

Never had I understood that I command, with absolute authority, the ship of my life! I decide its mission and rules and discipline, at my word waits every tool and sail, every cannon, the strength of every soul on board. I'm master of a team of passionate skills to sail me through hell's own jaws the second I nod the direction to steer.

the forces of rulers and ritual slowly, slowly will kill our freedom to live as we choose.

when you work for the Government, the Government is twice as aware that you're alive

Just. Why, zounds! will you hear me or no?

Trust in your own instincts and wisdom, and not in the words and fears of experts.

Indeed, organizing atheists has been compared to herding cats, because they tend to think independently and will not conform to authority. But a good first step would be to build up a critical mass of those willing to 'come out,' thereby encouraging others to do so. Even if they can't be herded, cats in sufficient numbers can make a lot of noise and they cannot be ignored.

Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, distinctly heard the voice of Jesus telling him to kill women, and he was locked up for life. George W. Bush says that God told him to invade Iraq (a pity God didn't vouchsafe him a revelation that there were no weapons of mass destruction).

Indeed, organizing atheists has been compared to herding cats, because they tend to think independently and will not conform to authority.

Words are our servants, not our masters.