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Authority Quotes

Browse 3390 quotes about Authority.

Authority Quotes

“Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority - literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political.”

Political Social Fear Religious Freedom Mistake Liberty Democracy Doubt Atheism Possibility Authority Rage Artistic Making Mistakes 4th Of July Saying No Philosophic

Author:Ignazio Silone

“Power is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't.”

Source: As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

“In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.”

“Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race. All through history, mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord it over their fellows and toss commands in every direction and would boss the grass in the meadow about which way to bend in the wind are the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity, perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us.”

Source: Thrown Under the Omnibus

“In an average day, you may well be confronted with some species of bullying or bigotry, or some ill-phrased appeal to the general will, or some petty abuse of authority. If you have a political loyalty, you may be offered a shady reason for agreeing to a lie or a half-truth that serves some short-term purpose. Everybody devises tactics for getting through such moments; try behaving "as if" they need not be tolerated and are not inevitable.”

Source: Letters to a Young Contrarian

“Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities - the political, the religious, the educational authorities - who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing - forming in our minds - their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability to inform yourself.”

“I think there ought to be a strict separation or wall built between our religious faith and our practice of political authority in office. I don't think the President of the United States should extoll Christianity if he happens to be a Christian at the expense of Judaism, Islam or other faiths.”

“Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not insure “good” government, it simply insures that it will work. But such governments are rare — most people want to run things, but want no part of the blame. This used to be called the “backseat driver” syndrome.”

Source: Time Enough for Love

“When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force, my friends, is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.”

Political Force Violence Exercise Authority My Friends Vote Supreme

Author:Robert A. Heinlein

“A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice.”

Political Leadership Leader Courage Advice Authority Experts Be Courageous Leadership By Famous Leaders Acts Of Courage

Author:James Callaghan

“To lodge all power in one party and keep it there is to insure bad government and the sure and gradual deterioration of the public morals.”

Government Political Politics Party Moral Power Society Morality Authority Graduation Publicity Governing Lodges Deterioration Bad Government Deteriorating

Book:Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1, Reader’s Edition

Source: Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1, Reader’s Edition

“All wars come to an end, at least temporarily. But the authority acquired by the state hangs on; political power never abdicates.”

War Ends States Political Peace Authority Anti War Antiwar Political Power

Book:Fugitive essays: selected writings of Frank Chodorov

Source: Fugitive essays: selected writings of Frank Chodorov