Quotessence
Home / Topics / Questioning Authority Quotes

Questioning Authority Quotes

Browse 8 quotes about Questioning Authority.

Questioning Authority Quotes

“His ambition was not to become wealthy or to be well known, an image which society for some reason dictates each individual should prescribe to, instead his only ambition was to be at peace with himself, if he could achieve that than anything else he might need would follow. From now on he would question all things in life, but especially the rules and regulations of all authority institutions; he would take nothing on face value and only would accept what he personally knew to undeniably be true.”

“Just curious what brought you to our fair city, today,” the taller officer said, handing Rome back his papers. “Do you ask everyone that comes to your fair city why they are visiting,” I asked, feeling anger rising in me. “Or did you decide that we didn’t seem to fit in your fair city?” “What’s your name, young man?” “Why?” I asked. “Again, because I asked.” “I am a minor. I was taught by my mother not to give my name to people I don’t know,” I said. I added, “If you want to know my name you can call my mother and talk to her. I am sure she would want to know why you, officer Roberts, decided to harass me and my friends on a Saturday afternoon in Half Moon Bay.” Excerpt From JUST ONE MO Mark T. Sneed This material may be protected by copyright.”

“An unceasing interrogation of the stories told to us by the schools now felt essential. It felt wrong not to ask why, and then to ask it again. I took these questions to my father, who very often refused to offer an answer, and instead referred me to more books. My mother and father were always pushing me away from secondhand answers—even the answers they themselves believed. I don’t know that I have ever found any satisfactory answers of my own. But every time I ask it, the question is refined. That is the best of what the old heads meant when they spoke of being “politically conscious”—as much a series of actions as a state of being, a constant questioning, questioning as ritual, questioning as exploration rather than the search for certainty.”