Authority quotes
479 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside authority — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"The persecution of the innovator and protestant has always been inspired by fear on the part of constituted authority of having its infallibility questioned and its power undermined."
"I am a woman in the prime of my life, with certain powers and those powers severely limited by authorities whose faces I rarely see."
"Anyone who takes it upon himself, on his private authority, to break a bad law, thereby authorizes everyone else to break the good ones."
"No controlling legal authority"
"My counsel advises me that there is no controlling legal authority or case that says there was any violation of law whatsoever."
"As soon as we abandon our own reason, and are content to rely upon authority, there is no end to our troubles."
"Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found"
"I'm afraid Sadiq Khan is completely wrong. The European Court of Justice is the supreme legal authority in our country."
"Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such authority over us that we forget their earthly origins and accept them as unalterable givens."
"Science as such assuredly has no authority, for she can only say what is, not what is not."
"Commander, I always used to consider that you had a definite anti-authoritarian streak in you.” “Sir?” “It seems that you have managed to retain this even though you are authority.” “Sir?” “That’s practically zen."
"He sighed. It had come to this. He was a responsible authority, and people could use terms like "core values" at him with impunity."
"The custom of the Church has very great authority and ought to be jealously observed in all things."
"As things are brought back under Christ's rule and authority, they are restored to health, beauty, and freedom."
"The anger of those in authority is always weighty."
"When authority is backed up by an immediate physical compulsion, what we are dealing with is not authority proper (i.e. symbolic authority), but simply an agency of brute force."
"Obedience to authority saves many skins"
"Authority figures always attract trouble"
"When people do not dread authorities, then a greater dread descends."
"Custom and authority are no sure evidence of truth."
