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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"If you demand my authorities for this and that, I must reply that only those who have never hunted up the authorities as I have believe that there is any authority who is not contradicted flatly by some other authority."
"When anyone becomes an authority, that is the end of him as far as development is concerned."
"Physical violence is the basis of authority."
"The people who most affected me were the ones who got right in there with me, who cried with me, but who also had a certain authority, who dared to say what needed saying."
"All children find chaos congenial. Any unruliness, even by nature, advances the child's program of subverting authority."
"Without authority there is no liberty. Freedom is doomed to destruction at every turn, unless there is a recognized right to freedom. And if there are rights, there is an authority to which we appeal for them."
"Creation implies authority in the sense of originator."
"The authority of government . . . can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it."
"from the beginning of my sojourn in this world there was a persistent vacancy in me where the industry ought to be. (Ought to was is better, perhaps, though the most of the authorities differ as to this."
"Adhere to the Truth rather than to the personality, and take to heart the Truth rather than the authority of another."
"I'm not really much of an actor, so when I started on 'The Daily Show', I was just trying to adopt the faux authority of a newsperson."
"Every legitimate authority should respect its extent and its limits."
"(On being in a position of leadership) Even if it's your dog, you've got authority over somebody. Start treating him better."
"The truth is, if we don't learn to submit to authority, we won't ever learn to submit to God."
"He who hears this name [God] from a Jew must inform the authorities, or else throw sow dung at him when he sees him and chase him away."
"One of the things I love about the Bible is that it's page-by-page proof that God is not just a "broad strokes" kind of creator; God is in the details. So much so that we're told nothing is hidden from him. He sees everything; he's the beginning and the end. There's no greater authority on your life than the one who gave you your life."
"Sometimes it's easier for people who are in authority to be authoritarian, because people know where you stand."
