Authority Challenge Quotes

The main targets of attack by the peasants are the local tyrants, the evil gentry and the lawless landlords, but in passing they also hit out against patriarchal ideas and institutions, against the corrupt officials in the cities and against bad practices and customs in the rural areas. In force and momentum the attack is tempestuous; those who bow before it survive and those who resist perish. As a result, the privileges which the feudal landlords enjoyed for thousands of years are being shattered to pieces. Every bit of the dignity and prestige built up by the landlords is being swept into the dust.

An anarchist is like an undercover agent who plays the game of Reason in order to undercut the authority of Reason (Truth, Honesty, Justice and so on).

Simon Bolivar belongs to the band of modern men whose equals are to be found only when we reach back to republican times of Greece and Rome... In the midst of people who had no more tradition than the respect for an authority sanctioned by the acquiescence of three centuries of ignorance, superstition, and fanaticism, nor any political dogma but submission to an order of things supported by might and force, Bolivar succeeded in defying that power

The only accusation of Gillian Triggs with the ring of truth is that she has lost the confidence of the government - but then, so too has Tony Abbott.

The best definition of journalism I have heard; to challenge authority - all authority - especially so when governments and politicians take us to war, when they have decided that they will kill and others will die.

No tempest or conflagration, however great, is harder to quell than mob carried away by the novelty of power.

Gandhi, when he was on the salt march, had everyone singing the song of Rabindranath Tagore, which goes, 'Walk alone, walk alone...' Now there's some paradox in that, with a million people on the march! But he was cultivating the thought that each individual has dignity, and the dignity consists partly in the willingness to stand up to authority.

Policemen so cherish their status as keepers of the peace and protectors of the public that they have occasionally been known to beat to death those citizens or groups who question that status.

Encyclopedias are finished. All encyclopedias combined, including the redoubtable Britannica, have already been surpassed by the exercise in groupthink known as Wikipedia.

If it was up to me, there wouldn't be no such thing as the establishment.

The President cannot be disturbed. [The reporter quickly replied, "Well when he wakes up, just tell him he isn't President.

Serbia has shown enough patience, but it has also sent a clear and strong message that the law must be respected and that no one is stronger than the state.

I'm a serial deconstructor of my own authority in certain areas.

What's the trick to writing a good bad guy? Well, for me, it's always been the idea that you pit yourself against authority, you know? I think that's what it takes - and then you can write villainous characters.

It is the government that should ask me for a pardon.

Science ... looks skeptically at all claims to knowledge, old and new. It teaches not blind obedience to those in authority but to vigorous debate, and in many respects that's the secret of its success.

I'm convinced that a controlled disrespect for authority is essential to a scientist. All the good experimental physicists I have known have had an intense curiosity that no Keep Out sign could mute. Physicists do, of course, show a healthy respect for High Voltage, Radiation, and Liquid Hydrogen signs. They are not reckless. I can think of only six who have been killed on the job.

If American citizens don’t trust their government, why should friendly foreigners? If American citizens challenge the authority of American government, why shouldn’t unfriendly governments?

They felt resentment over my high rank Resolved to see me overthrown at once For how, they said, can aliens like these Be privileged over Moslem folk And act like kings legitimate?

Perhaps religious conscience upsets the designs of those who feel that the highest wisdom and authority comes from government.

I believe that there's a way to question authority with manners, with dignity. There's no reason to be rude about it.

Rap always has that undertone of rebellion and I just wanted to explore it. I felt there was a rebel within me who was against everything - the education system and teachers, and even my parents.

The press is new and certainly a powerful agent in human affairs. It will change societies; but it is difficult to conceive how, by rendering men indocile and presumptuous, it can change them for the better.... It has inspired ignorance with presumption, so that those who cannot be governed by reason are no longer awed by authority.

The strong man wants to be allowed to DO; the little man wants to stop him.

You are no Parliament. You are no Parliament! .... It is not fit that you sit here any longer! You should now give place to better men.