Merciful heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
read more

Merciful heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man,
Dressed in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured
His glassy essence--like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
would all themselves laugh mortal.

The weaker the man in authority... the stronger his insistence that all his privileges be acknowledged.

The weaker the man in authority... the stronger his insistence that all his privileges be acknowledged.

All authority must be out of a man's self, turned . . . either
upon an art, or upon read more

All authority must be out of a man's self, turned . . . either
upon an art, or upon a man.
- Francis Bacon,

Thus can the demigod Authority
Make us pay down for our offense by weight
The words of read more

Thus can the demigod Authority
Make us pay down for our offense by weight
The words of heaven; on whom it will, it will,
On whom it will not, so: yet still 'tis just.

Well, I must be patient; there is no fettering of authority.

Well, I must be patient; there is no fettering of authority.

For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of
death, I refuse not to die: read more

For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of
death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things
whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I
appeal unto Caesar.

Authority is quite degrading

Authority is quite degrading

I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.

I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.

A position of authority is neither necessary nor sufficient for the exercise of leadership.

A position of authority is neither necessary nor sufficient for the exercise of leadership.