Quotes on Authority And Responsibility

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority.

Those who enjoy responsibility usually get it; those who merely like exercising authority usually lose it.

Management means, in the last analysis, the substitution of thought for brawn and muscle, of knowledge for folkways and superstition, and of cooperation for force. It means the substitution of responsibility for obedience to rank, and of authority of performance for the authority of rank.

People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.

No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.

Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge -- fitter to bruise than polish.

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.

There is no power or authority without responsibility, and he who accepts the one cannot escape or evade the other.

Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not insure “good” government, it simply insures that it will work. But such governments are rare — most people want to run things, but want no part of the blame. This used to be called the “backseat driver” syndrome.