OBEDIENCE QUOTES III

quotations about obedience

He who obeys with modesty appears worthy of being some day a commander.

CICERO

De Legibus

Tags: Cicero


Obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to. Some system of authority is a requirement of all communal living, and it is only the man dwelling in isolation who is not forced to respond, through defiance or submission, to the commands of others.

STANLEY MILGRAM

"Behavioral Study of Obedience", The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1963

Tags: Stanley Milgram


The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum--even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.

NOAM CHOMSKY

The Common Good

Tags: Noam Chomsky


Obedience to a person, institution or power ... is submission; it implies the abdication of my autonomy and the acceptance of a foreign will of judgment in place of my own.

ERICH FROMM

On Disobedience

Tags: Erich Fromm


When the interests of mankind are at stake, they will obey with joy the man whom they believe to be wiser than themselves.

XENOPHON

Cyropaedia

Tags: Xenophon


The fear of some divine and supreme powers keeps men in obedience.

ROBERT BURTON

The Anatomy of Melancholy

Tags: Robert Burton


Wicked men obey for fear, but the good for love.

ARISTOTLE

attributed, Day's Collacon

Tags: Aristotle


'Tis the same, with common natures,
Use 'em kindly, they rebel,
But, be rough as nutmeg graters,
And the rogues obey you well.

AARON HILL

verses written on a window in a journey to Scotland


Obedience, which is a proof of love, must be cheerful, for love obeyeth with delight.

J. R. DOOLITTLE

attributed, Day's Collacon


My business is to obey when the Lord commands, and this is the duty of all mankind.

BRIGHAM YOUNG

Journal of Discourses

Tags: Brigham Young


One very common error misleads the opinion of mankind, that universally, authority is pleasant, submission painful. In the general course of human affairs, the very reverse of this is nearer to the truth; command is anxiety; obedience is ease.

WILLIAM PALEY

Natural Theology: Or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity


Obedience is the pathway to holiness.

JERRY BRIDGES

Holiness Day by Day