quotations about obedience
He who obeys with modesty appears worthy of being some day a commander.
CICERO
De Legibus
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
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
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
Wicked men obey for fear, but the good for love.
ARISTOTLE
attributed, Day's Collacon
Obedience, which is a proof of love, must be cheerful, for love obeyeth with delight.
J. R. DOOLITTLE
attributed, Day's Collacon
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
The fear of some divine and supreme powers keeps men in obedience.
ROBERT BURTON
The Anatomy of Melancholy
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
'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
My business is to obey when the Lord commands, and this is the duty of all mankind.
BRIGHAM YOUNG
Journal of Discourses
Obedience is the pathway to holiness.
JERRY BRIDGES
Holiness Day by Day