Tom G. Palmer Quotes

The exercise of authority is odious, and they who know how to govern, leave it in abeyance as much as possible.

The whole conversation of my work has to do with power and who has it.

Man is more disposed to domination than freedom; and a structure of dominion not only gladdens the eye of the master who rears and protects it, but even its servants are uplifted by the thought that they are members of a whole, which rises high above the life and strength of single generations.

Authority is not a quality one person 'has', in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him.

Our schools and colleges are turning out people who cannot feel fulfilled unless they are telling other people what to do.

Authority is something from which we are constantly subtracting, of which there remains always a residue, and which we attempt to make smaller and smaller.

And I particularly like the whole thing of being boss. Boss and employee... It's the slave quality that I find very alluring.

If there is a State, then there is domination, and in turn, there is slavery.

It is much safer to obey than to rule.

Every man needs slaves like he needs clean air. To rule is to breathe, is it not? And even the most disenfranchised get to breathe. The lowest on the social scale have their spouses or their children.

I always remember I'm the monkey and he's the organ-grinder.

They must be governed by and be subordinate to you.

Was there ever any domination which did not appear natural to those who possessed it?

Whether the institution to be defended is slavery, political absolutism, or the absolutism of the head of a family, we are always expected to judge of it from its best instances; and we are presented with pictures of loving exercise of authority on one side, loving submission to it on the other

Would you rather lead an army of slaves?

White men have too many chiefs.

Leadership and power vacuums will be filled.

Every organism, every human being, must conquer or serve.

No true and perfect human society can be conceived which is not governed by some supreme authority…. Do the sheep when they are all assembled together rule and guide the shepherd?

Those who can, must obey.

Control is the source of strategic power.

When I was captain, John Wright was making all the decisions and I followed like an obedient student.

Civilization is always in danger when those who have never learned to obey are given the right to command.

Through obedience learn to command.

Everyone may be called "comrade," but some comrades have the power of life and death over other comrades.