Stanley Milgram Quotes

But remember, this power of the people on top depends on the obedience of the people below. When people stop obeying, they have no power.

You know, you can't make the people do what you want them to do.

Those who fear men like laws.

Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.

Authority, as you usually think of it, is merely the excuse the strong use to make others conform to what they want.

You must obey the law, always, not only when they grab you by your special place.

I think I've always had a certain amount of skepticism of this whole 'shut up and smile' theory. I haven't ever swallowed that pill so easily, although I tried.

Influence is a very unpleasant subject and I deal with it in a maybe irresponsible way, which is to really ignore it. It would be a nightmare if we started to really think about it; it would tie our hands, it would tie everyone else's hands.

One of the main ways that leadership stays in power is by, in various ways, convincing people that they should just let those who are in government govern: 'Trust us. Trust me. Just let us take care of things. Stay out of it.' Your opinions don't really matter. You are isolated. You are insignificant.

Sometimes I think the world is divided into those who have a comfortable relationship with power and those who have a naturally adversarial relationship with power.

If you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.

Once a person insists on how you are to think he immediately begins to insist on how you are to behave.

The path of freedom is blocked much more by those who wish to obey than by those who wish to command.

The voice of authority speaks not for the one but for the many; authority figures have a strong and rapid effect on social norms in part because they change our assumptions about what other people think.

One of the guiding beliefs of our consuming age is that we are all free and independent individuals. That we can choose to do pretty much what we want, and if we can't, then it's bad. But at the same time, co-existing alongside this, there is a completely different, parallel universe where we all seem meekly to do what those in power tell us to do.

When one by force subdues men, they do not submit to him in heart. They submit because their strength is not adequate to resist.

Oppressed people are treacherous for the simple reason that treachery is both a means of survival and a way to curry favor with one's oppressor.

Social control is best managed through fear.

People are submissive to power, and few of them can be influenced by doctrines of righteousness.

When others are not doing what we would like them to or are threatening disobedience, we are most conscious of the need of controlling them and of the influences by which they are controlled.

They say you better listen to the voice of reason But they don't give you any choice 'cause they think that it's treason. So you had better do as you are told. You better listen to the radio.

Down through the centuries, this trick has been tried by various establishments throughout the world. They force people to get involved in the kind of examination that has only one aim and that is to stamp out dissent.

I call the discourse of power any discourse that engenders blame, hence guilt, in its recipient.

The concept of power we admire is power over someone else.

The most powerful men were those who most effectively used the power of adult competence to enforce childish agreements.