No moral system can rest solely on authority.

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About A. J. Ayer

Sir Alfred Jules "Freddie" Ayer ( AIR; 29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989) was an English philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books Language, Truth, and Logic (1936) and The Problem of Knowledge (1956).

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What you need is sustained outrage. . . . There's far too much unthinking respect given to authority.

—Molly Ivins

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What causes adolescents to rebel is not the assertion of authority but the arbitrary use of power, with little explanation of the rules and no involvement [of the adolescent] in the decision making.

—Laurence Steinberg and Ann Levine

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Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.

—Thomas H. Huxley

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The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime.

—Emma Goldman

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I think we are constantly faced with the same decision. The decision to be blindly obedient to authority versus the decision to try and change things by fighting the powers that be is always, throughout history, the only decision.