Authority (from the Latin auctoritas) is a right conferred by recognized social position. Authority often refers to power vested in an individual or organization by the state. Authority can also refer to recognized expertise in an area of academic knowledge. An Authority (capitalized) refers to a governing body upon which certain authority (with lower case a) is vested.
Famous quotes containing the word authority:
“For words are wise men’s counters, they do but reckon by them; but they are the money of fools, that value them by the authority of an Aristotle, a Cicero, or a Thomas, or any other doctor whatsoever, if but a man.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“At a distance, we cannot conceive of the authority of a despot who knows all his subjects on sight.”
—Stendhal [Marie Henri Beyle] (1783–1842)
“Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself.”
—Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924)