Authority
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.
Read more about Authority.
Famous quotes containing the word authority:
“No man has any natural authority over his fellow men.”
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
“Death is the sanction of everything the story-teller can tell. He has borrowed his authority from death.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“And truly Philosophy is but sophisticated poetry. Whence do those ancient writers derive all their authority but from the poets?”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)