"Ambition is often—and often purposefully—misidentified with the desire for power, and damned with faint praise, and denigrated, and punished. And ambition is sometimes exactly that wish for undue influence on others. But there is a crucial difference between sometimes and always. Authority is not mere power, and it is extremely unhelpful, even dangerous, to confuse the two. When people exert power over others, they compel them, forcefully. They apply the threat of privation or punishment so their subordinates have little choice but to act in a manner contrary to their personal needs, desires, and values. When people wield authority, by contrast, they do so because of their competence—a competence that is spontaneously recognized and appreciated by others, and generally followed willingly, with a certain relief, and with the sense that justice is being served. […]"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Beyond_Order
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Beyond Order
49 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Beyond Order →
Related Quotes
"Much that is great starts small, ignorant, and useless. […] But today’s beginner is tomorrow’s master."
"It has taken since time immemorial for us to organize ourselves, biologically and socially, into the functional hiera…"
"[T]he great genie, the granter of wishes—God, in a microcosm—is archetypally trapped in the tiny confines of a lamp a…"
"You do not choose what interests you. It chooses you. Something manifests itself out of the darkness as compelling, a…"
"Who dares wins—if he does not perish. {Quoting the motto of the British Special Air Service.} And who wins also makes…"
"Those who break the rules ethically are those who have mastered them first and disciplined themselves to understand t…"
"Our own personal motivations begin in hidden form, and remain that way, because we do not want to know what we are up…"
"That is the nature of our ancestors: immensely courageous hunters, defenders, shepherds, voyagers, inventors, warrior…"
"There is a high goal, a mountain peak, a star that shines in the darkness, beckoning above the horizon. Its mere exis…"
"I had to force myself to concentrate, and to breathe, and to keep from saying and meaning “to hell with it” during th…"