Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker questions whether a ruler demands submission to his own will rather than divine authority, noting the ruler may not distinguish between the two.
In plain terms
He wants you to obey him, not a god, but might not see the difference.
What can you take from it?
Authority figures may confuse personal power with higher mandate.

Where it applies

  • political critique
  • religious leadership
  • rebellion

Putting it to work

  • questioning leadership motives
  • analyzing power structures

Questions to consider

  • Who do you obey and why?
  • How do you tell self from higher call?

Another view

It assumes the ruler lacks self-awareness about his own ambitions.

More from Orson Scott Card

  1. Why bother coming up with more excuses when she knew the truth : that god had answered her prayer, not with the thing she asked for, but rather the thing she w…

    Permalink to quote #854
  2. Stop talking and kiss her, Moses With all due respect, Jethro, that's not for you to decide Stop talking and kiss me Now you, you get a vote

    Permalink to quote #856
  3. The man who has an intelligent child is doomed to spend his life justifying every decision he makes

    Permalink to quote #853

Related quotes

  1. I have as much authority as the Pope. I just don't have as many people who believe it.

    George CarlinGeorge Carlin quote #91
  2. Kings are not born: they are made by universal hallucination.

    George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw quote #133
  3. Hitler would go as white as a sheet and tightly clench his jaws, while his eyes would dilate. Everyone in his entourage would get panicky because these fits we…

    Theodor MorellTheodor Morell quote #1