Authority

Quotes:

Beware of the man who says he knows.

Authentic Report of Sixteen Talks given in 1945 & 1946   p.56.

No authority knows; and he who knows cannot tell.

Commentaries on Living (Third Series) p. 214

You must know for yourself, directly, the truth of yourself and you cannot realize it through another, however great. There is no authority that can reveal it.

Authentic Report of Sixteen Talks given in 1945 & 1946   p.85

Authority is evil. Authority destroys, authority perverts, authority corrupts; and a man who follows authority is destroying himself, and destroying also that which he has placed in a position of authority.
The follower destroys the master, as the master destroys the follower.

Krishnamurti's Talks Benares - India 1949. p. 37

You have to be the master and the pupil. The moment you acknowledge another as a master and yourself as a pupil, you are denying truth. There is no master, no pupil, in the search for truth.

Krishnamurti's Talks Benares-India 1949 p.37

If you are very clear, if you are inwardly a light unto yourself, you will never follow anyone.

Krishnamurti's Talks Benares-India 1949 p.38

The wise wield no authority, those in authority are not wise.

Education and the Significance of Life p.38

Surely it is only the mind that is completely free from all conscious or unconscious authority, that is able to discover if there is any reality beyond the mere conceptions of the mind.

Talks by Krishnamurti in Europe 1956 p. 4

When the mind is very clear, it needs no authority; but when it is in misery, in turmoil, then it looks to another for help. And can another help? Or is there fundamentally no help at all, because the misery, the turmoil, the confusion, is created by oneself, and therefore must be cleared away by oneself? Surely, whatever another can do to help is but a temporary alleviation.

Talks by Krishnamurti in Europe 1956 p. 4

One has to be both the teacher and the pupil oneself. That requires energy, attention, watchfulness; but we are lazy, and it is much easier to be told what to do. The man who tells you what to do you set up as your authority, and you become his slave, therefore you are never free, you are never a light to yourself. So you invent the exploiter, and you become exploited.

Talks by Krishnamurti in Europe 1956 p. 49

I am not establishing myself as an authority to tell you what to do; because I do not believe in authority in spiritual matters. All authority is evil; and all sense of authority must cease, especially if we would find out what is God, what is truth, whether there is something beyond the mere measure of the mind.

Talks by Krishnamurti in Europe 1956 p. 69

Quotes taken from "Sayings of J. Krishnamurti" compiled by Susunaga Weeraperuma

If someone has helped you and you make of him your authority, then are you not preventing all further help, not only from him, but from everything about you? Does not help lie about you everywhere? Why look in only one direction? And when you are so enclosed so bound, can any help reach you? But when you are open, there is unending help in all things, from the song of a bird to the call of a human being, from the blade of grass to the immensity of the heavens. The poison and corruption begin when you look to one person as your authority, your guide, your saviour.  

Commentaries On Living Series II