"Everywhere, authority and tradition have to justify themselves in the face of questions"
- Gustav Heinemann
About this Quote
This quote by Gustav Heinemann talks to the concept that authority and also practice must not be blindly approved, but instead must be examined as well as evaluated. Heinemann is suggesting that authority and custom need to be held to a greater standard as well as needs to have the ability to give reason for their existence. Heinemann is promoting for a much more vital method to authority as well as practice, and also is suggesting that people ought to not just approve them without doubt. Heinemann is encouraging people to think seriously as well as to rock the boat. He is recommending that authority as well as practice ought to be able to provide proof and reason for their presence, which individuals should not simply accept them without question. Heinemann's quote is a pointer that authority and also tradition ought to not be thoughtlessly accepted, but rather ought to be questioned as well as evaluated.
"If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?"
"We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it"
