Authority refers to the power to enforce rules or give orders. It commonly describes a person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject, government-owned agency which runs a revenue-generating activity, and (used in singular or plural form) Persons in command; specifically, government, which gives the term a broader and more practical sense than a single short definition would suggest. Taken together, these meanings present Authority as a flexible theme rather than a narrowly technical label, covering the central idea people usually mean when they use the word while still leaving room for closely related senses that appear in real language. Authority therefore works well as a quotation category because it can hold direct statements about the subject, figurative uses that borrow its meaning, and broader reflections that stay anchored to the same central idea. Authority is not limited to a single rigid definition in ordinary language, and that wider range is part of what makes the category useful for grouping related material without losing the term's main sense. When used as a theme, Authority can support serious, reflective, argumentative, or even playful quotations, provided the wording still connects back to the core idea described by the source definitions.
