Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master — obey!

Thou art my father, thou my author, thou my being gav'st me; whom should I obey but thee, whom follow?

who is your master? Whoever has authority over anything that you’re anxious to gain or avoid.

You must forsake your sinful ways, and be faithful servants. Obey your old master and your young master…if you disobey your earthly master, you offend your heavenly Master. You must obey God’s commandments.

Our master is anyone who has the power to implement or prevent the things that we want or don’t want. Whoever wants to be free, therefore, should wish for nothing or avoid nothing that is up to other people.

My duty is to obey orders.

He has served me too well;
By increasing my power he has stolen it away:
He is now my subject only so long as he pleases.
He who allows me to rule is in fact my master.

[I]f you gape after externals, you must of necessity ramble up and down in obedience to the will of your master. And who is the master? He who has the power over the things which you seek to gain or try to avoid.

You have the power to create. Your power is so strong that whatever you believe comes true. You create yourself, whatever you believe you are. You are the way you are because that is what you believe about yourself. Your whole reality, everything you believe, is your creation. You have the same power as any other human in the world. The main difference between you and someone else is how you apply your power, what you create with your power. You may be similar to others in many ways, but no one in the whole world lives her life the way you do. You have practiced all of your life to be what you are, and you do it so well that you master what you believe you are. You master your own personality, your own beliefs; you master every action, every reaction. You practice for years and years, and you achieve the level of mastery to be what you believe you are. Once we can see that all of us are masters, we can see what kind of mastery we have.

I make the whole world answer to my art.

The question isn't whether you have a good master or a bad master. It's to be your own master. That is the dignity of humanity.

I have been so long master
that I would be master still, or at least that none other
should be master of me.

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command

But what master, I wonder, do you yourself serve? Money? Women? Boys? The emperor or one of his subordinates? It has to be one of them, or you wouldn’t fret about such things.