Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, treating people with respect.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Authority is mainly a moral power; therefore, it must first call upon the conscience, that is, upon the duty that each person has to contribute willingly to the common good.
Authority must be respected and chosen wisely.
In order to be respected, authority has got to be respectable.
The individual makes a clear effort to define moral values and principles that have validity and application apart from the authority of the groups of persons holding them and apart from the individual's own identification with the group.
Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.
Authority is not a quality one person 'has', in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him.
Authority is by nothing so much strengthened and confirmed as by custom; for no man easily distrusts the things which he and all men have been always bred up to.
Every society and religion has rules, for both have moral laws. And the essence of morality consists, as in art, of drawing the line somewhere.
Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.
I don't tend to think in terms of a moral authority - be a good boy, do good things - more in terms of what feels right.