How often in life have we used what another person said to validate our expression because we didn’t feel we were enough? We do it with anyone we perceive to be an authority because they have chosen to walk further than we have on some path of experience or other.
For example, a school child may say “the teacher said so”, or likewise invoke parental authority to convince another child of something they want another to accept. As adults we may say that such-and-such a scientist or doctor said something about health, or business expert said something about investment, or sporting hero said something about the physics of baseballs spinning, or priest said something about our ‘souls’, etc, etc.
We can come up with as many examples as there are realms of activity in life. In each case we validate ourselves by using the words or ways of someone we perceive as more credible than ourselves.