1. sanction - Noun
2. sanction - Verb
Solemn or ceremonious ratification; an official act of a superior by which he ratifies and gives validity to the act of some other person or body; establishment or furtherance of anything by giving authority to it; confirmation; approbation.
Anything done or said to enforce the will, law, or authority of another; as, legal sanctions.
To give sanction to; to ratify; to confirm; to approve.
Source: Webster's dictionaryHappiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment. George Santayana
I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction. - Anthem. Ayn Rand
Evil requires the sanction of the victim. Ayn Rand
Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character. George Santayana
To say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not to deny the obvious fact that it supplies a sanction. Joseph Addison
Death is the sanction of everything the story-teller can tell. He has borrowed his authority from death. Walter Benjamin