Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death. — James Madison
As long as the differences and diversities of mankind exist, democracy must allow for compromise, for accommodation, and for the recognition of differences. — Eugene McCarthy
Democracy is the most demanding of all forms of government in terms of the energy, imagination, and public spirit required of the individual. — George C. Marshall
The idea of democracy has been stripped of it moral imperatives and come to denote hollowness and hypocrisy. — Paul Wellstone
In nation after nation, democracy has taken the place of autocracy. — John Charles Polanyi
Democracy in itself does not define or guarantee a free society. History has told many stories of democratic societies that have degenerated into corruption, plunder, and tyranny. — Richard Ebeling
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. — Winston Churchill
A healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant and respectful. — Charles W. Pickering
Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates. — Gore Vidal
Democracy Is Hard Quotes
Democracy can hardly be expected to flourish in societies where political and economic power is being progressively concentrated and centralized. But the progress of technology has led and is still leading to just such a concentration and centralization of power. — Aldous Huxley
America is a democracy and has no Hitler, but I am afraid for her future; there are hard times ahead for the American people, troubles will be coming from within and without. America cannot smile away their Negro problem nor Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There are cosmic laws. — Albert Einstein
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. — H. L. Mencken
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Democracy is a small hard core of common agreement, surrounded by a rich variety of individual differences. — James Bryant Conant
The structure of the Swiss ruling class is rock-hard, and unchanged since the time of Napoleon. They sit on their mountains and lecture the world on democracy. It's an unbelievable show of self-satisfaction and arrogance. — Jean Ziegler
Chinks in America's egalitarian armor are not hard to find. Democracy is the fig leaf of elitism. — Florence King
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what They want, and deserve to get it good and hard. — H. L. Mencken
Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I'll be right there with you as a citizen - inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far. — Barack Obama
What you're seeing is a loss of confidence in institutions and their legitimacy because they are not seen as delivering. It's hardly a surprise that it's producing a degree of paralysis. Politics becomes very reactive and it's hard to deal with the bigger issues. — Jonathan Wood
Democracy is not a spectator sport. It is a difficult, hard, full-contact, participatory endeavor. — Cory Booker
Democratic Country Quotes
My mission is to lead the country out of a bad situation of corruption, depression and slavery. After I rid the country of these vices, I will then organize and supervise a general election of a genuinely democratic civilian government. — Idi Amin
The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. — Edward Bernays
We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country. — Al Gore
And I think to be in NATO for the countries of our region, it means more guarantees for us, it means more responsibility for our common security, but it means fulfillment of all standards of civilized world, like protection of human rights and democratic mechanisms. — Aleksander Kwasniewski
South Africa now needs skilled and educated people to say 'How do we manage and develop this democratic country?' — Thabo Mbeki
My critics always forget to mention that I was democratically elected, the others were not. Everyone in Uganda can challenge me, everyone can vote, the elections are free. Not many countries have achieved what we did. — Yoweri Museveni
The DRC is neither democratic, nor a republic. It is the second-largest country in Africa, bigger than Germany, France, and Spain combined and contains the Congo Rainforest, second only to the Amazon as the largest in the world. — Tim Marshall
We will not hesitate to take any decision that guarantees the country's security and stability in light of our authentic democratic approach. — Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Democracy is four wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. — Ambrose Bierce
Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God's children. — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Democratic Government Quotes
The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
The world is governed by institutions that are not democratic - the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO. — Jose Saramago
When I saw how the European Union was developing, it was very obvious what they had in mind was not democratic. In Britain, you vote for a government so the government has to listen to you, and if you don't like it you can change it. — Tony Benn
If when I die, I am still a dictator, I will certainly go down into the oblivion of all dictators. If, on the other hand, I succeed in establishing a truly stable foundation for a democratic government, I will live forever in every home in China. — Chiang Kai-shek
A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it. — Alexis de Tocqueville
For us, the government of Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro is not a government that allows democratic plurality. It does not allow for there to be a real opposition, and that is not democratic. — Nayib Bukele
People live with the illusion that we have a democratic system, but it's only the outward form of one. In reality we live in a plutocracy, a government of the rich. — Jose Saramago
Without commonly shared and widely entrenched moral values and obligations, neither the law, nor democratic government, nor even the market economy will function properly. — Vaclav Havel
Athens' biggest worry was the sheer recklessness of its own democratic government. A simple majority of the citizenry, urged on and incensed by clever demagogues, might capriciously send out military forces in unnecessary and exhausting adventures. — Thucydides
Most people would agree that the E.U. is too bureaucratic, not transparent or democratic enough and that it often interferes too much in matters that are best left to national governments. — Nicola Sturgeon
Democratic Society Quotes
A society with too few independent thinkers is vulnerable to control by disturbed and opportunistic leaders. A society which wants to create and maintain a free and democratic social system must create responsible independence of thought among its young. — John Dewey
Democratic societies can't force people. Therefore they have to control what they think. — Noam Chomsky
If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society. If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end. — Bayard Rustin
I say from time to time that the vote is precious. It's almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument that we have in a democratic society. And we must use it. — John Lewis
The readings of Soviet society are as many as the experts you speak to. In my view, it's a society that is overdue for measures of democratization and organization. — E. P. Thompson
I stand for simple justice, equal opportunity and human rights. The indispensable elements in a democratic society - and well worth fighting for. — Helen Suzman
One of the problems we're facing is, in my view, that there are no globalized, youth-led, grassroots social movements advocating for democratic culture across Muslim-majority societies. — Maajid Nawaz
Radical changes in world politics leave America with a heightened responsibility to be, for the world, an example of a genuinely free, democratic, just and humane society. — Pope John Paul II
To be human, at the most profound level, is to encounter honestly the inescapable circumstances that constrain us, yet muster the courage to struggle compassionately for our own unique individualities and for more democratic and free societies. — Cornel West
Since achieving their independence in 1992, the people of Croatia have built a democratic society based on the rule of law, respect for human rights, and a free market economy. — Elton Gallegly
True Democracy Quotes
True democracy or the swaraj of the masses can never come through untruthful and violent means. — Lal Bahadur Shastri
If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it. — Mark Twain
A Brother may not be a Friend, but a Friend will always be a Brother. — Benjamin Franklin
There cannot be true democracy unless women's voices are heard. There cannot be true democracy unless women are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives. — Hillary Clinton
Everybody counts in applying democracy. And there will never be a true democracy until every responsible and law-abiding adult in it, without regard to race, sex, color or creed has his or her own inalienable and unpurchasable voice in government. — Carrie Chapman Catt
Democracy is liberty - a liberty which does not infringe on the liberty nor encroach on the rights of others; a liberty which maintains strict discipline, and makes law its guarantee and the basis of its exercise. This alone is true liberty; this alone can produce true democracy. — Chiang Kai-shek
Women's fight for equal rights is essentially a humanist and peaceful struggle for true democracy, and a higher form of civilization. — Leyla Zana
People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing. — Walter Judd
It is not true that democracy will always safeguard freedom of conscience better than autocracy. Witness the most famous of all trials. Pilate was, from the standpoint of the Jews, certainly the representative of autocracy. Yet he tried to protect freedom. And he yielded to a democracy. — Joseph Schumpeter
It is not true that democracy will always safeguard freedom of conscience better than autocracy. Witness the most famous of all trials. Pilate was, from the standpoint of the Jews, certainly the representative of autocracy. Yet he tried to protect freedom. And he yielded to a democracy. — Joseph A. Schumpeter
Democratic Elections Quotes
We sincerely ask the Beijing authorities across the Strait to view the election result from a positive perspective, to accept the democratic decision of the Taiwanese people. — Chen Shui-bian
The next time they give you all that civic bullshit about voting, keep in mind that Hitler was elected in a full, free democratic election — George Carlin
The adoring crowds and overwhelming Democratic support in the 2008 election was based largely on joy at jettisoning Bush and the appeal of electing a superbly qualified charismatic African American leader. — Mary Frances Berry
100 political parties put together can never defeat the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, come 2015 presidential election. — Patience Jonathan
For Putin, the illegal overthrow of Ukraine's democratically elected and pro-Russian president —which he rightly labeled a coup— was the final straw. —
Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it. — P. J. O'Rourke
All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway. — Harry S. Truman
I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60% of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning. Today's vote on Brexit has no constitutional legitimacy. — Jeremy Corbyn
It is difficult to understand these people who democratically take part in elections and a referendum, but are then incapable of democratically accepting the will of the people. — Jose Saramago
To protest against injustice is the foundation of all our American democracy. — Thurgood Marshall
The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations. — Thomas Jefferson
Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. — Alexis de Tocqueville
The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money. — Alexis de Tocqueville
Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples. — Rigoberta Menchu
We have a wonderful history behind us. ... If you are unable to demonstrate to the world that you have this record, the world will say to you, 'You are not worthy to enjoy the blessings of democracy or anything else'. — Carter G. Woodson
No one should ever be locked away simply because they share the same race, ethnicity, or religion as a spy or terrorist. If that principle was not learned from the internment of Japanese Americans, then these are very dangerous times for our democracy. — Fred Korematsu
Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. — John Adams
Mr. Speaker, democracy works best when the American electorate is engaged and informed. — Melissa Bean
If Ukraine becomes a pro-American liberal democracy, and a member of NATO, and a member of the E.U., the Russians will consider that categorically unacceptable. — John Mearsheimer
Democratic Rights Quotes
Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future. — John F. Kennedy
A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess. — A. Philip Randolph
Republican is fine, if your a millionaire. Democrats is fair, if all you own is what you wear. Neither of them's really right, cause neither of them care. — Frank Zappa
I found that it was all right to have Martians saying things Democrats and Republicans could never say. — Rod Serling
We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better. — George F. Kennan
The message was wrong, I knew that now, but maybe the tactics were right. Perhaps we could use the methods of the Islamist groups to create a counter-Islamist movement, to do da’wah for the democratic culture? — Maajid Nawaz
I do believe the Democratic party has moved far to the right. I do believe that the party has a bunch of elephants running around in donkey clothes. — Al Sharpton
Our country, like every modern state, needs profound democratic reforms. It needs political and ideological pluralism, a mixed economy and protection of human rights and the opening up of society. — Andrei Sakharov
The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadows of states rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights — Hubert H. Humphrey
Neoconservatism had the philosophy that you go in with a supply-led approach to impose democratic values from the top down. Whereas Islamists and far-right organizations, for decades, have been building demand for their ideology on the grassroots. — Maajid Nawaz
Liberal Democracy Quotes
Democracy has two excesses to avoid: the spirit of inequality, which leads to an aristocracy, or to the government of a single individual; and the spirit of extreme equality, which conducts it to despotism, as the despotism of a single individual finishes by conquest. — Baron de Montesquieu
What a liberal really wants is to bring about change that will not in any way endanger his position. — Stokely Carmichael
Democracy now means the right of the people to vote for candidates approved by liberal judges. — David O. Sacks
Islam is not a race...Islam is simply a set of beliefs, and it is not 'Islamophobic' to say Islam is incompatible with liberal democracy. — Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The liberals in the Middle East never had a chance. This is not because the people of the region are radical; it is because if you are offered either bread and security or the concept of democracy, the choice is not difficult. — Tim Marshall
I think Russians today have a distorted picture of capitalism, liberal democracy and market economy. — Garry Kasparov
If one wishes to forgo the protection afforded by secular pluralism, then perhaps Western liberal democracies is not the right place for you to freely exercise your religion. — Gad Saad
Rather than us exporting liberal democracy to these countries instead we're importing Chinese style authoritarianism. — Konstantin Kisin
The individualist… recognizes the limitations of the powers of individual reason and consequently advocates freedom. — Friedrich August von Hayek
The humanities are the heartbeat of democracy, and we need to fight to keep them alive and well. — Martha C. Nussbaum
Democracy In America Quotes
My answer to the racial problem in America is to not deal with it at all. The founding fathers dealt with it when they made the Constitution. — James Meredith
We're not a democracy. It's a terrible misunderstandin g and a slander to the idea of democracy to call us that. In reality, we're a plutocracy: a government by the wealthy. — Ramsey Clark
Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith. — Alexis de Tocqueville
Democracies succeed or fail based on their journalism. America is strong because its journalism is strong. That is how democracies work. They're only as good as the quality of the information that the public possesses and that is where we come in. — Scott Pelley
America's corporate and political elites now form a regime of their own and they're privatizing democracy. All the benefits - the tax cuts, policies and rewards flow in one direction: up. — Bill Moyers
I believe in the strength of US institutions and democracy. Peaceful transition of power is at the core. Joe Biden won the election. — Ursula von der Leyen
In America, you break law. In Soviet Russia, law breaks you! In America, you watch Big Brother. In Soviet Russia, Big Brother watch you! — Yakov Smirnoff
My parents called themselves progressives. The agenda was a Soviet America...the slogan of the communist party in those days was peace, jobs, democracy. Sound familar? The communist party is the democratic Party. — David Horowitz
A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election. — Bill Vaughan
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife. — John Dewey
Persuade your fellow citizens it's a good idea and pass a law. That's what democracy is all about. It's not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society. — Antonin Scalia
Americans like to talk about (or be told about) Democracy but, when put to the test, usually find it to be an 'inconvenience.' We have opted instead for an authoritarian system disguised as a Democracy. We pay through the nose for an enormous joke-of-a-government, let it push us around, and then wonder how all those assholes got in there. — Frank Zappa
In 1956, I shall not go to the polls. I have not registered. I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no 'two evils' exist. There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say. — W. E. B. Du Bois
Under a socialist system every nation will be the supreme arbiter of its own destinies, national and international; will be forced into no alliance against its will, but will have its independence guaranteed and its freedom respected by the enlightened self-interest of the socialist democracy of the world. — James Connolly
The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. — Woodrow Wilson
Democracy may not be perfect, but at least I don't have to build a wall to keep my people in. — John F. Kennedy
If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be 'Citizens United.' I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Those who deplore our militants, who exhort patience in the name of a false peace, are in fact supporting segregation and exploitation. They would have social peace at the expense of social and racial justice. They are more concerned with easing racial tension than enforcing racial democracy. — A. Philip Randolph
The rich will strive to establish their dominion and enslave the rest. They
always did...they always will. They will have the same effect here as
elsewhere, if we do not, by the power of government, keep them in their proper
spheres. — Gouverneur Morris
Democracy has nothing to do with freedom. Democracy is a soft variant of communism, and rarely in the history of ideas has it been taken for anything else. — Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Democracy is a form of government that cannot long survive, for as soon as the people learn that they have a voice in the fiscal policies of the government, they will move to vote for themselves all the money in the treasury, and bankrupt the nation. — Unknown Author
The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting. — Charles Bukowski
I am a conservative Republican, but I believe in democracy and the separation of church and state. The conservative movement is founded on the simple tenet that people have the right to live life as they please as long as they don't hurt anyone else in the process. — Barry Goldwater
If one meets a powerful person--Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates--ask them five questions: "What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you? — Tony Benn
If we don't have an informed electorate we don't have a democracy. So I don't care how people get the information, as long as they get it. I'm just doing it my particular way and I feel lucky I can do it the way I want to do it. — Jim Lehrer
The US has not imposed democracy in Yemen, its people have. — Ali A. Saleh
When free discussion is denied, hardening of the arteries of democracy has set in, free institutions are but a lifeless form, and the death of the republic is at hand. — William Randolph Hearst
Sometimes it's better to have a benign dictator than a dumb democracy, to be honest. — Serj Tankian
Twitter’s product is the global town square. Elon is focused on protecting free speech, transparency, and democracy. Without Starlink, we would have had little sense of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the transparency of which has had magical powers on people at large. — Cathie Wood
Each generation has to stand up for democracy. It can't take anything for granted and may have to fight fundamental battles anew. — Margaret Thatcher
There are those out there who harbor an irrational fear of Islam. Islamophobes and Islamists have this much in common: both groups insist that Islam is a totalitarian political ideology at odds with liberal democracy, and hence both insist that the two will inevitably clash. One extreme calls for the Qur’an to be banned, the other calls to ban everything but the Qur’an. Together, they form the negative and the positive of a bomb fuse. — Maajid Nawaz
Being a contrarian is not about going against the crowd for the sake of it; it is about independent thinking and having a solid rationale for your beliefs. — Gautam Baid
It has been well over half a century and I'm glad to say we have taken the right path from authoritarianism to democracy and this is a road of no return. — Chen Shui-bian
Even if I were knocked down by one gunshot it wouldn't affect our democracy and I wasn't knocked down and I have great confidence in our democracy and in Taiwan and in the people of Taiwan. — Chen Shui-bian
Democracy is buying a big house you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you wish were dead. — Johnny Carson
Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos. — John Marshall
Criminality is always the result of poverty. Countries that experience such a fundamental change as we have - we had the apartheid regime and must now develop a multicultural democracy - must necessarily pass through a phase of high crime rates. — Jacob Zuma
How have relations with Iran and Belarus benefited Venezuela? We are interested in countries that have democracies, that respect human rights, that we have an affinity with. What affinity do we have with Iran? — Henrique Capriles Radonski
A constitutional democracy is in serious trouble if its citizenry does not have a certain degree of education and civic virtue. — Phillip E. Johnson
Indonesia is the world's third-largest democracy. And we also have the world's largest Muslim population. This demonstrates that democracy and Islam are not incompatible. Terrorism is not associated with any religion. — Joko Widodo
Nevertheless, what has happened with the passage of time is that we have moved forward to include Ukraine in the West to make Ukraine a Western bulwark on Russia’s border. Of course, this includes more than just NATO expansion. NATO expansion is the heart of the strategy, but it includes E.U. expansion as well, and it includes turning Ukraine into a pro-American liberal democracy, and, from a Russian perspective, this is an existential threat. — John Mearsheimer
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