Quotes about democracy are expressions of thoughts and ideas about the political system that gives power to the people. These quotes highlight the importance of participation, equality, and freedom in a democratic society. They often emphasize the notion that democracy is a necessary foundation for a just and fair society. Such quotes can inspire individuals to value and protect the democratic principles that allow for the peaceful coexistence and collective decision-making of a nation.
Democracy is the form of government in which the free are rulers. — Aristotle
Democracy is "government of, by and for the people". — Abraham Lincoln
Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who'll get the blame. — Bertrand Russell
Democracy is not a form of government, but a form of social organisation. — B. R. Ambedkar
Democracy has the power to quickly spread. But its erosion can happen just as fast. Democracy is freedom. We need to stand up for it. — Ursula von der Leyen
The essence of a democracy is a free electorate. — Arlen Specter
Democracy is four wolves and a sheep voting on dinner. — Robert A. Heinlein
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
Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. — George Bernard Shaw
Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers. — Aristotle
Democracy is not freedom. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to eat for lunch. — Unknown Author
Democracy is not just the right to vote, it is the right to live in dignity. — Naomi Klein
Democracy is four wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. — Ambrose Bierce
Television has made dictatorship impossible but democracy unbearable. — Shimon Peres
Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife. — John Dewey
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage. — H. L. Mencken
It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting. — Tom Stoppard
There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship. — Ralph Nader
Democracies die behind closed doors. — Damon Keith
Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith. — Alexis de Tocqueville
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Pro Democracy Quotes
That rifle hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or labourer's cottage is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there. — George Orwell
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
The Chinese leadership hoped that the world would soon forget the Tiananmen Square massacre. Our job in Congress is to ensure that we never forget those who lost their lives in Tiananmen Square that day or the pro-democracy cause for which they fought. — Tom Lantos
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.
The anti-war movement should turn itself into a pro-democracy movement — Naomi Klein
Anti-democracy...is a virus that exists, and pro-democracy is the antibody to that virus, and I think we have to become vigilant, and we have to stay on top of the issues of democracy and freedom. — Harry Belafonte
Since pacifists have more freedom of action in countries where traces of democracy survive, pacifism can act more effectively against democracy than for it. Objectively the pacifist is pro-Nazi. — George Orwell
The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. Not for nothing was the revolver called an "equalizer." — Edward Abbey
What's interesting about Navalny is that he has run a - not so much a pro-democracy campaign in Russia, but an anti-corruption campaign. He seems to have access to quite a lot of information about very senior Russians, including Putin. — Anne Applebaum
My argument has always been that this is not an anti-Bush film, it's a pro-democracy film. And if Bush comes out on the wrong side of democracy, that's his problem. — John Sayles
This is the whole ball game, and this is what I really want to say. I'm proud that journalists are standing up, individually, speaking up in ways that we rarely see. They're not anti-Trump. They're pro-democracy. — Brian Stelter
Founding Fathers Democracy Quotes
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. — Thomas Jefferson
A Brother may not be a Friend, but a Friend will always be a Brother. — Benjamin Franklin
Nil desperandum, -- Never Despair. That is a motto for you and me. All are not dead; and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will rekindle it. — Samuel Adams
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
Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. — John Adams
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
A candle loses nothing when it lights another candle. — Thomas Jefferson
Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos. — John Marshall
Genius is nothing but a greater aptitude for patience. — Benjamin Franklin
Death Of Democracy Quotes
The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. — Robert Maynard Hutchins
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
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
Hatred is corrosive of a person's wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation's spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society's tolerance and humanity, and block a nation's progress to freedom and democracy. — Liu Xiaobo
With us it is not a question of Bolshevism or democracy, but of life or death. A decision in favor of a Soviet could not be opposed by the Young Turks. — Djemal Pasha
The forces of moderation and democracy must, and will, prevail against extremism and dictatorship. I will not be intimidated... Despite threats of death, I will not acquiesce to tyranny, but rather lead the fight against it. — Benazir Bhutto
In the democracy of the dead all men at last are equal. There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the grave. — John James Ingalls
And a democracy, I suppose, comes into being when the poor, winning the victory, put to death some of the other party, drive out others, and grant the rest of the citizens an equal share in both citizenship and offices. — Plato
With attention deficit democracy, I am trying to wake up people to how the combination of mass ignorance, fear mongering by the government, and lying politicians is putting our entire system of government to a death spiral. — James Bovard
When you read about the end of the Soviet Union, it's always about the "death of socialism." They never say "the death of democracy." But it makes about the same sense. — Noam Chomsky
Anti Democracy Quotes
The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders...tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. — Hermann Goring
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule—and both commonly succeed, and are right. — H. L. Mencken
The anti-slavery party contend that slavery is wrong in itself, and the Government is a consolidated national democracy. We of the South contend that slavery is right, and that this is a confederate Republic of sovereign States. — Laurence M. Keitt
Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely. — Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order. — John Lindsay
The growing tide of anti-Semitism shocks the conscious of everyone who values freedom, and the ugly, hateful acts particularly stain the character of democracies where liberty and religious freedom are supposed to be respected. — Mike Ferguson
Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood. — Mahatma Gandhi
Acts of terror have never brought down liberal democracies. Acts of parliament have closed a few. — William Eldridge Odom
Acts of anti-Semitism in countries throughout the world, including some of the world's strongest democracies, have increased significantly in frequency and scope over the last several years. — Tim Holden
Courts are an aristocratic institution in a democracy. That's the dilemma for an institution that has the function of reviewing the will of the people. We're bound to be "anti-majoritarian." — Rose Bird
Famous Democracy Quotes
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
Slowly but surely, we are acquiring that famous culture of democracy, which is our objective. — Paul Biya
Celebrity distorts democracy by giving the rich, beautiful, and famous more authority than they deserve. — Maureen Dowd
I never wanted to do biography just to tell the life of a famous man. I always wanted to use the life of a man to examine political power, because democracy shapes our lives. — Robert Caro
He [Louis Brandais] did believe in the states famously as laboratories of democracy, to use that resonant phrase that Tea Party and conservative libertarians have embraced today because he loves state experimentation. — Jeffrey Rosen
Democracy Freedom Quotes
Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters. — Abraham Lincoln
People always have been and they always will be stupid victims of deceit and self-deception in politics. — Vladimir Lenin
Democracy is a con game. It’s a word invented to placate people to make them accept a given institution. All institutions sing, ‘We are free.’ The minute you hear ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’, watch out… because in a truly free nation, no one has to tell you you’re free. — Jacque Fresco
Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy. — Walter Cronkite
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
Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Of the people, by the people, for the people. — Sun Yat-sen
We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. — Alexander Hamilton
Without a strong educational system — free of government control — democracy is crippled. Knowledge is not only the key to power. It is the citadel of human freedom. — Harry S. Truman
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
American Democracy Quotes
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
Mr. Speaker, democracy works best when the American electorate is engaged and informed. — Melissa Bean
Find the enemy that wants to end this experiment (in American democracy) and kill every one of them until they're so sick of the killing that they leave us and our freedoms intact. — James Mattis
The establishment of democracy on the American continent was scarcely as radical a break with the past as was the necessity, which Americans faced, of broadening this concept to include black men. — James Baldwin
We need a very progressive and strong agenda to bring people into the political process because I worry very much about the future of the American democracy where so many people are giving up. — Bernie Sanders
Social Democracy Quotes
We, in Africa, have no more need of being 'converted' to socialism than we have of being 'taught' democracy. Both are rooted in our past -- in the traditional society which produced us. — Julius Nyerere
Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude. — Alexis de Tocqueville
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
Community connectedness is not just about warm fuzzy tales of civic triumph. In measurable and well-documented ways, social capital makes an enormous difference in our lives...Social capital makes us smarter, healthier, safer, richer, and better able to govern a just and stable democracy. — Robert D. Putnam
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
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.
Monetary policy is about the redistribution of wealth and income from the masses to the classes. — Russell Napier
We’ll get spades in the ground to make sure people are not facing unaffordable energy bills and we will also make sure that we are building hospitals, schools, roads and broadband. — Liz Truss
I don’t object to some people being richer… I object to gain of wealth through political connections rather than earning it by merit. — Edward O. Thorp
This is taking place inside Europe. This is taking place inside a once great nation. The nation that invented democracy. We are on the edge of total social breakdown. And frankly, as far as the euro is concerned and the austerity measures are concerned, the medicine is killing the patient. — Nigel Farage
Voting And Democracy Quotes
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. — Benjamin Franklin
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
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
Democracy means far more than the right to vote every five years. It means the right to participate in every aspect of national and community life. The people must believe that they can take part. — Michael Manley
Democracy is never a thing done. Democracy is always something that a nation must be doing. — Archibald MacLeish
Democracy thus becomes a mass delusion of people attempting to override the rules of economics by voting themselves a free lunch and being manipulated into violent tantrums against scapegoats whenever the bill for the free lunch arrives via inflation and economic recessions. — Saifedean Ammous
What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it... which for the majority translates as 'Bread and Circuses'. — Robert A. Heinlein
Voting is actually an exercise in futility and only used to convey false credibility to a controlled political system totally divorced from the people — Ron Holland
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
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
True Democracy Quotes
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
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
True Democracy makes no enquiry about the color of the skin, or the place of nativity. Wherever it sees a man, it recognizes a being endowed by his Creator with original inalienable rights — Salmon P. Chase
The true slogan of a true democracy is not `Let the Government do it' but rather, 'let's do it ourselves'.... This is the spirit of a people dedicated to helping themselves and one another. — Dwight D. Eisenhower
Even if we accept, as the basic tenet of true democracy, that one moron is equal to one genius, is it necessary to go a further step and hold that two morons are better than one genius? — Leo Szilard
The true victory is the victory for democracy and pluralism. — Hosni Mubarak
In the strict sense of the term, a true democracy has never existed, and never will exist. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
People – and I think this is particularly true of Americans – don’t like to be passive. They like to seize control. — Martha C. Nussbaum
It is true you cannot eat freedom and you cannot power machinery with democracy. But then neither can political prisoners turn on the light in the cells of a dictatorship. — Corazon Aquino
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
The process of democracy is one of change. Our laws are not frozen into immutable form, they are constantly in the process of revision in response to the needs of a changing society. — Thurgood Marshall
You know better than I that in a Republic talent is always suspect. A man attains an elevated position only when his mediocrity prevents him from being a threat to others. And for this reason a democracy is never governed by the most competent, but rather by those whose insignificance will not jeopardize anyone else's self-esteem. — Niccolo Machiavelli
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. — John Adams
Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. — Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure. — Thurgood Marshall
I believe profoundly in the possibilities of democracy, but democracy needs to be emancipated from capitalism. As long as we inhabit a capitalist democracy, a future of racial equality, gender equality, economic equality will elude us. — Angela Davis
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
A democracy is no more than an aristocracy of orators. The people are so readily moved by demagogues that control must be exercised by the government over speech and press. — Thomas Hobbes
In Conclusion
These quotes often discuss the significance of elections, where citizens have the opportunity to choose their leaders and have a say in the governance of their country. They underline the notion that democracy is a process that constantly requires the active involvement and engagement of its citizens. Many quotes also stress the importance of protecting the rights of minorities and ensuring that everyone's voices are heard and valued in a democratic society. They remind us that democracy is not only a political system but also a set of values and principles that should be cherished and upheld.
Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of democracy quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about democracy to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of democracy quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.
