Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.

The revenues of Cuban state-run companies are used exclusively for the benefit of the people, to whom they belong.

What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.

Democracy is our commitment. It is our great legacy, a legacy we simply cannot compromise. Democracy is in our DNA.

A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who’s been dead for 15 years.

Anger is wonderful. It keeps you going. I’m angry about bankers. About the government.

The government, whether state or central, is elected. That means we have a responsibility to elect the right kind of leaders.

Politically, the world is so confused right now – there’s so much suffering caused by various movements by various parties and people in power in government.

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

I do think that Magna Carta and international law are worth paying some attention to.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.

I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.

I believe the Republicans have never thought that democracy was anything but a tribal myth.

Force does not constitute right… obedience is due only to legitimate powers.

That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.

Democracy is a daring concept – a hope that we’ll be best governed if all of us participate in the act of government. It is meant to be a conversation, a place where the intelligence and local knowledge of the electorate sums together to arrive at actions that reflect the participation of the largest possible number of people.

There will be no whitewash in the White House.

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.

Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well.

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists – to protect them and to promote their common welfare – all else is lost.

In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power – including strong and principled diplomacy.

In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

The oppression of any people for opinion’s sake has rarely had any other effect than to fix those opinions deeper, and render them more important.

It is unnatural for a majority to rule, for a majority can seldom be organized and united for specific action, and a minority can.

Most people want security in this world, not liberty.

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.

We have to do more than just elect a new President if we truly want to change this country.

Sheep, like people, are ungovernable when hungry.

In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power.

It is good taste, and good taste alone, that possesses the power to sterilize and is always the first handicap to any creative functioning.

The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.

To acquire immunity to eloquence is of the utmost importance to the citizens of a democracy.

The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants.

In politics nothing is contemptible.

I’m glad I can’t vote.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable – a most sacred right – a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.

The government is us; we are the government, you and I.

This country is being managed to death, being public related to death.

There might be some serious fun in politics.

El Salvador is a democracy so it’s not surprising that there are many voices to be heard here. Yet in my conversations with Salvadorans… I have heard a single voice.

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.

I’m the president of the United States. I’m not the emperor of the United States.

Political necessities sometime turn out to be political mistakes.

Israel was not created in order to disappear – Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom.

Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse.

The most obvious characteristic of science is its application: the fact that, as a consequence of science, one has a power to do things. And the effect this power has had need hardly be mentioned. The whole industrial revolution would almost have been impossible without the development of science.

Africans require, want, the franchise on the basis of one man one vote. They want political independence.

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

The people who are absent are the ideal; those who are present seem to be quite commonplace.

The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.

Most members of Congress are politicians. They’re bores.

Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

The good of the people is the greatest law.

A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.