democracy quotes

The objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of democracy – the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities – which allows a people to choose their own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.

What I worry about would be that you essentially have two chambers, the House and the Senate, but you have simply, majoritarian, absolute power on either side. And that’s just not what the founders intended.

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.

A man without a vote is man without protection.

We will not be intimidated or pushed off the world stage by people who do not like what we stand for, and that is, freedom, democracy and the fight against disease, poverty and terrorism.

Democracy is the road to socialism.

I think our democracy has it exactly right: two terms, eight years. It’s enough. Because it’s important to have one foot in reality when you have access to this kind of power.

The very design of neoliberal principles is a direct attack on democracy.

In a democracy, allegations will never improve situations. So, I’m against allegations, but I always welcome criticism.

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.

Democracy don’t rule the world, You’d better get that in your head; This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that’s better left unsaid.

I’ve used the prestige and influence of having been a president of the United States as effectively as possible. And secondly, I’ve still been able to carry out my commitments to peace and human rights and environmental quality and freedom and democracy and so forth.

The voting booth joint is a great leveler; the whole neighborhood – rich, poor, old, young, decrepit and spunky – they all turn out in one day.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.

2018 is an incredibly important election year, not just with the important midterms here in the U.S., but you just had the Mexican elections. You have Brazil. You have India coming up at the beginning of next year. There’s an assortment of elections around the EU. We’re very serious about this. We know that we need to get this right.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

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

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

Reading and writing, like everything else, improve with practice. And, of course, if there are no young readers and writers, there will shortly be no older ones. Literacy will be dead, and democracy – which many believe goes hand in hand with it – will be dead as well.

Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who’ll get the blame.

I don’t vote. I don’t do no voting.

We’ve become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy. I think that’s been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I’ve ever seen in my life.

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

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.

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.

A whole people with the ballot in their hands possess the most conclusive and unlimited power ever entrusted to humanity.

There is too much government today. We’ve got to remember the government should be by the people, of the people, and for the people.

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.

I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy – but that could change.

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

The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.

Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

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

I’m glad I can’t vote.

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.

We can’t equate democracy with Christianity because the largest democracy on earth is India, which is primarily Hindu. The third largest democracy is Indonesia, which is Islamic. Democracy and freedom are not dependent on Christian beliefs.

For the record, our democracy is revered around the world. And free elections are the best way on Earth to choose our leaders. This is how we elected John F. Kennedy; Ronald Reagan; two George Bushes; Bill Clinton; and Barack Obama. It has worked for decades.

Elections should be held on April 16th- the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders.

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, setting us back in Latin America. That’s why we restored diplomatic relations, opened the door to travel and commerce, and positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people.

Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.

We have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three words, ‚We, the people.‘

Democracy is not static. It is a living force. Every new idea, every new invention offers opportunity for both good and evil.

Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.

I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we – we own this country. We – we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.

I think it’s important to vote.

The key is to vote because we need a vote to put the people in power that we want to represent us.

I think organized labor is a necessary part of democracy. Organized labor is the only way to have fair distribution of wealth.

Economic freedom cannot be sacrificed if political freedom is to be preserved.

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.

Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of 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 passes into despotism.