Democracy Quotes

“It would be hard to ignore the absence of democracy in any Arab nation.”

“In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself.”

“In politics, you have to compromise from morning to evening. Democracy is the art of compromise.”

“I draw a very clear distinction between populism and democracy.”

“But, you know, I'm sorry, I think democracy requires participation. I mean, I don't want to proselytize but I do feel some sort of duty to participate in the process in some way other than just blindly getting behind a political party.”

“Our democracy is but a name. We vote? What does that mean? It means we choose between two bodies of real, though not avowed, autocrats. We choose between Tweedledum and Tweedledee...”

“In some ways, political decency is a sign of a healthy democracy, but in other ways, it is the cause of it.”

“I think Hong Kong people's struggle for democracy is similar to David versus Goliath. But this struggle is not just about me.”

“The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness which the ambitious call, and the ignorant believe to be liberty.”

“The American public should simply accept no distractions. In our democracy, it is our duty to hold our elected leaders accountable. We do it at the ballot box.”

“The freedom to criticize judges and other public officials is necessary to a vibrant democracy. The problem comes when healthy criticism is replaced with more destructive intimidation and sanctions.”

“We don't have to accept an economy that doesn't work just because some people have got rich in the status quo. That is not democracy.”

“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them.”

“Our country, though it is not a theocracy, you will not understand democracy if you don't understand the biblical foundations and traditions and foundation of Christianity and of our faith.”

“What we say is that democracy means that you have the right to vote without intimidation and undue burdens. But if you stand in line for six hours, technically, today there is no document, no standard, no law that says that that's wrong.”

“The humanitarian philosophies that have been developed (sometimes under some religious banner and invariably in the face of religious opposition) are human inventions, as the name implies - and our species deserves the credit. I am a devout atheist - nothing else makes any sense to me and I must admit to being bewildered by those, who in the face of what appears so obvious, still believe in a mystical creator. However I can see that the promise of infinite immortality is a more palatable proposition than the absolute certainty of finite mortality which those of us who are subject to free thought (as opposed to free will) have to look forward to and many may not have the strength of character to accept it.Thus I am a supporter of Amnesty International, a humanist and an atheist. I believe in a secular, democratic society in which women and men have total equality, and individuals can pursue their lives as they wish, free of constraints - religious or otherwise. I feel that the difficult ethical and social problems which invariably arise must be solved, as best they can, by discussion and am opposed to the crude simplistic application of dogmatic rules invented in past millennia and ascribed to a plethora of mystical creators - or the latest invention; a single creator masquerading under a plethora of pseudonyms. Organisations which seek political influence by co-ordinated effort disturb me and thus I believe religious and related pressure groups which operate in this way are acting antidemocratically and should play no part in politics. I also have problems with those who preach racist and related ideologies which seem almost indistinguishable from nationalism, patriotism and religious conviction.”

“When a political advocacy network hires a former CIA analyst and starts tailing save-our-parks activists, you know there's something terribly dangerous happening to our democracy.”

“American democracy has two faces.”

“Politics is a dirty game. We have our rules in boxing. In politics, no rules. Especially a young democracy like Ukraine. It's more like MMA.”

“The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.”