Democracy Quotes - Page 12

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

  Winston Churchill

  Funny, Trust, Witty

  Winston S. Churchill (2013). “Churchill By Himself”, p.1079, RosettaBooks

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• It seems to rise again when the crisis times come, and this is a time of most severe crisis, as we all know, not just for the history of the United States and the survival indeed of our democracy, but for the future peace of the world. And never before probably has the need for interfaith commitment been nearly as great as it is at this very moment.

  Walter Cronkite

  God, Time, Future

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• You cannot have democratic accountability in anything bigger than a nation state.

  Vaclav Klaus

  Accountability, States, Bigger

  "Czech warns Europe of 'dream world' woes". www.washingtontimes.com. November 24, 2003.

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• If there were a people consisting of gods, they would be governed democratically. So perfect a government is not suitable to men.

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Men, People, Perfect

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• Democracy will itself accomplish the salutary universal change from delusive to real, and make a new blessed world of us by and by.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Real, Blessed, World

  Thomas Carlyle (1870). “Latter-day Pamphlets”, p.18, London : Chapman and Hall

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• I cannot help concurring with the opinion that an absolute democracy, no more than absolute monarchy, is to be reckoned among the legitimate forms of government.

  Edmund Burke

  Government, Helping, Opinion

  Edmund Burke (1963). “Edmund Burke: Selected Writings and Speeches”, p.583, Transaction Publishers

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• Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. Our government does not copy our neighbors', but is an example to them. It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. But while there exists equal justice to all and alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also recognized; and when a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit

  Pericles

  Hands, Government, Justice

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• All deductions having been made, democracy has done less harm, and more good, than any other form of government. It gave to human existence a zest and camaraderie that outweighed its pitfalls and defects. It gave to thought and science and enterprise the freedom essential to their operation and growth. It broke down the walls of privilege and class, and in each generation it raised up ability from every rank and place.

  Will Durant

  Wall, Democracies Have, Government

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (2012). “The Lessons of History”, p.62, Simon and Schuster

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• Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Eight, Race, Government

  "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein, (p. 232), 1991.

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• Too many people expect wonders from democracy, when the most wonderful thing of all is just having it.

  Walter Winchell

  Freedom, People, Wonder

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• Indeed, if I understand this global-warming business correctly, the danger is that the waters will rise and drown the whole of Massachusetts, New York City, Long Island, the California coast and a few big cities on the Great Lakes - in other words, every Democratic enclave will be wiped out leaving only the solid Republican heartland. Politically speaking, for conservatives there's no downside to global warming.

  Mark Steyn

  New York, Business, California

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• It may be concluded that a pure democracy . . . can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction.

  James Madison

  Democracies Have, May, Factions

  Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison (2010). “The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States”, p.58, Modern Library

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• One of the first things we must get rid of is the idea that democracy is tantamount to capitalism.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Ideas, Firsts, Capitalism

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• In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects.

  J. William Fulbright

  Faith, Freedom, Medicine

  1966 Speech to the US Senate, 21 Apr.

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• But in this country we have one great privilege which they don't have in other countries. When a thing gets to be absolutely unbearable the people can rise up and throw it off. That's the finest asset we've got - the ballot box.

  Mark Twain

  Country, Usa, People

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• Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

  Reinhold Niebuhr

  Freedom, Integrity, Adversity

  The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness foreword (1944)

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• So, two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism.

  E. M. Forster

  Cheer, Democracies Have, Two

  Two Cheers for Democracy "What I Believe" (1951)

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• Being adequately informed is a democratic duty, just as the vote is a democratic right. A misinformed electorate, voting without knowledge, is not a true democracy.

  Jay Griffiths

  Voting, Vote, Democratic

  "Don't give climate change heretics an easy ride" by Jay Griffiths, www.theguardian.com. August 31, 2012.

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• Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property are his who can take them.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Law, Majority

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• Our form of democracy is bribery, on the highest scale.

  Gore Vidal

  Politics, Form, Scales

  FaceBook post by Gore Vidal from May 21, 2014

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• On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

  H. L. Mencken

  Funny, Heart, Land

  The Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

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• For there is one thing we must never forget... the majority can never replace the man. And no more than a hundred empty heads make one wise man will an heroic decision arise from a hundred cowards.

  Adolf Hitler

  Wise, Military, Men

  Adolf Hitler (1998). “Mein Kampf”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Without God, there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience... without God, there is a coarsening of the society; without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.

  Ronald Reagan

  God, Long, Separation Of Church And State

  Remarks at a Dallas Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast, delivered 23 August 1984 at Reunion Arena, Dallas, TX

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• It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny.

  James F. Cooper

  Freedom, Men, Democracies Have

  "The American Democrat: Or, Hints on the Social and Civic Relations of the United States of America". Book by James Fenimore Cooper, 1838.

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  The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Government

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.29, Vintage

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