Condoleezza Rice Quotes About Democracy

Quotes about: Democracy

• If you're always in the company of people who agree with you, you're going to think of people who don't agree with you as venal or stupid. I constantly tell my students that if they're in the company of people who always say "amen" to what you say, find other company. And that is the source of illiberalism, when you are unable to listen to someone who thinks differently. That's when democracies are in trouble.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Stupid, Thinking, People

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• Democracy is the most realistic way for diverse peoples to resolve their differences, and share power, and heal social divisions without violence or repression.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Differences, Democracy, Way

  Keynote Address at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, delivered 23 January 2008, Davos, Switzerland

• But, clearly, the prime minister has laid down some ground rules which any functioning democratic state would insist upon, having to do with, you know, arms belonging to the state, not to -- not in private hands. The current circumstances come out of what I think is a very important and indeed appropriate action that the Iraqi government has taken.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Taken, Thinking, Government

• Democratic openings that come about in that way - the overthrow of a totalitarian government by external powers - it makes it really hard to make those first steps toward democracy.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Democracy, Democratic

  "Condoleezza Rice: Institutions Aren't Perfect, But They're The Bedrock Of Democracy". "Morning Edition" with Rachel Martin, www.npr.org. May 8, 2017.

• Even when you cherish democratic ideals, it is never easy to turn them into effective democratic institutions. This process will take decades.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Democratic Ideals, Democracy, Cherish

  Keynote Address at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, delivered 23 January 2008, Davos, Switzerland

• Our effort to build stability through authoritarians in the Middle East for 60 years had given us neither democracy nor stability.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Effort, Democracy, Stability

  "Condoleezza Rice: Institutions Aren't Perfect, But They're The Bedrock Of Democracy". "Morning Edition" with Rachel Martin, www.npr.org. May 8, 2017.

• One of the signs that things are going reasonably well for democracy is that we have the states where they're closer to the people. Federalism is a strength. We have all of these civil society institutions - civil society is a very important hallmark of democracy.

  Condoleezza Rice

  People, Democracy, Important

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region, here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Country, Years, Democracy

  "For Albright and Rice, Josef Korbel Is Tie that Binds". "All Things Considered" with Melissa Block, Michele Norris, Guy Raz, www.npr.org. June 28, 2006.

• I think it's very humble to believe that there is no man, woman or child who should live in tyranny. That people who say, well, maybe Arabs just aren't ready for democracy or maybe Africans just are going to have corrupt governments, that seems to me arrogant.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Children, Believe, Humble

  Source: www.msnbc.com

• Now, al Qaeda's on the run. Afghanistan is no longer a base of operations. The Afghan government is a friendly government that is trying to bring democracy to its people.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Running, Government, People

• America cannot do most of what needs to be done alone. You need friends. And we have good friends around the world. We have friends with whom we share values in Europe and Asia - thanks to the forward march of democracy - in Latin America, in Africa, and increasingly in the Middle East.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Latin, Good Friend, Europe

  Source: www.msnbc.com

• Tocqueville talked about "ceaseless agitation," citizens constantly use their institutions, constantly challenging them, constantly insisting upon their rights. It's also individuals taking responsibility for other individuals, recognition that no democracy works if they're weaklings.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Responsibility, Challenges, Democracy

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• It has been hard to muster the resources to support fledgling democracies and to intervene on behalf of the most desperate. The AIDS orphans in Uganda, the refugee fleeing Zimbabwe, the young woman who has been trafficked into the sex trade in Southeast Asia. It has been hard, yet this assistance together with the compassionate work of private charities, people of conscience and people of faith, has shown the soul of our country.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Country, Sex, Zimbabwe

  Condoleezza Rice's Speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, www.foxnews.com. August 29, 2012.

• If the strong exploit the weak, democracy will not be stable.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Strong, Democracy, Weak

• What surprised me was the angst at our democracy. And I understand it - I teach at a university and feel it in my students - but what I've tried to say to people is that we have amazing institutions, but nobody ever said we were perfect. We struggled before and we're struggling now, and we're going to struggle every day. We're a work in progress. That's why the American experience is so important for us to remember, and for us to be a beacon for others to enjoy those same rights.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Struggle, Perfect, People

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• This is the democratic process at work, What you're seeing with this process is the Iraqi people embracing American-style democracy.

  Condoleezza Rice

  People, Style, Democracy

• I'm very proud that we stood for the proposition that no man, woman or child should ever have to live in tyranny. We believed in democracy and promoted it.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Children, Men, Democracy

  Source: www.pittsburghurbanmedia.com

• The moral case is, people say, "Oh they're not ready for democracy," but that's something someone who lives in a democracy would say about someone who doesn't live in a democracy. Well, if democracy is the highest form of human potential, then it can't be true for us and not for them. But, the practical case is democracies don't invade their neighbors. Democracies don't traffic in child soldiers. Democracies don't harbor terrorists as a state policy. So there's a reason to have more democratic states.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Children, People, Soldier

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• My job is to try to advance American foreign policy, to try to advance the president's agenda on democracy and human rights.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Jobs, Rights, Trying

  Source: www.foxnews.com

• Ultimately, we didn't go to Germany to create a democracy. We went to overthrow Adolf Hitler. But once a democracy was there, Germany was a much bigger supporter of and help to our national interests, both economic and security than had ever been before.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Democracy, Helping, Economic

  "Condoleezza Rice Reflects On The State Of Democracy". "Morning Edition" with Rachel Martin, www.npr.org. May 8, 2017.

• I believe that the Iraqis have an opportunity now, without Saddam Hussein there, to build the first multiconfessional Arab democracy in the Middle East. And that will make for a different kind of Middle East. And these things take time. History has a long arc, not a short one. And there are going to be ups and downs, and it is going to take patience by the United States and by Iraq's neighbors to help the Iraqis to do that. But if they succeed, it'll transform the Middle East, and that's worth doing.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Believe, Opportunity, Long

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