Democracy Quotes - Page 24

• This excessive licence, which the anarchists think is the only true freedom, provides the stock, as it were, from which a tyrant grows.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Thinking, Tyrants, Anarchist

  Marcus Tullius Cicero, Niall Rudd (2008). “The Republic and The Laws”, p.31, Oxford University Press

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• Democracy is moral before it is political.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Political, Moral

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• In contrast to totalitarianism, democracy can face and live with the truth about itself.

  Sidney Hook

  Faces, Contrast, Totalitarianism

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• America's experiment with government of the people, by the people, and for the people depends not only on constitutional structure and organization but also on the commitment, person to person, that we make to each other.

  Robert M. Hutchins

  Commitment, Government, Organization

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• Of the many things we have done to democracy in the past, the worst has been the indignity of taking it for granted.

  Max Lerner

  Past, Done, Granted

  Max Lerner (1939). “It is Later Than You Think: The Need for a Militant Democracy”, p.87, Transaction Publishers

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• We Americans are the peculiar, chosen people - the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world.

  Herman Melville

  Israel, People, Liberty

  Herman Melville (1850). “White-jacket: or, The world in a man-of-war”, p.151

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• What are the maxims of Democracy? A strict observance of justice and public faith, and a steady adherence to virtue.

  John Marshall

  Justice, Adherence, Virtue

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• The Republic may not give wealth or happiness, she has not promised these. It is the freedom to pursue these, not their realization, we can claim.

  Andrew Carnegie

  Giving, Realization, Republic

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• Liberty is the soul's right to breathe.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Soul, Liberty, Breathe

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.42

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• Freedom is not an end. Freedom is a beginning.

  Benazir Bhutto

  Ends

  Benazir Bhutto (1989). “Speeches and Statements: Apr. 2-Nov. 14, 1989”

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• In order to have enough freedom, it is necessary to have too much.

  Clarence Darrow

  Order, Too Much, Enough

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• Our adversaries [ the Confederate States of America ] have adopted some declarations of independence in which, unlike the good old one penned by Jefferson, they omit the words "all men are created equal." Why? They have adopted a temporary national constitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old one, signed by Washington, they omit "We, the People," and substitute "We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States." Why? Why this deliberate pressing out of view, the rights of men, and the authority of the people?

  Abraham Lincoln

  Independent, Men, America

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• When we were the political slaves of King George, and wanted to be free, we called the maxim that "all men are created equal" a self evident truth; but now when we have grown fat, and have lost all dread of being slaves ourselves, we have become so greedy to be masters that we call the same maxim "a self evident lie" The fourth of July has not quite dwindled away; it is still a great day-for burning fire-crackers!!!

  Abraham Lincoln

  Kings, Lying, Men

  Abraham Lincoln (1989). “Abraham Lincoln: Speeches & Writings Part 1: 1832-1858: Library of America #45”, p.359, Library of America

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• Don't put no constrictions on da people! Leave 'em the hell alone!

  Jimmy Durante

  People, Ems, Hell

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• 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."

  Isaac Asimov

  Mean, Ignorance, Knowledge

  "A Cult of Ignorance". Newsweek, January 21, 1980.

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• Let us not be defeated by the tyranny of the world financial markets that threaten peace and democracy everywhere.

  Stephane Hessel

  World, Financial, Defeated

  "A French Manifesto to Unite Occupy Wall Street" by William D. Cohan, www.sfgate.com. November 30, 2011.

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• The modern infrastructures that exists in the world all contribute to the advancement of human rights and democracy.

  Akbar Ganji

  Rights, World, Advancement

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• What we want to see is the development of human rights and greater democracy, not just because it is our system but because we think that's the best way that economic and political development go hand in hand.

  Tony Blair

  Thinking, Hands, Rights

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• As someone who lived under communism for most of my life I feel obliged to say that the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity at the beginning of the 21st century is not communism or its various softer variants. Communism was replaced by the threat of ambitious environmentalism.

  Vaclav Klaus

  Ambitious, Global Warming, Prosperity

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• Climate change now represents so urgent a threat to mankind that the only way to deal with it is by suspending democracy.

  James Lovelock

  Way, Climate, Global Warming

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• The struggle to avert catastrophic climate change is bigger than all the other struggles, whether it is slavery, democracy struggles, the woman's right to vote, and so on I would argue that if what is at stake is securing life as we know it, then there can be no bigger struggle that we face.

  Kumi Naidoo

  Struggle, Slavery, Faces

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• Placing a time limit on affirmative action would in all likelihood blunt the orchestrated politics of controversy that now bedevils it. And thinking about phasing it into a class-based entitlement program may at long last bring Americans around to a consideration of the growing inequality that threatens the harmony of our democracy far more than the alarmist cry of 'racial division.'

  Orlando Patterson

  Thinking, Class, Long

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• When public access to voting is impaired or when public confidence in voting is diluted, democracy suffers and our freedom is less secure.

  DeForest Soaries

  Voting, Suffering, Access

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• The act of voting by ordinary Iraqis in the face of extreme danger confirms President Bush's belief that people around the globe, when given a chance, will choose liberty and democracy over enslavement and tyranny.

  John Ensign

  People, Voting, President

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• We are enjoying in Africa what I call the democracy dividend. The progress we are seeing, economic development are all part of the dividend of good governance, respect for human rights, rule of law. It has created an enabling environment that allows not only foreigners to come in and invest but for Ghanaians to invest. It has created an atmosphere for our young people to be creative, innovative

  John Dramani Mahama

  Rights, Law, People

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