Tyranny Of The Majority Quotes

The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.

Lord Acton

Party, Democracies Have, Majority Rule

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.103, Jazzybee Verlag

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Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.

James Madison

Party, Rights, Justice

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.42

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It is of great importance in a republic, not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers; but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.

James Madison

Republican Government, Injustice, Oppression

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.241

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Democracy is not freedom. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to eat for lunch.

Unknown

Freedom, Two, Lunch

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All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

Thomas Jefferson

Freedom, Patriotic, Equality

First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801

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Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

John Adams

Suicide, Freedom, Suicidal

Letter from John Adams to John Taylor, 15 Apr. 1814

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Democracy is nothing but the Tyranny of Majorities, the most abominable tyranny of all, for it is not based on the authority of a religion, not upon the nobility of a race, not on the merits of talents and of riches. It merely rests upon numbers and hides behind the name of the people.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Numbers, Race, Names

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The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Freedom, Power, Essence

Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1941). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1938, Volume 7”, p.305, Best Books on

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In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

Edmund Burke

Freedom, Exercise, Democracy

Edmund Burke (1790). “Reflections on the Revolution in France: And on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. In a Letter Intended to Have Been Sent to a Gentleman in Paris”, p.186

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Democracy, which began by liberating man politically, has developed a dangerous tendency to enslave him through the tyranny of majorities and the deadly power of their opinion.

Ludwig Lewisohn

Men, Democracy, Majority

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The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority.

Lord Acton

Democracies Have, Majority Rule, Evil

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.103, Jazzybee Verlag

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the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

Thomas Jefferson

Rights, Law, Majority Rule

First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801

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Democratic forms of government are vulnerable to mass prejudice, the so-called tyranny of the majority.

Maggie Gallagher

Government, Majority, Prejudice

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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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Of course, the aim of a constitutional democracy is to safeguard the rights of the minority and avoid the tyranny of the majority. (p. 102)

Cornel West

Rights, Democracy, Majority

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And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that.

Lord Acton

Peace, Men, Hands

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[The Bill of Rights is] designed to protect individuals and minorities against the tyranny of the majority, but it's also designed to protect the people against bureaucracy, against the government.

Laurence Tribe

Rights, Government, People

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Of all tyrannies a country can suffer, the worst is the tyranny of the majority.

William Inge

Country, Suffering, Majority

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That government is best which governs least.

Henry David Thoreau

Freedom, Democracies Have, Government

Civil Disobedience (1849) See Ralph Waldo Emerson 29; O'Sullivan 1; Shipley 1

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Though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable.

Thomas Jefferson

Majority Rule, Minorities, Civil Rights

First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801

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The restriction of religion to private life therefore does not necessarily threaten the vital interests of the majority religion, if there is one, and it protects minority religions from tyranny of the majority.

Phillip E. Johnson

Majority, Doe, Minorities

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In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature.

James Madison

Stronger, May, Reign

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay (2016). “The Federalist Papers: The Making of the US Constitution”, p.110, Arcturus Publishing

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The Founders understood that democracy was important, but if you didn't filter it through a republican system you'd be just as likely to end up with a tyranny of the majority as you would with a healthy society. Don't worry, I won't quote the Federalist Papers, but trust me, it's in there.

Jonah Goldberg

Worry, Healthy, Democracy

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The terrible tyranny of the majority.

Ray Bradbury

Majority, Terrible, Tyranny

Ray Bradbury (2016). “Fahrenheit 451”, p.53, Hamilton Books

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The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Thomas Jefferson

Strength, Wisdom, Veterans Day

Letter to William Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

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