Voting And Democracy Quotes

• Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Success, Education, Real

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1941). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1938, Volume 7”, p.538, Best Books on

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• Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote.

  George Jean Nathan

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Political

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• Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people.

  Harry Emerson Fosdick

  Freedom, Democracies Have, People

  "The Home Book of Quotations, Classical and Modern". Book by Burton Egbert Stevenson, 1937.

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• Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and Senators and Congressmen and Government officials but the voters of this country.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Country, Witty, Patriotic

  Franklin D. Roosevelt's Address at Marietta, Ohio, July 8, 1938.

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• The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Ignorance, Voting

  Vanderbilt University 90th Anniversary Convocation Address, delivered 18 May 1963, Vanderbilt University Stadium, Nashville Tennessee

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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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• Elections belong to the people. It's their decision.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Democracies Have, People, Voting

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• Democracy is never a thing done. Democracy is always something that a nation must be doing.

  Archibald MacLeish

  Democracy, Done, Nations

  Archibald MacLeish (1941). “The American cause”

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• The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy; the best weapon of a democracy is openness.

  Edward Teller

  Freedom, Democracy, Weapons

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• A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.

  Alexander Fraser Tytler

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Government

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• In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued - they may be essential to survival.

  Noam Chomsky

  Freedom, Hero, Democracies Have

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• There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship.

  Ralph Nader

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Democracy

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• There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. 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

  Ignorance, Mean, Democracies Have

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

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• Democracy is four wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Gun, Lunch, Democracies Have

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• 

  The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Presidential

  Speech, 19 May 1856

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• Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

  Aristotle

  Freedom, Philosophical, Men

  Aristotle, Stephen Everson (1996). “Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens”, p.72, Cambridge University Press

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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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• Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear.

  Alan Coren

  Freedom, Thinking, Democracies Have

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state...

  Noam Chomsky

  Media, Political, Democracy

  "On Propaganda". WBAI Interview, chomsky.info. January 1992.

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• Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

  Irving Kristol

  Witty, Freedom, Humorous

  "Two Cheers for Capitalism". Book by Irving Kristol, May 11, 1978.

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• Democracy needs support, and the best support for democracy comes from other democracies.

  Benazir Bhutto

  Democracies Have, Support, Democracy

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

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• 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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• If Voting Changed Anything They'd Abolish It

  Ken Livingstone

  Democracies Have, Political, Voting

  Ken Livingstone (2011). “You Can't Say That: Memoirs”, p.49, Faber & Faber

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• On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.

  Will Rogers

  Running, Government, Years

  Will Rogers, Bryan B. Sterling (1995). “Will Rogers Speaks: Over 1,000 Timeless Quotations for Public Speakers (writers, Politicians, Comedians, Browsers ...)”, M Evans & Company

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• To win the cause we all believe in, the spread of true democracy all over the world, we need to win by example, not just with speeches but by example; not just with military might but by gaining the respect of the world.

  Barbara Boxer

  Respect, Military, Believe

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