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Democracy Quotes


"I've decided to cut out the part of the speech where I say anything nice about Democrats."



"Democracy is now going forth on a crusade against imperialism."


"If you say simply that pressures toward democracy are created by the market, I would say yes."


"Prediction? The Democrats will win. I think it will be a close win, both for the House and for the Senate."


"Let me say again that the relationship is asymmetrical: there's no democracy without a market economy, but you can have a market economy without democracy."


"I am sure that every one of my colleagues - Democrat, Republican, and Independent - agrees with that statement. That in the voting booth, every one is equal."


"The E.U. is more than just a trade organization or a common market; it is a guarantee of democracy, freedom, justice, and human rights. Nations cannot stay in the E.U. if they do not respect these guarantees."


"Those who abhors democracy would rarely immigrate to an authoritarian state if they have to."


"As I understand I took most so-called democratic states about 200 years on average to build their democracies. That is why, when we go to sleep under totalitarian rule and wake up in a democracy, it makes me laugh."


"It means that, in fact, it's - whether fascist is the right word I don't know - more of a plutocracy than anything resembling a democracy; it has become a nation controlled by a very small, very wealthy elite."


"Free nations of the world cannot allow Taiwan, a beacon of democracy, to be subdued by an authoritarian China."


"We need independents, we need the GOP, we need Reagan Democrats."


"You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution."


"A marvel that has nothing to offer, democracy is at once a nation's paradise and its tomb."


"I never said all Democrats were saloonkeepers. What I said was that all saloonkeepers are Democrats."


"I lost a lot of territory I really enjoyed having, but there was no doubt I had to do it to help Democrats."


"I might be in favor of national healthcare if it required all Democrats to get their heads examined."


"Moreover, as we live in an era of the ascendancy of democracy and human rights, we must see that Taiwan has been a vibrant democracy with a democratically elected president and legislature."


"Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question."


"You can't put democracy and freedom back into a box."


"Democracy, like any non-coercive relationship, rests on a shared understanding of limits."


"When you practice reporting for as long as I have, you keep yourself at a distance from True Believers. Either conservatives or liberals or Democrats or Republicans."


"In Iran the whole reform and democracy movement has been based on the emerging free press."


"Don't worry if they're Democrats or Republicans. Give them service and they'll become Democrats."


"The really amazing part, to me, was when Florida made it into the Final Four, the Democrats didn't demand a recount."


"Democrats can't get elected unless things get worse - and things won't get worse unless they get elected."


"To acquire immunity to eloquence is of the utmost importance to the citizens of a democracy."


"Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men."


"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?"


"Liberty, freedom and democracy are very fuzzy words, but human rights is very specific."


"I am more convinced than ever that a lively two party system is essential to our democracy."


"The problem of finding a collection of "wise men and leaving the government to them is thus an insoluble one. That is the ultimate reason for democracy."


"Self-government is in inverse ratio to numbers. The larger the constituency, the less the value of any particular vote. When he is merely one of millions, the individual elector feels himself to be impotent, a negligible quantity. The candidates he has voted into office are far away, at the top of the pyramid of power. Theoretically they are the servants of the people; but in fact it is the servants who give orders and the people, far off at the base of the great pyramid, who must obey."


"Our nations (India and USA) may have been shaped by differing histories, cultures, and faiths. Yet, our belief in democracy for our nations and liberty for our countrymen is common. The idea that all citizens are created equal is a central pillar of the American constitution. Our founding fathers too shared the same belief and sought individual liberty for every citizen of India."
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