“Believe me; democracy in action can be an unpretty sight.”

— Iain Banks, Culture series

Source: Culture series, Look to Windward (2000), Chapter 8c “The Memory of Running” (p. 198)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Believe me; democracy in action can be an unpretty sight." by Iain Banks?

Iain Banks139

Scottish writer 1954–2013

Related quotes

“I believe in democracy, but in real democracy, not a phony democracy in which just powerful people can speak. For me, in a democracy everyone speaks.”

Augusto Boal (1931–2009) Brazilian writer

As quoted in "To Dynamize the Audience: Interview with Augusto Boal" by Robert Enight, Canadian Theatre Review 47 (Summer 1986), pp. 41-49

“It seems to me that any action that arbitrarily limits the citizen's access to sight, sound and print, upon which opinion can be based, is, in the true sense of the phrase, un-American.”

Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965) Television journalist

In response to the House Un-American Activities Committee's ban on radio recording and television cameras from public hearings (1 February 1949), quoted in The New York Times http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9500E1DC173FE03ABC4E53DFB4668382659EDE&legacy=true

“My challenge is really to say, 'Can you name me a moral action or a statement that has been made by a believer that couldn't have been made by a non-believer?”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

The Rise of Atheism, ABC News, 30 September 2007, 1 September 2015 http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3671172, Alternate version: Name me an ethical statement made or an action performed by a believer that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer. 2007-11-01 Excerpt from The Portable Atheist USA Today 0161-7389 http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2007-11-01-portable-atheist_N.htm Hitchens posed this challenge many times in debate or during lectures, variously phrased, claiming no one had ever been able to pass it, although everyone could easily answer the corollary question: "Could you name a wicked action or a vile statement made by someone, attributable only to their religious faith?" Christopher Hitchens Moral Challenge to the god fearing religious folks, YouTube, 20 June 2009, 1 September 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqFwree7Kak, 2000s, 2007

“Since pacifists have more freedom of action in countries where traces of democracy survive, pacifism can act more effectively against democracy than for it. Objectively the pacifist is pro-Nazi.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

"No, Not One," The Adelphi (October 1941)
See his later thoughts on this statement below from "As I Please," Tribune (8 December 1944)

“All freedoms provided by democracy are for those who believe in it. Can the rights and freedoms of millions of virtuous people who believe in democracy be safeguarded if those who seek to destroy it abuse rights and freedoms to achieve their goals?”

Kenan Evren (1917–2015) Turkish general

An Uneasy Honeymoon, Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952783-2,00.html (Sep. 29, 1980) Said Evren in defense of the decision to take power after the 1980 military coup.

“Under democracy individual liberty of opinion and action is jealously guarded.”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India

Young India (2 March 1922)
1920s

“Jack Layton believed so much in the power of democracy and of this Parliament. I invite all honourable members in this House to join me in picking up this torch and making this an institution in which Canadians can be proud”

Nycole Turmel (1942) Canadian politician

“To believe that any action based on an ignorance of fact can possibly succeed, is to abandon the use of reason.”

Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968) American journalist

Give Me Liberty (1936)

“People in Hong Kong still believe in democracy – the big question after the Umbrella Movement is how we can achieve it.”

Benny Tai (1964) Hong Kong activist and writer

"There will be darker times ahead for Hong Kong but the sun will rise again" (April 19, 2019)

“Democracy is about participation in the first place. And with participation comes responsibility for decisions and actions.”

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (1982) Belarusian politician and educator

"Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Leader Of The Democracy Movement In Belarus" in Faces of Democracy https://www.faces-of-democracy.org/sviatlana-tsikhanouskaya/ (6 July 2021)

“Believe me; democracy in action can be an unpretty sight.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Iain Banks139

Related quotes

Related topics