Quotes about democracy (2106 quotes, page 21)

“We are a parliamentary democracy; we don’t function by plebiscite. It’s dangerous. I don’t believe in referendums – Hitler and Mussolini organised referendums.”

Sting (1951) English musician

“The question is: is “democracy” still democratic?”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

Speeches

Question

“Direct democracy benefits everyone as long as it does not drown out minority voices.”

Newton Lee American computer scientist

The Transhumanism Handbook, 2019

“Whichever form of government that democracy will create in the future, the great American experiment will go down in history as the freest and the bravest in the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Newton Lee American computer scientist

The Transhumanism Handbook, 2019

Home , Future , History

“Transhumanism will save democracy from its demise.”

Newton Lee American computer scientist

The Transhumanism Handbook, 2019

“This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy!”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2010s, 2012

“You cannot save democracy in a vacuum of idealism. You have got to be motivated by idealism, but you have got to also be fighting the hard problem of practical politics.”

Walter Reuther (1907–1970) Labor union leader

Statement to the Senate Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections, Washington, D.C., October 9, 1956, as quoted in Walter P Reuther: Selected Papers (1961), by Henry M. Christman, p. 170
1950s, Statement to the Senate Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections (1956)

Fight , Problem , Motivation

“We are going to veto it to show our determination that we are not going to accept this fake democracy.”

Albert Ho (1951) Hong Kong politician

September 3, 2014 Democracy isn't dead, say Hong Kong's Occupy Central activists https://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/03/world/asia/hong-kong-democracy-occupy-central/index.html

“Happily virtue is natural in the people, [despite] aristocratical prejudices. A nation is truly corrupt, when, after having, by degrees lost its character and liberty, it slides from democracy into aristocracy or monarchy; this is the death of the political body by decrepitude....”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Source: Principles to Form the Basis of the Administration of the Republic (February 1794)

Death , People , Nature

“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)

“The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal - not illegal - vote should be counted. We must protect our democracy with complete transparency.”

Melania Trump (1970) Slovenian model, wife of Donald Trump and First Lady of the United States

via tweet https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1325509832594616328 On November 8, 2020
2020

People

“The aims and ideals of the Soviet revolution inspired the patriotic enthusiasm of millions of people in the 1930s, during World War II, and in the postwar reconstruction period. This explains the Soviet Union's great leap forward, the achievement of a high level of industrial capacity in a very short time, the transformation of the Soviet Union into a major power in terms of science and culture. The historic victory in the Great Patriotic War against Nazism, which was a surprise not only for Hitler but also for the Western democracies is also explained by what we have said above. All this is true. But the historical truth is also that the regime and the system abused the faith of the people in these high ideals, turning them to its own advantage. Rule by the people, equality, justice, and the promise of a happy future — all these ideas were utilized for the sake of maintaining and strengthening totalitarianism.”

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931) General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

1990s, On My Country and the World (1999)

Faith , Justice , Time , War

“In the present situation, such an experiment would be doubly dangerous to the Russian Social Democracy. It stands on the eve of decisive battles against tsarism. It is about to enter, or has already entered, on a period of intensified creative activity, during which it will broaden (as is usual in a revolutionary period) its sphere of influence and will advance spontaneously by leaps and bounds. To attempt to bind the initiative of the party at this moment, to surround it with a network of barbed wire, is to render it incapable of accomplishing the tremendous task of the hour.”

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary

Leninism or Marxism? (1904)

Decision

“For Lenin, the difference between the Social Democracy and Blanquism is reduced to the observation that in place of a handful of conspirators we have a class-conscious proletariat. He forgets that this difference implies a complete revision of our ideas on organization and, therefore, an entirely different conception of centralism and the relations existing between the party and the struggle itself.”

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary

Leninism or Marxism? (1904)

Forgetting , Idea , Relation ships

“The fathers of American Democracy had no exaggerated respect for the State, because they were pre-eminently men of reason and common sense. They never, for instance, identified the State with the People. They knew that the State is, by very definition, an instrument of oppression and coercion, and their idea was to make it strong enough to keep order and ward off enemies, and limit it otherwise very strictly.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 102

Strong , People , Sense , Idea

“Radicals and Conservatives are not at all unlike, temperamentally. They want order, organization, efficiency, perfection. The Conservative or Reactionary thinks these can be best obtained by putting and keeping the power in the hands of a small class. He is afraid that an extension of democracy will destroy form and tradition, which he believes are essential to holding any society together. The Radical is so obsessed by the obvious faults of society that he wants to pull everything up by the roots and start all over again, and build a perfect society according to a blueprint. It is interesting that when the extreme Radicals triumph—in a revolution, for instance, as in Russia—they immediately become rigidly conservative, and punish all deviation rigorously. The worst fundamentalists in the world today are the Russian communists.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Source: Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938), p. 86

Perfection , Thinking , World

“Democracy for most of us is not an ism. It is a way of life. It does not represent any rigid form of state or national organization. It is something constantly developing and unfolding, changing from day to day, making mistakes, advancing in this direction and retreating in that, but always animated by a few fundamental ideas: that men have a right to live their own lives, provided they don’t tread too heavily on other people’s toes;…”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 31

People , Animals , Way , Idea

“A great many people say that there is a great battle going on in the world: between Fascism and Communism. Fascism is represented as Capitalism in its ultimate and final form, when it controls the state wholly. Communism is represented as the final expression of democracy. But this theory was invented by fascists and communists. To a democrat, looking on, it seems like a sham battle.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
pp. 29-30

World , People , Communication

“Capitalism is the use of wealth in private hands to create more wealth. It is the existing world-wide modern system of organizing production and trade by private enterprise, free to seek profit by employing human labor. Its defenders argue that never, since the beginning of history, has there been such a thing as perfect equality and harmony;… and every know period of history had rich and poor, and that actually modern technology, plus liberal democracy, plus an increased social sense, plus Capitalism, have created the modern world, and that as far as the standard of living of the average man is concerned the modern world surpasses all previous epochs of history.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 26

History , Wealth , Perfection , World

“The communist theory is that a world war is inevitable; that in that war, if they play their cards well, the democracies will be lined up against the fascist dictatorships, and that the result of the war will be the triumph of Communism all over the world. Their chief program now is to get the democracies so lined up.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 17

World , War , Communication

“Finally, our greatest asset in this struggle is the American people--their willingness to pay the price for these programs--to understand and accept a long struggle--to share their resources with other less fortunate people-to meet the tax levels and close the tax loopholes I have requested--to exercise self-restraint instead of pushing up wages or prices, or over-producing certain crops, or spreading military secrets, or urging unessential expenditures or improper monopolies or harmful work stoppages--to serve in the Peace Corps or the Armed Services or the Federal Civil Service or the Congress--to strive for excellence in their schools, in their cities and in their physical fitness and that of their children--to take part in Civil Defense-to pay higher postal rates, and higher payroll taxes and higher teachers' salaries, in order to strengthen our society--to show friendship to students and visitors from other lands who visit us and go back in many cases to be the future leaders, with an image of America--and I want that image, and I know you do, to be affirmative and positive-and, finally, to practice democracy at home, in all States, with all races, to respect each other and to protect the Constitutional rights of all citizens.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1961, Speech to Special Joint Session of Congress

School , Peace , Home , Friendship

“The really remarkable fact which is to be inferred from the conduct of the Southern States is, the genuine alarm with which they regarded the workings of Democracy. ... They had acted in partnership with one for seventy years. They had watched it ripening year by year to the full development of mob supremacy. ... They deliberately decided that civil war, with all its horrors, and with all its peculiar risks to themselves as slaveowners, was a lighter evil than to be surrendered to the justice or the clemency of a victorious Democracy. It is not for Europe to dispute the accuracy of their judgment.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Source: 'Democracy on its Trial', Quarterly Review, 110, 1861, p. 274

Partnership , Justice , War , Victory

“No one knows better than I with forty years' political experience that policy--particularly a revolutionary policy--has its tactical requirements. I recognised the Soviets in 1924. In 1934, I signed with them a treaty of commerce and friendship. I, therefore, understood that, especially as Ribbentrop's forecast about the non-intervention of Britain and France has not come off, you are obliged to avoid the second front [with Russia]. You have had to pay for this in that Russia has, without striking a blow, been the great profiteer of the war in Poland and the Baltic. But I, who was born a revolutionary and have not modified my revolutionary mentality, tell you that you cannot permanently sacrifice the principles of your revolution to the tactical requirements of a given moment... I have also the definite duty to add that a further step in the relations with Moscow would have catastrophic repercussions in Italy, where the unanimity of anti-Bolshevik feeling is absolute, granite-hard, and unbreakable. Permit me to think that this will not happen. The solution of your Lebensraum is in Russia, and nowhere else... The day when we shall have demolished Bolshevism we shall have kept faith with both our revolutions. Then it will be the turn of the great democracies, who will not be able to survive the cancer which gnaws them...”

Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Duce and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Leader of the National Fascist Party and subsequen…

1930s
Source: Letter to Hitler, quoted in Winston Churchill's The Gathering Storm

Faith , Friendship , War , Thinking

“The nature of liberal democracy prevents propagandistic statements from being banned, since among the liberties it permits is the freedom of speech. But since humans have characteristic rational weaknesses and are susceptible to flattery and manipulation, allowing propaganda has a high likelihood of leading to tyranny, and hence to the end of liberal democracy.”

Jason Stanley book How Propaganda Works

Source: How Propaganda Works (2015), p. 27

Nature , Freedom

“The most basic problem for democracy raided by propaganda is the possibility that the vocabulary of liberal democracy is used to mask an undemocratic reality. If so, there could be a state that appeared to be a liberal democracy. It would be a state the citizens of which believed was a liberal democracy. But the appearance of liberal democracy would be merely the outer trappings of an illiberal, undemocratic reality.”

Jason Stanley book How Propaganda Works

Source: How Propaganda Works (2015), p. 11

Problem , Appearance , Reality

“Folks, this is a time of testing. We face an attack on our democracy and on truth. A raging virus, growing inequity, the sting of systemic racism, a climate in crisis. America′s role in the world. Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways. But the fact is, we face them all at once. Presenting this nation with one of the gravest responsibilities we′ve had. Now we′re going to be tested.Are we going to step up, all of us? It′s time for boldness, for there is so much to do. And this is certain. I promise you, we will be judged, you and I, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era. We will rise to the occasion, is the question. Will we master this rare and difficult hour?”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

Time , Question , Truth , World

“[T]ogether we shall write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division. Of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness.May this be the story that guides us, the story that inspires us, and the story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history, we met the moment. Democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch, but thrived, that America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forebears, one another, and generations to follow.So, with purpose and resolve, we turn to those tasked of our time, sustained by faith, driven by conviction, and devoted to one another and the country we love with all our hearts. May God bless America and may God protect our troops. Thank you, America.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

Home , God , Faith , Time

“[T]his is America′s day. This is democracy′s day, a day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve. Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew. And America has risen to the challenge. Today we celebrate the triumph, not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy. The people, the will of the people, has been heard, and the will of the people has been heeded.We′ve learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Source: 2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

History , People , Hope , Learning

“The institutions of democracy will be gradually and, if possible, imperceptibly withdrawn. The Press will become a better and better directed and drilled servant of the capitalist class. All other methods of disseminating information, notably the cinema and the wireless, will be more and more consciously monopolized. Power may be gradually withdrawn from a democratically elected Chamber (cf . Reform of the House of Lords in Britain) or alternatively the franchise may be gradually curtailed (cf. the proposals of the British Conservative party for withholding the franchise from persons in receipt of poor relief). At the same time, the habitual regime of police violence will be increased (cf. the present heavy sentences on working-class militants in Britain passed almost openly, not for any specific offence but because the accused were working-class militants, as notably in the case of Arthur Homer; the increasing use of terror in all American wage disputes ; the police regime in France, etc., etc.). This method applies the principle of " the inevitability of gradualness " to the introduction of an open capitalist dictatorship.”

John Strachey (1901–1963) British politician and writer (1901-1963)

Source: The Coming Struggle for Power (1932), p. 268

Personality , Time , Housing

“We can’t have two things at the same time. We can’t have businesses in China, and we can’t have a free marketplace of ideas in the United States. You can have one, but you can’t have both at the same time, and because we need to protect our democracy, I think we need to get our companies out of China.”

Gordon G. Chang (1951) American lawyer

Gordon Chang: NBA Controversy Shows China Is ‘Weaponizing Our Companies Against Us’ https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2019/10/08/gordon-chang-nba-controversy-shows-beijing-is-weaponizing-our-companies/ (8 October 2019)

Time , Business , Thinking , Idea

“Should democracy really have to coexist with someone who threatens it [...]? He uses his immunity to explicitly threaten ending democracy in the country while defending heinous crimes.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

Journalist Míriam Leitão https://blogs.oglobo.globo.com/miriam-leitao/post/democracia-brasileira-e-ameacada-por-bolsonaro.html on 18 April 2016. Conservative’s Star Rises in Brazil as Polarizing Views Tap Into Discontent https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/world/americas/conservatives-star-rises-in-brazil-as-polarizing-views-tap-into-discontent.html. The New York Times (7 May 2016).

Country

“No one I imagine is so stupid as to believe that truth or even an approximation of truth is derived from counting pieces of marked paper and that the largest pile of papers is it. What makes democracy so fragile is the certain knowledge, even by the winners, that it is often wrong and if they think it’s right now, then it’s either been wrong at some time in the past or will be at some time in the future. There is then a shaky agreement on both sides of a democratic debate that there is some more fundamental reason for using this method to make decisions than that it is always right. In Western Europe over the last century or so that shaky agreement has not always held together and indeed it still is far from ordinary worldwide. A common everyday reason why most people accept democratic results is that they are rarely always on the losing side. And in the case of government elections they can have another opportunity to persuade the majority that the opinion they hold is correct and hope that the mistakes of the previous few years are not so very bad. On a much deeper level however respecting the “will of the people” comes from a profoundly scary place.”

Justin Barrett (1971) Irish activist

A Republic of Innocent Dead Cannot Live https://nationalparty.ie/a-republic-of-innocent-dead-cannot-live/ (June 4, 2018)

Imagination , Time , Past , Future

“Democracy is a freak condition in the world's history: civil liberties are not common liberties even today, and most people in the world have never possessed them.”

Geoffrey Blainey (1930) Australian historian

Source: The Great Seesaw: A New View of the Western World, 1750-2000 (1988)

World , People , History

“A threat to free speech. It was marvelous how they accepted the principles of democracy and rejected them at the same time by talk of mob action!”

Michael Moorcock (1939) English writer, editor, critic

Source: The Winds of Limbo aka The Fireclown (1965), Chapter 4 (p. 151)

Time

“We must present democracy as a force holding within itself the seeds of unlimited progress by the human race. By our actions we should make it clear that such a democracy is a means to a better way of life, together with a better understanding among nations.”

George Marshall (1880–1959) US military leader, Army Chief of Staff

Essentials to Peace (1953)

Understanding , Way , Life , Making love

“There are always people who want a tyrant. Democracy requires work if it's going to work.”

David Cay Johnston (1948) Investigative journalist and author

The Tyrant Next Time (November 7, 2019)

People

“Taxes are at the core of our democracy.”

David Cay Johnston (1948) Investigative journalist and author

Perfectly Legal (2005)

“Democracy's premise rests on the notion that the collective wisdom of the majority will prove right more often than it's wrong; that given sufficient opportunity in the pursuit of happiness, your population will develop its talents, its intellect, its better judgment; that over time its capacity for discernment and self-correction will be enlarged.”

Ben Fountain (1958) American writer

Happiness , Time , Wisdom

“Since human beings are storytelling beings, we are bound to rebel against the drift to storylessness. But there is no guarantee that the rebellions will take salutary form. Some, in their hunger for story, will be drawn to the vacant, vicarious fare of confessional talk shows, celebrity scandals, and sensational trials. Others will seek refuge in fundamentalism. The hope of our time rests instead with those who can summon the conviction and restraint to make sense of our condition and repair the civic life on which democracy depends.”

Michael J. Sandel (1953) American political philosopher

Conclusion: In Search of a Public Philosophy
Democracy's Discontent (1996)

Hunger , Dependency , Sense , Time

“Let me tell you, young man—the dirty little secret of democracy is that just because you get a vote, doesn’t mean you get your choice.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Cryoburn (2010), Chapter 3 (p. 51)

Secret

“I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of competition, and we seem to be moving away from that.”

Walter Cronkite (1916–2009) American broadcast journalist

Free the Airwaves! (2002)

Thinking

“The way you can tell there’s democracy going on is that nothing gets done.”

John Barnes book A Million Open Doors

Part 2, Chapter 8 (p. 172)
A Million Open Doors (1992)

Way

“The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Tweets on November 6 and 7, 2012, some of which were later deleted. Trump falsely believed Barack Obama had lost the popular vote. Trump’s flip-flop on the electoral college: From ‘disaster’ to ‘genius’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/11/15/trumps-flip-flop-on-the-electoral-college-from-disaster-to-genius/
2012

“No democracy can survive without a thriving middle class and entrepreneurs are our job creators.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

“Democracy in itself does not define or guarantee a free society. History has told many stories of democratic societies that have degenerated into corruption, plunder, and tyranny.”

Richard Ebeling (1950) American economist

“Beware Democracy without Liberty” https://fee.org/articles/beware-democracy-without-liberty/, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (April 1, 2005)

History

“I believe democracy is the foundation of a healthy economy. Without genuine democracy you cannot have a genuine market economy. And, under the market economy, one must fully open doors to allow free trade and investment.”

Kim Dae-jung (1924–2009) South Korean politician

"Interview: President Kim Dae Jung" in TIME Asia http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/time/magazine/99/0913/interview.html (13 September 1999)

“The resilience of democracy lies in its self-cleansing effect. Control and correction are the cleansing agents of democracy. Where they are lacking, democracy dies a silent death.”

Jules Sedney (1922–2020) Prime Minister of Suriname (1922-2020)

The Future of Our Past (1997)

Death

“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)

Decision

“The major downside of democracy is that even the least critical minds will never think they are wrong.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Thinking

“The truth is respectful opposition is not the enemy, it’s an important part of a health a democracy.”

Peadar Tóibín (1974) Irish politician

Peadar Tóibín to host Waterford meeting about new party https://www.wlrfm.com/2019/01/21/peadar-toibin-to-host-waterford-meeting-about-new-party/ (January 21, 2019)

Health , Truth , Parting

“Only a democracy of the world can now overcome this stasis. Ana-stasis is the power to come over stasis, and, in this sense, anastasis is health.”

Shaj Mohan Indian philosopher

from The Crown of the Stasis

Sense , World , Health

“We will puncture the pomposity of our elites in politics, business, media and academia and expose their growing promotion of cancel culture for the threat to free speech and democracy that it is.”

Andrew Neil (1949) Scottish journalist and broadcaster

Andrew Neil: A welcome letter to GB News viewers https://www.gbnews.uk/shows/andrew-neil-a-welcome-letter-to-gb-news-viewers/105106.

Business

“I will accept any choice of the people, because it is a democracy.”

Petro Poroshenko (1965) Ukrainian businessman and politician

Speech on debates https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/features-47926425 during the election campaign in 2019 (14 April 2019)

People

“One thing is sure. Democracy is doomed. This is our last election. It is fascism or communism. We are at the crossroads—I take the road to fascism.”

Charles Coughlin (1891–1979) Catholic priest, radio commentator

As quoted in “Coughlin, Lemke, and the Union Party,” Dale Kramer, Minneapolis, Farmers Book Store, 1936. Also in “What’s Behind the Christian Front?” Norman Thomas, New York, Workers Defense League, 1939, p. 15 http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/THR-CF6.PDF

Communication

“They can extinguish awareness by dumbing down education, owning TV stations, paying "guest fees" to leader writers, or just buying the media up. The media—and not just The Washington Post—is where democracies conduct their civil wars.”

David Mitchell book Cloud Atlas

"Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery", p. 124
Cloud Atlas (2004), Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery (Part 1)

War , Education

“Widespread poverty and concentrated wealth cannot long endure side by side in a democracy”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Attributed to Jefferson in speeches by FDR http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/campaign-address/ and JFK, https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/pittsburgh-pa-19470603 but actually a quote about Jefferson by Charles A. Beard in 1936. https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/widespread-poverty-and-concentrated-wealth-spurious-quotation
Misattributed

Wealth

“We should never take democracy for granted. Neither should we worship it. It must be nurtured and strengthened on a daily basis. It is our way of living, our state of mind. A democratic society is sustainable because it aims at the highest development of every one of its members.”

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (1963) Mongolian politician

Source: "Statement at the General Debate Of The 71th Session Of The United Nations General Assembly On “the Sustainable Development Goals: A Universal Push To Transform Our World”" https://www.un.int/mongolia/statements_speeches/statement-his-excellency-mr-tsakhia-elbegdorj-president-mongolia-general-debate (20 September 2016)

Way

“We thought that we are on the way to democracy, to freedom. But again, now, it collapsed again to the military and we have no right to speak about human rights and we have practically no dialogue.”

Charles Maung Bo (1948) Burmese Roman Catholic Archbishop and Cardinal

Source: Cardinal Bo: Called to be a voice for human rights in Myanmar https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248937/cardinal-bo-called-to-be-a-voice-for-human-rights-in-myanmar (9 September 2021)

Freedom , Way

“I don't like to second-guess, but I do believe we've lost something. I can't get my hand on it, but we're just not quite where we should be, as the greatest democracy in the world. And I don't know how you correct it, but I keep hoping that there will be a change in my lifetime.”

Bob Dole (1923) American politician

Source: In Susan Page, " At 98 and facing cancer, Bob Dole reckons with legacy of Trump and ponders future of GOP https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/07/22/98-bob-dole-reckons-legacy-trump-ponders-future-gop/7995412002/", USA Today (July 22, 2021).

World , Change , Hope

“The values of freedom and democracy upon which America was founded are the same values that once inspired my father and are the ones to which he remains dedicated. Those values are not just every American’s birthright; they are the fundamental rights of all human beings.”

Ti-Anna Wang (1989) Chinese dissident

"‘A Tale of Two Girls’" in NBC https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna52173136 (11 June 2013)

Freedom

“Flanders is a land of cathedrals and belfries, not mosques and minarets. The Flemish identity is linked to democracy and Islam clashes with our idea of a democracy.”

Tom Van Grieken (1986) Belgian politician

Source: Tom Van Grieken: The white person must be a dominant factor in our society." https://www.nieuws365.be/news/27302/tom-van-grieken-het-blanke-moet-een-dominante-factor-zijn-in-onze-samenleving.

Idea

“In a world of fake news, fake history, fake law, fake diplomacy, it is no surprise to encounter fake democracy along the way.”

Alfred de Zayas (1947) American United Nations official

2021

History , Law , Way , World

“[T]he Western European democracies... will be forced into totalitarianism unless they produce a noneconomic society striving for the freedom and equality of the individual.”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

Source: 1930s- 1950s, The End of Economic Man (1939), p. 242

Freedom

“If one political party believes "heads we win, tails you cheated," if one political party believes that when you lose an election, the answer isn't to win more votes, but rather to try to prevent the other side from voting, then we have serious and existential threats to our democracy on our hands.”

Chuck Schumer (1950) U.S. Senator from the State of New York

interview reported on March 20, 2021
Source: GOP warns HR 1 could be 'absolutely devastating for Republicans', Karson, Kendall and Meg Cunningham, 20 March 2021, abcnews.go.com, ABC News, 20 March 2021 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gop-warns-hr-absolutely-devastating-republicans/story?id=76555647,

Cheating

“If both China and Russia were liberal democracies, I don’t think we would be having conversations about great power competition. So I believe that regime type does matter, and the ideological dimension that comes with that regime type also plays a role in great power competition.”

Michael McFaul (1963) American academic and diplomat

"Toward a “Grander Strategy of Containing Putin’s Russia”: Ambassador Michael McFaul on Engagement and Containment in a New Era of Great Power Competition" in The Yale Review of International Studies http://yris.yira.org/comments/5314 (June 2021)

Thinking

“We got to get our democracy in order at home, but we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Two wrongs do not make a right.”

Michael McFaul (1963) American academic and diplomat

"Former U.S. Ambassador To Russia On The Arrest Of Russian Opposition Leader" in NPR https://www.npr.org/2021/01/18/958120724/former-u-s-ambassador-to-russia-on-the-arrest-of-russian-opposition-leader (18 January 2021)

Home , Time

“Democracy is our most important possession. If we throw it away when the going gets tough, we might never get it back.”

Arthur C. Clarke A Time Odyssey

Source: 2000s and posthumous publications, A Time Odyssey, Sunstorm (2005), Chapter 24, “BDO” (p. 182)

“The [mask-wearing] ban [by Hong Kong protesters] represents a setback in democracy.”

Cho Jung-tai (1959) Taiwanese politician

Source: Cho Jung-tai (2019) cited in " HK’s mask ban not a solution: MAC http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2019/10/06/2003723473" on Taipei Times, 6 October 2019.

“Don't try to fool me and act like you can do or say anything 'because we are a democracy...Do you misunderstand something? Today, I am the one makes the rules. Previous governments couldn't do that. But today, I made the rules [sic], and all of you have to follow them.”

Prayut Chan-o-cha (1954) Thai military officer, junta chief, and politician

Source: Anti-Junta Protest in Khon Kaen, Despite Prayuth's Warnings http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1433764390 (8 June 2015)

Fools

“This law will be strictly enforced to prevent the type of nuisance and violence that happened in the past...It's not possible to have it all—happiness, equality, democracy—without giving us the tools.”

Prayut Chan-o-cha (1954) Thai military officer, junta chief, and politician

Law curbing public assembly takes effect in Thailand (13 August 2015)
Source: [Law curbing public assembly takes effect in Thailand, https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/law-curbing-public-assembly-takes-effect-in-thailand/, 14 August 2015, The Seattle Times, Associated Press, 13 August 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20201128115005/https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/law-curbing-public-assembly-takes-effect-in-thailand/, 28 November 2020, live]

Happiness , Law , Past

“Georgia's character - now and forever - celebrates tolerance, embraces diversity, relishes lively and open debate, and above all, respects liberty and human dignity. Georgia is a democracy, because above all - its national identity is rooted in the traditions of democracy.”

Mikheil Saakashvili (1967) Georgian-Ukrainian politician, President of Georgia and Governor of Odessa

Remarks to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2005)
Source: As quoted in "Remarks of the President of Georgia H.E. Mikheil Saakashvili to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe" https://reliefweb.int/report/georgia/remarks-president-georgia-he-mikheil-saakashvili-parliamentary-assembly-council (26 January 2005), ReliefWeb

“Sophistry is one of the methods by which politicians dress up their policies in alien clothing, to pass them off as more desirable than they really are. Spin doctors thrive best where ‘democracy’ is the slogan.”

Catherine Rowett (1956) Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia (born 1956)

Source: Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (2004), Ch. 7 : Spin doctors of the 5th century

Clothes

“Leaving the EU would be a win-win for all. The EU costs us a huge amount of money and subverts our democracy”

Boris Johnson (1964) British politician, historian and journalist

Source: Boris Johnson: EU exit 'win-win for us all' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35783049 BBC News (11 March 2016)

Money

“We said no to communism. We said no to apartheid. We said no to injustice. We said no to oppression. And we said yes to freedom, yes to democracy. Now I ask you: What do we say to war? CROWD: No!”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

February 15, 2003 speaking before a massive rally in New York to oppose the imminent U.S. invasion of Iraq
Source: As quoted in Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) on Apartheid, War, Palestine, Guantánamo, Climate Crisis & More https://www.democracynow.org/2021/12/27/life_and_legacy_archbishop_desmond_tutu, Democracy Now!, December 27, 2021

Freedom , War , Communication

“People marched and demonstrated, and the Berlin Wall fell, and communism was ended. People marched and demonstrated, and apartheid ended. And democracy and freedom were born. And now people are marching, and people are demonstrating, because people are saying no to war!”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

Freedom , War , People , Communication

“Democracy is confronted by serious challenges, to the point that we could say there is a war declared against democracy. A war which we need us all to confront with more political will and determination, consensus and solidarity.”

Salome Zourabichvili (1952) Georgian politician and former French diplomat

Salome Zourabichvili (2021) cited in: " Georgia greets 2022 with prospects of a ‘murky national accord’ https://oc-media.org/features/georgia-greets-2022-with-prospects-of-a-murky-national-accord/" in OC Media, 30 December 2021.

War

“Violence and intimidation against our elected representatives are a red line in our democracy.”

Gérard Larcher (1949) President of the Senate (France)

Source: Gérard Larcher (2022) cited in: " 'Unacceptable': France's Macron denounces latest MP assault in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon https://www.euronews.com/2022/01/10/unacceptable-france-s-macron-denounces-latest-mp-assault-in-saint-pierre-et-miquelon" in Science Alert, 10 January 2022.

“The spirit of our age is Democracy. All for the people, and all by the people. Nothing about the people without the people… My nation will rise, called to resurrection by the eternal principles of the law of nature and of nature’s God. It will not lie in the grave longer than the holy number three, and will require your magnanimity by becoming the corner-stone of national independence on the European Continent.”

Lajos Kossuth (1802–1894) Hungarian politician

Source: In front of Ohio's legislators on 7 february, 1852.

God , People , Lie , Age

“Silly people, and there are many, not only in enemy countries, might discount the force of the United States. Some said they were soft, others that they would never be united. They would fool around at a distance. They would never come to grips. They would never stand bloodletting. Their democracy and system of recurrent elections would paralyse their war horizon to friend or foe. Now we should see the weakness of this numerous but remote, wealthy, and talkative people. But I had studied the American Civil War, fought out to the last desperate inch.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

The Second World War (1948–1953)
Source: The Grand Alliance: The Second World War, Volume 3, (1950) p. 540

Country , Study , War , People

“Don’t kid yourself: The pain and scars from that day run deep.
I said it many times and it’s no more true or real than when we think about the events of January 6th: We are in a battle for the soul of America. A battle that, by the grace of God and the goodness and gracious — and greatness of this nation, we will win.
Believe me, I know how difficult democracy is. And I’m crystal clear about the threats America faces. But I also know that our darkest days can lead to light and hope.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Source: 2022, Remarks to Mark One Year Since The January 6th Deadly Assault On The U.S. Capitol (2022)

Soul , Thinking , God , Pain

“Those who seek to influence us always work on our individualities, either trying to stifle them with mass hypnotism or to spur them to life with such cries as 'Democracy!’ ... or fulfilment under some other name.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter I, Secrets Behind History

Life

“Human rights and democracy cannot be protected when independent media are routinely intimidated.”

Marco Respinti (1964)

Source: "Pakistan’s Independent Journalists Killed, Wounded, Tortured" https://bitterwinter.org/pakistans-independent-journalists-killed-wounded-tortured/

“Before joining NATO, each country had to establish civilian control of its army. Before joining the European Union, each adopted laws on trade, judiciary, human rights. As a result, they became democracies. This was “democracy promotion” working as it never has before or since.”

Anne Applebaum (1964) journalist

"The myth of Russian humiliation" Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/anne-applebaum-nato-pays-a-heavy-price-for-giving-russia-too-much-credita-true-achievement-under-threat/2014/10/17/5b3a6f2a-5617-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html (October 17, 2014)

Law , Country

“One of the things that we need to take from this moment is that this isn’t just about abortion and it’s not going to end with abortion. But if we are going to register any kind of objections, we need a functioning, healthy democracy. And that’s the first thing that they have disrupted.”

Melissa Murray (1975) American professor of law

"Why Roe Was Never Enough—and What Comes Next" https://msmagazine.com/2022/05/03/roe-v-wade-abortion-democracy-voting-rights-history/, Ms. magazine (May 3, 2022)

“The world’s democracies need to defend and sustain their Enlightenment values. A global retreat from balancing power with legitimacy will cause the social contract to disintegrate both domestically and internationally.”

Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) United States Secretary of State

The Coronavirus Pandemic Will Forever Alter the World Order, by Henry A. Kissinger, The Wall Street Journal https://www.henryakissinger.com/articles/the-coronavirus-pandemic-will-forever-alter-the-world-order/, April 3, 2020
2020s

World

“The people of Ukraine continue to inspire the world with their courage and resolve as they fight bravely to defend their country and their democracy against Russian aggression.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Statement by President Joe Biden on Additional Security Assistance to Ukraine (June 1, 2022) https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/01/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-additional-security-assistance-to-ukraine-2/
2022, June 2022

Courage , Country , People , Fight

“The Berlin Wall is perhaps the most visible expression of the moral gulf between free democracy and totalitarian dictatorship.”

Helmut Kohl (1930–2017) former chancellor of West Germany (1982-1990) and then the united Germany (1990-1998)

As quoted in "East, West Mark Berlin Wall in Conflicting Ways" https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/08/14/east-west-mark-berlin-wall-in-conflicting-ways/0ee15034-ea45-4c31-9490-7f64e7ac159b/ (August 14, 1986), The Washington Post

“Eternal vigilance. Remember, no one said democracy would be easy.”

John Dean (1938) American lawyer, politician

Source: Authoritarian Nightmare (2020), p. 282

“What is democracy? True democracy means the holding of power by the laboring masses. Are laborers unqualified to hold power? Yugoslavia has taken this road and proved to us that even without dictatorial rulers, big or small, the people can work even better.”

Wei Jingsheng (1950) Chinese democracy activist and dissident

The Fifth Modernization (1978) (excerpts)

People

“I consider my release to be only a small victory for human rights and democracy.”

Wei Jingsheng (1950) Chinese democracy activist and dissident

"In Exile, Free Speech at Last in The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/11/22/in-exile-free-speech-at-last/4591c34b-12c4-4a86-be28-261f6a260b8d/ (22 November 1997)

Victory

“I haven't been focused as much as I should have been on supporting trans rights in the last 12 months. I now realize that this is where the fight for global democracy is. There is no avoiding it.”

Jason Stanley (1969) American philosopher

Twitter https://twitter.com/jasonintrator/status/1534592219533000705, 3:44 AM · Jun 9, 2022

Support , Fight

“As we meet again today, in a moment when democracy is under assault around the world, let us unite again and renew our conviction that democracy is not only the defining feature of American histories, but the essential ingredient to Americas’ futures.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2022, June 2022, Remarks by President Biden at the Inaugural Ceremony of the Ninth Summit of the Americas

History , Future , World

“The virus of hate threatens our safety, our institutions, our democracy, our freedoms, and not least, our common humanity. Let us commit ourselves to working together for a more peaceful, just, and loving world.”

Gary Locke (1950) American politician

"Gary Locke keynotes anti-hate summit" in Northwest Asian Weekly https://nwasianweekly.com/2021/10/gary-locke-keynotes-anti-hate-summit/ (29 October 2021)

Hate , Freedom , World , Peace

“We've gone from a traditional system to a modern system that the population needs to learn about, and I believe that the role of the Church today is to educate for democracy.”

Basílio do Nascimento (1950–2021) Roman Catholic bishop of Baucau, East Timor

East Timor bishops prepare for first-ever Ad Limina visit http://www.archivioradiovaticana.va/storico/2014/03/15/east_timor_bishops_prepare_for_first-ever_ad_limina_visit/en1-781767 (15 March 2014)

Learning , Education

“As a liberal democracy, we’re also committed to promoting universal values like human rights, gender equality and the rule of law. We’ve always believed in these values, it’s what makes us who we are.”

Scott Morrison (1968) 30th Prime Minister of Australia

" Our Common Hope, UN General Assembly National Statement" https://www.pm.gov.au/media/our-common-hope-un-general-assembly-national-statement (26 September 2020)

Universe , Law

“We are deeply convinced that it is the parliamentary democracy that corresponds to the nature of the development of our society.”

Sooronbay Jeenbekov (1958) President of Kyrgyzstan

"Sooronbay Jeenbekov addresses 73rd session of UN General Assembly" http://en.kabar.kg/news/sooronbay-jeenbekov-addresses-73rd-session-of-un-general-assembly/ (26 September 2018)

Nature

“We, not just Ukraine but everybody, must make an effort to help the Russian population to direct their country back on the road towards democracy, how to develop democratic institutions and how to develop a living, sustainable society.”

Sergiy Kyslytsya (1969) Ukrainian diplomat

Country , Help , Effort

“Democracy to me means government of the people, by the people and not government of the people, by men. Democracy by nature should be inclusive, with proportionate representation of most, if not all sections of the population of a country.”

Margaret Nasha (1947) Motswana politician

"One woman’s struggles" https://www.sundaystandard.info/ococaone-womanocos-strugglesoco/ (24 March 2014)

People , Country , Nature , Men

“The logic of the sanctions is arguably to starve the people and reduce the political consensus for the authorities and thereby overthrow the government. But as a Pastor, I see that people suffer from poverty and it doesn't seem to me that discussions about democracy are a priority for them.”

Joseph Tobji (1971) archeparch of Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo

Archbishop Tobji of Aleppo after the presidential election: "Sanctions cause hunger and do not lead to more democracy" http://www.fides.org/en/news/70210-ASIA_SYRIA_Archbishop_Tobji_of_Aleppo_after_the_presidential_election_Sanctions_cause_hunger_and_do_not_lead_to_more_democracy (28 May 2021)

People , Suffering

“It is absolutely clear to everyone that the reasons for such a disastrous war as we have endured for seven years now have nothing to do with the demand for democracy or freedom. They have much more to do with a dirty game of world economics.”

Joseph Tobji (1971) archeparch of Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo

“If it weren‘t for the Church, we‘d be dead by now” https://acninternational.org/werent-church-wed-dead-now/ (6 February 2018)

Freedom , War , Game , World

Quotes about democracy page 21

Quotes about democracy
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