“People who do not know what government is are not likely to know what democracy is either, for democracy is only what the soft inside of the oyster looks like.”

—  Elmer Eric Schattschneider

Source: Two Hundred Million Americans in Search of a Government (1969), p. 35

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 "People who do not know what government is are not likely to know what democracy is either, for democracy is only what t…" by Elmer Eric Schattschneider?
Elmer Eric Schattschneider photo
Elmer Eric Schattschneider 8
American political scientist 1892–1971

Related quotes

“What is government? From the outside it looks like a security system based on the marriage of land and people, From the inside, it looks like and attempts to create a community. A government is like an oyster, hard on the outside and soft on the inside, and the outside and inside are utterly dependent on each other.”

Elmer Eric Schattschneider (1892–1971) American political scientist

Source: Two Hundred Million Americans in Search of a Government (1969), p. 24

Hillary Clinton photo

“And Israel is not only our ally; it is a beacon of what democracy can and should mean… If the people of the Middle East are not sure what democracy means, let them look to Israel.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

Hanukkah dinner speech http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0550,lombardi,70903,2.html at Yeshiva University (December 2005)
Senate years (2001 – January 19, 2007)

H.L. Mencken photo

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

"A Few Pages of Notes," http://books.google.com/books?id=hXVHAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Democracy+is+the+theory+that+the+common+people+know+what+they+want+and+deserve+to+get+it+good+and+hard%22&pg=PA435#v=onepage The Smart Set (January 1915); later published in A Little Book in C major http://books.google.com/books?id=EAJbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Democracy+is+the+theory+that+the+common+people+know+what+they+want+and+deserve+to+get+it+good+and+hard%22&pg=PA19#v=onepage (1916), and A Mencken Crestomathy (1949)
1910s
Source: A Little Book in C Major

Gerard Batten photo

“What we do know is that if we do not leave the EU it will mark the end of democracy in the UK.”

Gerard Batten (1954) British politician

Brexit: Protests held at Parliament over delay https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47751805 BBC News (29 March 2019)
2019

Jorge Luis Borges photo

“We do not know what the unicorn looks like.”

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature

Book of Imaginary Beings (1957), as translated by Norman Thomas di Giovanni
Context: It is universally held that the unicorn is a supernatural being and of auspicious omen; so say the odes, the annals, the biographies of worthies, and other texts whose authority is unimpeachable. Even village women and children know that the unicorn is a lucky sign. But this animal does not figure among the barnyard animals, it is not always easy to come across, it does not lend itself to zoological classification. Nor is it like the horse or bull, the wolf or deer. In such circumstances we may be face to face with a unicorn and not know for sure that we are. We know that a certain animal with a mane is a horse and that a certain animal with horns is a bull. We do not know what the unicorn looks like.

“We do not know what things look like.
We know what things are like. It must be a very limiting thing, this seeing. -Aunt Beast”

Madeleine L'Engle book A Wrinkle in Time

Source: A Wrinkle in Time

David Allen photo

“Keys to getting things done: know what "done" means & what "doing" looks like.”

David Allen (1945) American productivity consultant and author

14 January 2012 https://twitter.com/gtdguy/status/158292486358446081
Official Twitter profile (@gtdguy) https://twitter.com/gtdguy

James Baldwin photo

“Words like "freedom," "justice," "democracy" are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

"The Crusade of Indignation," The Nation (New York, 7 July 1956), published in book form in The Price of the Ticket (1985)

Enver Hoxha photo

“I know about your [British] system of democracy, but in that system the workers 'hold keys of straw', as an expression of ours puts it. It is democracy for the capitalists, for the lords, but not for the workers. When we win we shall establish democracy, but not like that democracy of yours. In our country there will be democracy only for the people, while the 'keys of straw' will be in the hands of the beys, aghas and the bajraktars who have always opressed and betrayed the people.”

Enver Hoxha (1908–1985) the Communist leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of L…

Writings, The Artful Albanian

Alfred de Zayas photo

“As far as domestic democracy, all here present know that democracy means government of the people by the people. While we agree that consultation and participation are essential to every democracy, this is seldom achieved in practice.”

Alfred de Zayas (1947) American United Nations official

Statement by the Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, Prof. Dr. Alfred de Zayas. Brussels Conference on a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, 16/17 October 2013 http://www.unpacampaign.org/documents/en/2013UNPA_zayas.pdf.
2014, UNPA - World Parliamentary Assembly

Related topics