“MacAllister commented recently that Plato was right, that democracy is mob rule, that the voters can be counted on consistently to find the candidate with the fewest scruples and put him in office.”

— Jack McDevitt

Epilogue (p. 423)
Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Odyssey (2006)

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Jack McDevitt 125

American novelist, Short story writer 1935

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“Plato is correct about democracy. It is essentially mob rule. And once the mob gets an idea into its collective head, it’s almost impossible to get it out, or modify it in any way. In an era of mass communication and irresponsible media, it can be a deadly characteristic.”

Jack McDevitt (1935) American novelist, Short story writer

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Odyssey (2006), Chapter 32 (p. 289)

“Democracy is not a synonym for justice or for freedom. Democracy is not a sacred right sanctifying mob rule. Democracy is a principle that is subordinate to the inalienable rights of the individual.”

Terry Goodkind (1948) American novelist

Q&A page at the Terry Goodkind Official Site http://www.prophets-inc.com/communicate/q_and_a.html
Context: People use democracy as a free-floating abstraction disconnected from reality. Democracy in and of itself is not necessarily good. Gang rape, after all, is democracy in action.
All men have the right to live their own life. Democracy must be rooted in a rational philosophy that first and foremost recognizes the right of an individual. A few million Imperial Order men screaming for the lives of a much smaller number of people in the New World may win a democratic vote, but it does not give them the right to those lives, or make their calls for such killing right.
Democracy is not a synonym for justice or for freedom. Democracy is not a sacred right sanctifying mob rule. Democracy is a principle that is subordinate to the inalienable rights of the individual.

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51 percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49.”

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

There are no indications that Jefferson ever stated anything like this; slight variants of this statement seem to have become widely attributed to Jefferson only since its appearance in three books of 2004: The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey (2004) by Ken Schoolland, p. 235; Damn-ocracy — Government From Hell!: The Political, Economic And Money System (2004) by Wendall Dennis and Reason And Reality : A Novel (2004) by Mishrilal Jain, p. 232; see also info at Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/Democracy_is_nothing_more_than_mob_rule.
Misattributed

“MacAllister wasn’t always right, but he was smart enough to know that. He was willing to change his mind when the evidence pointed in a different direction. That fact alone put MacAllister very nearly in a class by himself.”

Jack McDevitt (1935) American novelist, Short story writer

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Odyssey (2006), Chapter 24 (p. 220)

“Many senior policemen put greater emphasis on maintaining 'order' than on upholding the law. In practice that meant failing to uphold the rights of individuals against the rule of the mob.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

The Path To Power (1995)

“A platform is something a candidate stands for and the voters fall for.”

Gracie Allen (1902–1964) American actress and comedienne

Source: How to Become President (1940), Ch. 7 : Buying a good used platform

“We are not chosen by God, but by the voters—therefore we seek dialogue with all those who put effort into this democracy.”

Willy Brandt (1913–1992) German social-democratic politician; Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany

Wir sind keine Erwählten, wir sind Gewählte. Deshalb suchen wir das Gespräch mit allen, die sich um diese Demokratie bemühen.
government policy statement on 28 October 1969, p. 19, bwbs.de http://www.bwbs.de/UserFiles/File/PDF/Regierungserklaerung691028.pdf (PDF file).