Democratic Ideals Quotes

• During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

  Nelson Mandela

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Success

  FaceBook post by Nelson Mandela from Apr 20, 2014

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• Bosses are no more inevitable in state and local governments than dictators are in national governments. They will arise and prosper, nevertheless, if true believers of democracy - citizens devoted to the democratic ideals - do not constantly oppose them.

  Charles Edison

  Government, Boss, Democracy

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• I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.

  Nelson Mandela

  Wisdom, Opportunity, Equality

  Statement at trial, Johannesburg, South Africa, 20 Apr. 1964

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• The unhealthy gap between what we preach in America and what we often practice creates a moral dry rot that eats at the very foundation of our democratic ideals and values.

  Whitney M. Young

  Practice, America, Foundation

  Whitney M. Young (1964). “To be equal”

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• Cooperation called fraternity in the classic French formula is as much a part of the democratic ideal as is personal initiative. That cultural conditions were allowed to develop (markedly so in the economic phase) which subordinated cooperativeness to liberty and equality serves to explain the decline in the two latter.

  John Dewey

  Two, Liberty, Phases

  John Dewey, Jo Ann Boydston, Steven M. Cahn (2008). “The Later Works, 1925-1953: 1938-1939”, p.78, SIU Press

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• Our modern democratic ideal is based on the hope that inequalities will be based on merit more than inheritance or luck.

  Thomas Piketty

  Luck, Inheritance, Merit

  "French economist Thomas Piketty compares US economy to Europe in the Gilded Age". Associated Press Interview, www.oregonlive.com. April 23, 2014.

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• Perhaps our national ambition to standardize ourselves has behind it the notion that democracy means standardization. But standardization is the surest way to destroy the initiative, to denumb the creative impulse above all else essential to the vitality and growth of democratic ideals.

  Ida Tarbell

  Ambition, Mean, Creative

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• Once we recognize the power of propaganda, we need to ask whether its exercise is consistent with those democratic ideals to which lip-service is commonly accorded.

  Randal Marlin

  Exercise, Lips, Needs

  Randal Marlin (2002). “Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion”, p.13, Broadview Press

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• The democratic ideal springs from the ideas of liberty, equality, majority rule through free elections, protection of the rights of minorities, and freedom to subscribe to multiple loyalties in matters of religion, economics, and politics rather than to a total loyalty to the state. The spirit of democracy is the idea of importance and worth in the individual, and faith in the kind of world where the individual can achieve as much of his potential as possible.

  Saul Alinsky

  Loyalty, Spring, Rights

  Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.24, Vintage

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• The democratic ideal has always been related to a moderate level of inequality. I think one big reason why electoral democracy flourished in 19th century America better than 19th century Europe is because you had more equal distribution of wealth in America.

  Thomas Piketty

  Thinking, Europe, America

  "French economist Thomas Piketty compares US economy to Europe in the Gilded Age". The Associated Press Interview, www.oregonlive.com. April 23, 2014.

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• Yale is a crucible in American life for the accommodation of intellectual achievement, of wisdom, of refinement, with the democratic ideals of openness, of social justice and of equal opportunity.

  Benno C. Schmidt, Jr.

  Opportunity, Yale, Justice

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• The moral and social aspiration proper to American life is, of course, the aspiration vaguely described by the word democratic; and the actual achievement of the American nation points towards an adequate and fruitful definition of the democratic ideal.

  Herbert Croly

  Swag, Achievement, Literature

  Herbert Croly (2005). “The Promise of American Life”, p.17, Cosimo, Inc.

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• In other words, all these things you might cling to, Catholicism, democratic ideals, Hasidism, Marxism, Freudianism, all of these things are exposed [through use of psychedelics] as simply quaint cultural artifacts, painted masks and rattles assembled by people of good intent but clearly not great grasp of the situation.

  Terence McKenna

  People, Might, Use

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• I've written a book entitled 'Islam: the Challenges of Democracy,' because it is a challenge. It requires careful interpretation of the Islamic tradition and Islamic theology, and there's a lot in there that would support democratic ideals.

  Khaled Abou El Fadl

  Book, Islamic, Support

  "The Great Theft". Interview with Melanie Colburn, www.motherjones.com. November 18, 2005.

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• The United States is not so strong, the final triumph of the democratic ideal is not so inevitable that we can ignore what the world thinks of us or our record.

  Harry S. Truman

  Strong, Thinking, Triumph

  Harry S. Truman (1960). “Freedom and equality, addresses”

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• Even when you cherish democratic ideals, it is never easy to turn them into effective democratic institutions. This process will take decades.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Democracy, Cherish, Easy

  Keynote Address at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, delivered 23 January 2008, Davos, Switzerland

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• The ideal may seem remote of execution, but the democratic ideal of education is a farcical yet tragic delusion except as the ideal more and more dominates our public system of education.

  John Dewey

  May, Execution, Tragic

  John Dewey (2015). “Democracy and Education: Top American Authors”, p.75, 谷月社

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• It sometimes seems as though we were trying to combine the ideal of no schools at all with the democratic ideal of schools for everybody by having schools without education.

  Robert M. Hutchins

  Education, School, Trying

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