Majority And Minority Quotes

• Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  Mark Twain (2016). “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain”, p.97, Chartwell

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  It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.

  Samuel Adams

  Inspirational, Life, Freedom

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• It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.

  Lord Acton

  Freedom, Equality, Democracies Have

  Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.9, VM eBooks

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• All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, Patriotic, Equality

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801

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• Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion - and who, therefore, in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion ... while Truth again reverts to a new minority.

  Soren Kierkegaard

  Workout, Truth, Inspiration

  "The Diary of Soren Kierkegaard" by Soren Kierkegaard, pt. 5, sct. 3, no 128, 1850.

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• Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority.

  Ayn Rand

  Rights, Liberty, Majority

  Ayn Rand (1964). “The Virtue of Selfishness”, p.100, Penguin

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• Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).

  Ayn Rand

  Freedom, Rights, Political

  Ayn Rand (1964). “The Virtue of Selfishness”, p.100, Penguin

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• The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.

  Ralph Washington Sockman

  Life, Courage, Bullying

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• The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority.

  Lord Acton

  Democracies Have, Majority Rule, Evil

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.103, Jazzybee Verlag

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• The minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion.

  Soren Kierkegaard

  Stronger, Majority, Minorities

  "The Diary of Soren Kierkegaard" by Soren Kierkegaard, pt. 5, sct. 3, no 128, 1850.

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• That the desires of the majority of the people are often for injustice and inhumanity against the minority, is demonstrated by every page of the history of the world.

  John Adams

  People, Democracy, Desire

  John Adams (2015). “The Works of John Adams Vol. 6: Defence of the Constitution IV, Discourses on Davila”, p.43, Jazzybee Verlag

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• The majority is always wrong; the minority is rarely right.

  Henrik Ibsen

  Majority, Minorities, Literature

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• Though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Majority Rule, Tyranny Of The Majority, Minorities

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801

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• Shall we then judge a country by the majority, or by the minority? By the minority, surely.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Country, Pride, Gay

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.2360, Delphi Classics

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• When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong.

  Eugene V. Debs

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Majority Rule

  Speech at trial, Cleveland, Ohio, 12 Sept. 1918 See Ibsen 16; Sydney Smith 14

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• the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Law, Majority Rule

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801

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  In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

  Edmund Burke

  Freedom, Exercise, Democracy

  Edmund Burke (1790). “Reflections on the Revolution in France: And on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. In a Letter Intended to Have Been Sent to a Gentleman in Paris”, p.186

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• A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Majority, Minorities, Catchy

  Henry David Thoreau (1942). “Civil Disobedience”, p.11, Hayes Barton Press

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• The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.

  Lord Acton

  Party, Democracies Have, Majority Rule

  John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom (and other Essays)”, p.103, Jazzybee Verlag

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• A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Power, Majority, Minorities

  Henry David Thoreau (1942). “Civil Disobedience”, p.11, Hayes Barton Press

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• The minority yields to the majority!

  Deng Xiaoping

  Yield, Majority, Minorities

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Desperate courage makes One a majority.

  Andrew Jackson

  Courage, Majority, Desperate

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• In making the great experiment of governing people by consent rather than by coercion, it is not sufficient that the party in power should have a majority. It is just as necessary that the party in power should never outrage the minority.

  Walter Lippmann

  Party, Power, Should Have

  Walter Lippmann, Clinton Rossiter, James Lare (1982). “The Essential Lippmann: A Political Philosophy for Liberal Democracy”, p.233, Harvard University Press

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• What we call a democratic society might be defined for certain purposes as one in which the majority is always prepared to put down a revolutionary minority.

  Walter Lippmann

  Hymns, Majority, Minorities

  Walter Lippmann (2003). “Men of Destiny (Ppr)”, p.56, Transaction Publishers

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• Majorities and minorities cannot rightfully be taken at all into account in deciding questions of justice.

  Lysander Spooner

  Taken, Justice, Majority

  Henry Bool, Lysander Spooner, Edwin C. Walker (1972). “Individualist anarchist pamphlets”

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