Democracies Have Quotes

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  No man is good enough to govern another man without the other's consent.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Leadership, Witty, Men

  90 Copy quote

• A modern democracy is a tyranny whose borders are undefined; one discovers how far one can go only by traveling in a straight line until one is stopped.

  Norman Mailer

  Freedom, Tyrants, Democracy

  1963 The Presidential Papers, preface.

  65 Copy quote

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• Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear.

  Alan Coren

  Freedom, Thinking, Democracy

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

  33 Copy quote

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• No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.

  Mark Twain

  Life, Trust, Freedom

  115 Copy quote
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  The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Government, Libertarian Party

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.29, Vintage

  196 Copy quote

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• Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule—and both commonly succeed, and are right.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, War, Party

  Minority Report : H.L. Mencken's Notebooks (222), 1956.

  93 Copy quote

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• A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.65, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  118 Copy quote

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• 

  Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

  Margaret Mead

  Inspirational, Life, Friendship

  Margaret Mead, Robert B. Textor (2005). “The World Ahead: An Anthropologist Anticipates the Future”, p.12, Berghahn Books

  270 Copy quote

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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, Majority Rule, Democracy

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

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• 

  We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Freedom, Men, Congress And The President

  1139 Copy quote

• Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Trust, Freedom, Educational

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.106, Rowman & Littlefield

  95 Copy quote

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

  Lord Acton

  Majority Rule, Evil, Democracy

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

  33 Copy quote

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• Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Ignorance, Majority Rule

  "Notes On Journalism". Chicago Tribune, September 19, 1926.

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• The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

  James Madison

  Freedom, War, Mean

  74 Copy quote

• Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Freedom, Government, Voting

  "The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw".

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• 

  Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Trust, Time, Government

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.235, Cambridge University Press

  136 Copy quote

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• Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.

  William Penn

  Thinking, People, Cynical

  Benjamin Franklin, William Penn (2012). “Franklin's Way to Wealth and Penn's Maxims”, p.51, Courier Corporation

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• Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy.

  Benito Mussolini

  Beautiful, Practice, Democracy

  to Edwin L James of the New York Times, 1928.

  237 Copy quote

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• If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Education, Freedom, War

  Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, 6 January 1816

  59 Copy quote

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• The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open.

  Gunter Grass

  Jobs, Freedom, House

  66 Copy quote

• That government is best which governs least.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Freedom, Government, Libertarian Party

  Civil Disobedience (1849) See Ralph Waldo Emerson 29; O'Sullivan 1; Shipley 1

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• Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Inspirational, Funny, Money

  P. J. O'Rourke (2007). “Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government”, p.24, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  137 Copy quote

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• In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued - they may be essential to survival.

  Noam Chomsky

  Freedom, Hero, Survival

  17 Copy quote

• There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship.

  Ralph Nader

  Freedom, Democracy, Citizens

  61 Copy quote

• The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.

  James Madison

  Education, Freedom, Inspirational Life

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.41, University of Virginia Press

  100 Copy quote

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