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

  80 Copy quote

• It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny.

  James F. Cooper

  Freedom, Men, Law

  "The American Democrat: Or, Hints on the Social and Civic Relations of the United States of America". Book by James Fenimore Cooper, 1838.

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• There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

  John Adams

  Inspirational, Trust, Freedom

  'Notes for an Oration at Braintree' (Spring 1772)

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• If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.

  Aristotle

  Freedom, Equality, Government

  Aristotle (2016). “Politics”, p.131, Aristotle

  21 Copy quote

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• 

  The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

  Winston Churchill

  Funny, Trust, Witty

  Winston S. Churchill (2013). “Churchill By Himself”, p.1079, RosettaBooks

  415 Copy quote

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• Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

  C. S. Lewis

  Peace, War, Government

  C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.45, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  72 Copy quote

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• Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

  Abraham Lincoln

  4th Of July, Patriotic, America

  Gettysburg Address, Gettysburg, Pa., 19 Nov. 1863.

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• Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Religion, Democracy

  94 Copy quote

• If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

  James Madison

  Adversity, Angel, Men

  The Federalist no. 51 (1788)

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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, Majority Rule, Hype

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

  92 Copy quote

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• Government is best which governs least

  Thomas Paine

  Freedom, Government, Libertarian Party

  29 Copy quote

• Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people.

  Harry Emerson Fosdick

  Freedom, People, Diversity

  "The Home Book of Quotations, Classical and Modern". Book by Burton Egbert Stevenson, 1937.

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• It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.

  C. S. Lewis

  Libertarian Party, Government, Security And Freedom

  C. S. Lewis (2014). “God in the Dock”, p.324, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• The leading student of business propaganda, Australian social scientist Alex Carey, argues persuasively that “the 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.

  Noam Chomsky

  Mean, Australia Day, Political

  Noam Chomsky (1997). “World Orders, Old and New”, p.89, Pluto Press

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• Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.

  Plato

  Plato, Political, Democracy

  35 Copy quote

• It may be concluded that a pure democracy . . . can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction.

  James Madison

  Democracy, May, Factions

  Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison (2010). “The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States”, p.58, Modern Library

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• The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

  Isaac Asimov

  Mean, Ignorance, Knowledge

  "A Cult of Ignorance". Newsweek, January 21, 1980.

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• A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

  John F. Kennedy

  Christian, Peace, War

  Kennedy, John F. (1963). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962”, p.163, Best Books on

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• Imagine if all of life were determined by majority rule. Every meal would be a pizza. Every pair of pants, even those in a Brooks Brothers suit, would be stone-washed denim. Celebrity diet and exercise books would be the only thing on the shelves at the library. And - since women are a majority of the population - we'd all be married to Mel Gibson.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Life, Brother, Book

  P.J. O'Rourke (2015). “Thrown Under the Omnibus”, p.207, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• So, two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism.

  E. M. Forster

  Cheer, Two, Democracy

  Two Cheers for Democracy "What I Believe" (1951)

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• Education is a human right with immense power to transform

  Kofi Annan

  Education, Democracy, Human Development

  Twitter post from Jun 03, 2016

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• Democracy needs support, and the best support for democracy comes from other democracies.

  Benazir Bhutto

  Support, Democracy, Needs

  Benazir Bhutto (1989). “Speeches and Statements: Apr. 2-Nov. 14, 1989”

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• Democracy is necessary to peace and to undermining the forces of terrorism.

  Benazir Bhutto

  Democracy, Terrorism, Force

  Interview With Zahid Hussain, newslinemagazine.com. July 2002.

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• Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Government, Voters, Aliens

  Franklin D. Roosevelt's address in Marietta, Ohio, July 8, 1938.

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• When people put their ballots in the boxes, they are, by that act, inoculated against the feeling that the government is not theirs. They then accept, in some measure, that its errors are their errors, its aberrations their aberrations, that any revolt will be against them. It's a remarkably shrewd and rather conservative arrangement when one thinks of it.

  John Kenneth Galbraith

  Thinking, Errors, Government

  "The Age of Uncertainty". Book by John Kenneth Galbraith. Chapter 12, p. 330, 1977.

  6 Copy quote

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