Democracy Quotes - Page 26

• Why is acquiescence to the numerous viewed as better servitude than bowing to might?

  William J. Murray

  Acquiescence, Might, Servitude

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• Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Presidential, Freedom Of Speech, Would Be

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• Our two nations both faced great challenges when they were founded, and our two nations have both relied on the same principles to help us succeed. We've built strong democracies to protect the freedoms given to us by an Almighty God. We've welcomed immigrants, who have helped us thrive. We've built prosperous economies by rewarding innovation and risk-taking and trade. And we've built an enduring alliance to confront terrorists and tyrants.

  George W. Bush

  Strong, Two Nations, Israel

  George W. Bush's Remarks with Prime Minister Olmert in Israel, georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. May 14, 2008.

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• And a democracy, I suppose, comes into being when the poor, winning the victory, put to death some of the other party, drive out others, and grant the rest of the citizens an equal share in both citizenship and offices.

  Plato

  Party, Winning, Office

  Plato (1935). “The Republic”

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• The good news, to relieve all this gloom, is that a democracy is inherently self-correcting. Here, the people are sovereign. Inept political leaders can be replaced. Foolish policies can be changed. Disastrous mistakes can be reversed.

  Theodore C. Sorensen

  Mistake, Self, People

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• In a small Swiss city sits an international organization so obscure and secretive... Control of the institution, the Bank for International Settlements, lies with some of the world's most powerful and least visible men: the heads of 32 central banks, officials able to shift billions of dollars and alter the course of economies at the stroke of a pen.

  Keith Bradsher

  Money, Powerful, Lying

  "INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS; Obscure Global Bank Moves Into the Light". www.nytimes.com. August 5, 1995.

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• The lessons of religious toleration - a toleration which recognizes complete liberty of human thought, liberty of conscience - is one which, by precept and example, must be inculcated in the hearts and minds of all Americans if the institutions of our democracy are to be maintained and perpetuated. We must recognize the fundamental rights of man. There can be no true national life in our democracy unless we give unqualified recognition to freedom of religious worship and freedom of education.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Religious, Heart, Men

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• It has been hard to muster the resources to support fledgling democracies and to intervene on behalf of the most desperate. The AIDS orphans in Uganda, the refugee fleeing Zimbabwe, the young woman who has been trafficked into the sex trade in Southeast Asia. It has been hard, yet this assistance together with the compassionate work of private charities, people of conscience and people of faith, has shown the soul of our country.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Country, Sex, Zimbabwe

  Condoleezza Rice's Speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, www.foxnews.com. August 29, 2012.

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• The values of science and the values of democracy are concordant, in many cases indistinguishable. Science and democracy began - in their civilized incarnations - in the same time and place, Greece in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. . . . Science thrives on, indeed requires, the free exchange of ideas; its values are antithetical to secrecy. Science holds to no special vantage points or privileged positions. Both science and democracy encourage unconventional opinions and vigorous debate. Both demand adequate reason, coherent argument, rigorous standards of evidence and honesty.

  Carl Sagan

  Honesty, Ideas, Special

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• Good, law-abiding, value-oriented citizens are the ultimate in hypocrisy; "majority rules" and the law are exactly the same as being the biggest bully on the block with the biggest stick-it is only might that allows one group to force another to live by its code of conduct.

  William J. Murray

  Block, Law, Majority Rule

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• Democracies die behind closed doors. . . . When government begins closing doors, it selectively controls information rightfully belonging to the people. Selective information is misinformation.

  Damon Keith

  Government, Doors, People

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• I think it reflects the reality on the ground, that this was an important milestone that's been achieved by the Iraqi people, and it's a significant development. It's a real hopeful moment for democracy in Iraq.

  Scott McClellan

  Real, Thinking, Iraq

  "Bush says Iraq stands at 'turning point' / Leading Democrat calls for country to be split into sections" by Edward Epstein, www.sfgate.com. May 2, 2006.

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• The reality is that we are hated not because of our democracy, freedoms, and generous social security system; rather, we are hated because of our involvement in foreign conflicts and quarrels that were never our concern.

  Amir Butler

  Reality, Security Systems, Conflict

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• Since Humanism as a functioning credo is so closely bound up with the methods of reason and science, plainly free speech and democracy are its very lifeblood. For reason and scientific method can flourish only in an atmosphere of civil liberties.

  Corliss Lamont

  Atmosphere, Liberty, Speech

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• It [concentration of wealth and power] has been a menace to . . . American democracy.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Concentration Of Wealth, Political, Menace

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• We also call upon the king to hand over power to the political parties and for the political parties to shoulder their responsibility and turn the people's demands for democracy and good governance into reality.

  Joseph Adam Ereli

  Kings, Party, Responsibility

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• A democracy cannot flourish half rich and half poor, any more than it can flourish half free and half slave.

  Felix Rohatyn

  Government, Half, Rich

  "Ethics in America's Money Culture". www.nytimes.com. June 3, 1987.

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• Democracy is no solution - it's just 51% bossing the other 49% around. For God's sake, Hitler was democratically elected! Democracy is just mob rule dressed up in a coat and tie.

  Doug Casey

  Ties, Sake, Mob Rule

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• On why I don't trust democracy without extremely powerful systems of accountability and recall What seems to be generosity is often only disguised ambition - which despises small interests to gain great ones.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Powerful, Ambition, Generosity

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• For the system of government you fashioned including the very principles on which you based it, is increasingly obsolete, and hence increasingly, if inadvertently, oppressive and dangerous to our welfare. It must be radically changed and a new system of government invented, a democracy for the 21st century. For this wisdom, above all, I thank Mr. Jefferson who helped create the system that served us so well for so long, and that now must, in its turn, die and be replaced.

  Newt Gingrich

  Government, Long, Principles

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• What kind of victory is it when someone is left defeated? What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy. What is a war criminal? Was not war itself a crime against God and humanity, and, therefore, were not all those who sanctioned, engineered and conducted wars, war criminals? The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Strong, War, Differences

  Non-Violence in Peace and War (1942) vol. 1, ch. 142

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• As someone who lived under communism for most of my life I feel obliged to say that the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity at the beginning of the 21st century is not communism or its various softer variants. Communism was replaced by the threat of ambitious environmentalism.

  Vaclav Klaus

  Ambitious, Global Warming, Prosperity

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• Climate change now represents so urgent a threat to mankind that the only way to deal with it is by suspending democracy.

  James Lovelock

  Way, Climate, Global Warming

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• The act of voting by ordinary Iraqis in the face of extreme danger confirms President Bush's belief that people around the globe, when given a chance, will choose liberty and democracy over enslavement and tyranny.

  John Ensign

  People, Voting, President

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• We are enjoying in Africa what I call the democracy dividend. The progress we are seeing, economic development are all part of the dividend of good governance, respect for human rights, rule of law. It has created an enabling environment that allows not only foreigners to come in and invest but for Ghanaians to invest. It has created an atmosphere for our young people to be creative, innovative

  John Dramani Mahama

  Rights, Law, People

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