Democratic Society Quotes - Page 4

• The bulk of the totalitarian-minded in the democratic societies are men and women who are attracted to this destructive way of life for inner emotional reasons unknown to themselves.

  Joost Meerloo

  Men, Emotional, Atheism

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• Bombs know no ism but barbarism. The laws that successfully govern a peaceful and democratic society do not interfere with the only law bombs know, which is the law of gravity.

  Clare Boothe Luce

  War, Law, Peaceful

  Clare Boothe Luce (1941). “European spring”

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• As a great democratic society, we have a special responsibility to the arts. For art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color. What freedom alone can bring is the liberation of the human mind and a spirit which finds its greatest flowering in the free society. I see of little more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than the full recognition of the place of the artist.

  John F. Kennedy

  Music, Country, Art

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• The strength of democratic societies relies on their capacity to know how to stand firm against extremism while respecting justice in the means used to fight terrorism.

  Tariq Ramadan

  Mean, Fighting, Justice

  "Living together takes effort" by Tariq Ramadan, www.theguardian.com. July 08, 2005.

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• China has seen a great deal of economic progress. It's certainly rather of a miracle. The growing role of the market in the economy will force China to open up its political system over time and to move toward a more democratic society. So taken as a whole, the one real failure in this whole business has been Russia.

  Milton Friedman

  Real, Moving, Taken

  Source: www.npr.org

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• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 laid the foundation for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but it also addressed nearly every other aspect of daily life in a would-be free democratic society.

  Aberjhani

  Rights, Voting, Foundation

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• What is invaluable about Angela Davis work is that she does not limit her politics to issues removed from broader social considerations, but connects every aspect of her scholarship and public interventions to what the contours of a truly democratic society might look like.

  Henry Giroux

  Issues, Limits, Doe

  "Angela Davis, Education and the Meaning of Freedom" by Henry A. Giroux, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 10, 2013.

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• Democracy has always been in crisis: democracy is all about practicing the art of bearable dissatisfaction. In democratic societies, people often complain about their leaders and their institutions. The gap between the ideal democracy and the existing one cannot be bridged.

  Ivan Krastev

  Art, Democracies Have, People

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• The devotion of democracy to education is a familiar fact. The superficial explanation is that a government resting upon popular suffrage cannot be successful unless those who elect and who obey their governors are educated. Since a democratic society repudiates the principle of external authority, it must find a substitute in voluntary disposition and interest; these can be created only by education.

  John Dewey

  Education, Successful, Government

  John Dewey (2015). “Democracy and Education: Top American Authors”, p.66, 谷月社

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• Since a democratic society repudiates the principle of external authority, it must find a substitute in voluntary disposition and interest; these can be created only by education.

  John Dewey

  Education, Principles, Authority

  John Dewey (2015). “Democracy and Education: Top American Authors”, p.66, 谷月社

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• [Felix Frankfurter] said courts are not representative bodies. They're not designed to be a good reflex of a democratic society. Their judgment is best informed and, therefore, most dependable within narrow limits.

  Sam Brownback

  Body, Limits, Judgment

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

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• I say from time to time that the vote is precious. It's almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument that we have in a democratic society. And we must use it.

  John Lewis

  Powerful, Tools, Use

  "The Long March Of John Lewis". Interview with Jamil Smith, www.mtv.com. August 5, 2016.

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• All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment. So merely changing formal religious affiliations will often not help much. On the other hand, in pluralistic, democratic societies, there is the freedom to adopt the religion of your choice. This is good. This lets curious people like you run around on the loose!

  Dalai Lama

  Running, Religious, Honesty

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• Good, healthy democratic societies are built on three pillars: there's peace and stability, economic development, and respect for rule of law and human rights. But often, we take stability - peace in terms of security and economic activity - to mean a country is doing well. We forget the third and important pillar of rule of law and respect for human rights, because no country can long remain prosperous without that third pillar.

  Kofi Annan

  Country, Mean, Rights

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• If our courts lose their authority and their rulings are no longer respected, there will be no one left to resolve the divisive issues that can rip the social fabric apart ... The courts are a safety valve without which no democratic society can survive.

  Rose Bird

  Rip, Issues, Safety

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• The average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth... It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty - and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Average, Special

  Baltimore Evening Sun, February 12, 1923.

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• Politics in a democratic society should not be treated like a baseball game, a game show or a soap opera. The times are too serious for that.

  Bernie Sanders

  Baseball, Games, Soap

  Bernie Sanders (2016). “Our Revolution: A Future to Believe in”, p.101, Profile Books

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• In pluralistic, democratic societies, there is the freedom to adopt the religion of your choice. This is good. This lets curious people like you run around on the loose!

  Dalai Lama

  Running, People, Choices

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• Our democratic values also include - and our national security demands - open and transparent government. Some information obviously needs to be protected. And since his first days in office, President Obama has worked to strike the proper balance between the security the American people deserve and the openness our democratic society expects.

  John O. Brennan

  Government, People, Office

  "Strengthening our Security by Adhering to our Values and Laws". John O. Brennan's Speech at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. September 16, 2011.

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• Of course, most luxury goods in China are for corrupted officials and their relatives. And that made China become the biggest luxury-goods market. In this kind of dictatorship, in this kind of totalitarian society, it is easy to make deals that you cannot make in a democratic society.

  Ai Weiwei

  Luxury, Kind, Easy

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• I grew up in a dictatorship, so I really appreciate democracy. I think democracy isn't just a random thing that's around - a democratic society needs the involvement of everybody.

  Paul van Dyk

  Thinking, Appreciate, Democracy

  "The Evolution of EDM Pioneer Paul van Dyk". Interview with Samantha Oltman, www.motherjones.com. January 23, 2012.

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• Democratic societies can't force people. Therefore they have to control what they think.

  Noam Chomsky

  Thinking, People, Force

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• Markets are a social construction, they're made from institutions. We in a democratic society create markets, we constitute markets, we bring them into existence, and we shouldn't turn markets over to a narrow group of people who regulate them and run them in their interests, rather they should be run democratically for the common good.

  Douglas Massey

  Running, People, Groups

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• It is a mistake - as so many over-centralized socialist societies have discovered - to try to eliminate money as an incentive. Money is one incentive among many, and has its place. But to put no limits on the impulse to accumulate money obsessively is as destructive as to place no limits on the impulse to commit violence. A viable democratic society needs a ceiling and a floor with regard to the distribution of wealth and assets.

  Philip Slater

  Mistake, Trying, Ceilings

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• I am always suspicious of the formulation that "politics" has prevented a great idea from being enacted by government. Politics IS government, in a democratic society. It's a challenge for school reformers, like reformers in any realm, to build a popular constituency for their work. If the people it's supposed to benefit vote against it, that tells me that the person pushing reform lacks political skill. And political skill is a good thing.

  Nicholas Lemann

  School, Government, Skills

  "Ask the Author Live: Nicholas Lemann on Higher Education". Live chat, www.newyorker.com. September 20, 2010.

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