Democratic Quotes - Page 38

• It is possible for a dictator to govern in a liberal way. And it is also possible for a democracy to govern with a total lack of liberalism. Personally I prefer a liberal dictator to democratic government lacking liberalism.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Government, Democracy, Way

  "El Mercurio" Newspaper, 1981.

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• Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism as I understand it.

  George Orwell

  Democratic Socialism, Serious Work, Lines

  George Orwell (1970). “A Collection of Essays”, p.314, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Sycophancy toward those who hold power is a fact in every regime, and especially in a democracy, where, unlike tyranny, there is an accepted principle of legitimacy that breaks the inner will to resist.... Flattery of the people and incapacity to resist public opinion are the democratic vices, particularly among writers, artists, journalists and anyone else who is dependent on an audience.

  Allan Bloom

  Artist, People, Democracy

  Allan Bloom (2008). “Closing of the American Mind”, p.249, Simon and Schuster

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• I am leading a war against the British Empire. I'm not worried about what Democratic Party hacks say or do.

  Kesha

  War, Party, Empires

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• With people's revolutionary rage, the king will be ousted and a democratic state, Islamic Republic, will be established.

  Ruhollah Khomeini

  Kings, Islamic, People

  "Imam's Sahife", Volume 4 (p. 244), November 1, 1978.

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• You may ask what kind of a republic I dream of. Let me reply: I dream of a republic independent, free, and democratic, of a republic economically prosperous and yet socially just; in short, of a humane republic which serves the individual and which therefore holds the hope that the individual will serve it in turn. Of a republic of well-rounded people, because without such it is impossible to solve any of our problems, human, economic, ecological, social, or political.

  Vaclav Havel

  Dream, Independent, People

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• Never before has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public's sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties, even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Passion, Sacrifice, Self

  "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives". Book by Zbigniew Brzezinski, 1997.

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• It matters enormously to a successful democratic society like ours that we have three branches of government, each with some independence and some control over the other two. Thats set out in the Constitution.

  Sandra Day O'Connor

  Successful, Two, Government

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• In a Society becoming steadily more privatized with private homes, cars, computers, offices and shopping centers, the public component of our lives is disappearing. It is more and more important to make the cities inviting, so we can meet our fellow citizens face to face and experience directly through our senses. Public life in good quality public spaces is an important part of a democratic life and a full life.

  Jan Gehl

  Home, Cities, Shopping

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• De Tocqueville considered the impulse toward well-being as one of the strongest impulses of a democratic society. He can't be blamed for underestimating the destructive powers generated by this same impulse.

  Saul Bellow

  Underestimate, Impulse, Well Being

  Saul Bellow (1976). “Herzog”, Viking Adult

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• I'm not up on the Internet, but I hear that is a democratic possibility. People can connect with each other. I think people are ready for something, but there is no leadership to offer it to them. People are ready to say, 'Yes, we are part of a world.

  Studs Terkel

  Leadership, Thinking, People

  "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly", www.pbs.org. December 19, 2003.

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• As a matter of constitutional tradition, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we presume that governmental regulation of the content of speech is more likely to interfere with the free exchange of ideas than to encourage it. The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship.

  John Paul Stevens

  Government, Expression, Ideas

  "Excerpts From Ruling on Internet: 'Statute Abridges the Freedom of Speech'". www.nytimes.com. June 27, 1997.

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• As long as there is democracy, there will be people wanting to play jazz because nothing else will ever so perfectly capture the democratic process in sound. Jazz means working things out musically with other people. You have to listen to other musicians and play with them even if you don't agree with what they're playing. It teaches you the very opposite of racism and anti-Semitism. It teaches you that the world is big enough to accommodate us all.

  Wynton Marsalis

  Mean, Opposites, Play

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• One of the emphases of the new democratic order is no impunity.

  Yoweri Museveni

  Order, Emphasis, Impunity

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• We want only peace, to build up our country. World opinion is paying great attention to the threat against Democratic Kampuchea. They are anxious, they fear Kampuchea cannot oppose the Vietnamese. This could hurt the interests of the Southeast Asian countries and all of the world's countries.

  Pol Pot

  Country, Hurt, Asian

  "Pol Pot remembered" by Elizabeth Becker, news.bbc.co.uk. April 20, 1998.

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• Our march to freedom is irreversible. We must not allow fear to stand in our way. Universal suffrage on a common voters' roll in a united, democratic and non-racial South Africa is the only way to peace and racial harmony.

  Nelson Mandela

  Voters, Way, Common

  Rally Address Following Release From Pollsmoor Prison, delivered 11 February 1990, Cape Town, South Africa

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• There's too many people that paint with a broad brush that we're all corrupt, we're all amoral. … And having these kinds of things happen, whether it's a Republican or Democratic senator — we certainly have had plenty of Democratic scandals in the past — we need people who are in office who will hold themselves to a little higher standard.

  John Ensign

  Past, Office, People

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• The people of Iraq realize that a stable, successful, democratic Iraq can only come about if average Iraqis are willing to sacrifice to build it.

  John Ensign

  Successful, Sacrifice, Average

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• Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.

  Aung San Suu Kyi

  Strong, Mean, Men

  "Freedom from Fear". Aung San Suu Kyi's Acceptance Speech for the 1990 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu. January 1, 1990.

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• Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want.

  Clive Barnes

  People, Culture, Television

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• There is an absence of democratic accountability and control in every sphere of government and the state. To address this debilitating legacy requires determined action and a deep commitment to transforming our society from a crisis ridden present into something all South Africans can be truly proud of.

  Nelson Mandela

  Commitment, Government, Accountability

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• Most of us are conditioned for many years to have a political viewpoint - Republican or Democratic, liberal, conservative, or moderate. The fact of the matter is that most of the problems that we now face are technical problems, are administrative problems. They are very sophisticated judgments, which do not lend themselves to the great sort of passionate movements which have stirred this country so often in the past. - They deal with questions which are now beyond the comprehension of most men.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Past, Men

  Kennedy, John F. (1963). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962”, p.422, Best Books on

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• We all operate in two contrasting modes, which might be called open and closed. The open mode is more relaxed, more receptive, more exploratory, more democratic, more playful and more humorous. The closed mode is the tighter, more rigid, more hierarchical, more tunnel-visioned. Most people, unfortunately spend most of their time in the closed mode.

  John Cleese

  Humorous, Creativity, Two

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• Some believe that the only way to remove the authoritarian regime and replace it with a democratic one is through violent means. I would like to set the precedent of political change through political settlement, not through violence.

  Aung San Suu Kyi

  Believe, Mean, Political

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• The democratic youth lives along day by day, gratifying the desire that occurs to him, at one time drinking and listening to the flute, at another downing water and reducing, now practicing gymnastic, and again idling and neglecting everything; and sometimes spending his time as though he were occupied in philosophy.

  Plato

  Plato, Philosophy, Drinking

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