Democracy Quotes

I wanted to get far away from those who believed in cruelty, so then I went to France, a land of true freedom, democracy, equality and fraternity.

~ Josephine Baker

It is a strange fact that freedom and equality, the two basic ideas of democracy, are to some extent contradictory. Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive, just as society and the individual are mutually exclusive.

~ Thomas Mann

Democracy does not require perfect equality, but it does require that citizens share a common life. What matters is that people of different backgrounds and social positions encounter one another, and bump up against one another, in the course of ordinary life.

~ Michael Sandel

The struggle for equality is really a struggle for democracy, and that's why it's a struggle for all the population.

~ Ayman Odeh

Neoliberalism considers the discourse of equality, justice, and democracy quaint, if not dangerous and must be either trivialized, turned into its Orwellian opposite, or eviscerated from public life.

~ Henry Giroux

Democracy matters because it reflects an idea of equality and an idea of liberty. It reflects an idea of dignity, the dignity of the individual, the idea that each individual should have an equal vote, an equal say, in the formation of their government.

~ Rory Stewart

The fact is that democracy anywhere in the world, including in the United States, is not something that comes easy. And yet, we are committed to it, and equality and democracy are the only ways in the long run that Jews will be safe in the Middle East.

~ Ian Lustick

Democracy not only requires equality but also an unshakable conviction in the value of each person, who is then equal.

~ Jeane Kirkpatrick

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

~ Irving Kristol

Which, autocracy or democracy, is really better suited to modern China? If we base our judgment upon the intelligence and the ability of the Chinese people, we come to the conclusion that the sovereignty of the people would be far more suitable for us.

~ Sun Yat-Sen

The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the political winds that are blowing.

~ Caroline Kennedy

Let me reassure that the Kingdom of Cambodia a country with independence, neutrality, peace, freedom, democracy and human rights as you all have seen, shall be existing with no end.

~ Hun Sen

Democracy is not the end point of mankind. There may be developments in many different directions in the coming centuries. Democracy has only existed for about 200 years. It started out with the American Declaration of Independence. The Americans got their ideas from the Europeans, in the main from the French, the Dutch and the British.

~ Helmut Schmidt

The beliefs expressed in the Declaration of Independence remain a standard for our nation today. They also remain a standard for those nations across the globe striving to achieve democracy.

~ Paul Gillmor

Organized religion, wielding power over the community, is antithetical to the process of what modern democracy should define as liberty. The sooner we are without it, the better.

~ Lawrence M. Krauss

Indonesia is the world's third-largest democracy. And we also have the world's largest Muslim population. This demonstrates that democracy and Islam are not incompatible. Terrorism is not associated with any religion.

~ Joko Widodo

Morocco has a lot to do in terms of democracy. The daily practice of democracy evolves in time. Trying to apply a Western democratic system to a country of the Maghreb, the Middle East, or the Gulf would be a mistake. We are not Germany, Sweden or Spain.

~ Mohammed Vi Of Morocco

People who want to understand democracy should spend less time in the library with Aristotle and more time on the buses and in the subway.

~ Simeon Strunsky

We women of America tell you that America is not a democracy. Twenty million women are denied the right to vote.

~ Alice Paul

Those religions that are oppressive to women are also against democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression.

~ Taslima Nasrin

While we enjoy the benefits of living in the greatest democracy in the world, we must be ever conscious of the fact that none of the achievements or freedoms enjoyed in America would be possible without the price that has been paid for by our servicemen and women.

~ Mark Kennedy

The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.

~ Niels Bohr

The United Nations has a critical role to play in promoting stability, security, democracy, human rights, and economic development. The UN is as relevant today as at any time in its history, but it needs reform.

~ Chuck Hagel

For a privileged minority, Western democracy provides the leisure, the facilities, and the training to seek the truth lying hidden behind the veil of distortion and misrepresentation, ideology and class interest, through which the events of current history are presented to us.

~ Noam Chomsky

The history of America is to expand civil liberties in a responsible and civil manner. We need to remember that our wonderful Democracy with its freedoms has been working.

~ James Mcgreevey

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.

~ Aristotle

It is true you cannot eat freedom and you cannot power machinery with democracy. But then neither can political prisoners turn on the light in the cells of a dictatorship.

~ Corazon Aquino

Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.

~ Tony Blair

If you get so unequal that people believe they don't have a chance, that the field isn't level for them and their children, that puts democracy at risk.

~ Hillary Clinton

I've always tried to explain democracy is not perfect. But it gives you a chance to shape your own destiny.

~ Aung San Suu Kyi

We need to give the Iraqis a chance to build their own future. It should be in their hands. It must be in their hands. That is what democracy is all about. We can teach it, we can explain it, but they must want it enough to make it work for them.

~ Barbara Boxer

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.

~ Ronald Reagan

Widespread public access to knowledge, like public education, is one of the pillars of our democracy, a guarantee that we can maintain a well-informed citizenry.

~ Scott Turow

Decision making in a democracy depends above all on knowledge and not just the intel available to presidents and policymakers.

~ Nancy Gibbs

The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.

~ Jimmy Carter

Noam Chomsky has a book, which I read for the first time when I was in Spain, called 'Fear of Democracy'. There is your answer. Fear of democracy. In Honduras, they had a sham democracy. It was run by elites, what was called a liberal democracy, but in reality was a false democracy.

~ Hugo Chavez

Change comes with both fear and some pain. Those two ingredients create mistrust, misunderstanding and misinformation. Such is the process of democracy.

~ David Mixner

It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning.

~ George Orwell

Ultimately, freedom and democracy are stronger than fear and tyranny.

~ Gijs De Vries