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Quotes about democracy

108 quotes from 83 people

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Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of man, justice and fairplay to everybody.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah1876–1948Broadcast to the people of the United States of America on Pakistan (February 1948)
- Religion
We cannot have government for all the people until we first make certain it is government of and by all the people.
Lyndon B. Johnson1908–1973Special message to Congress on the right to vote (1965)
- Government
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Definition of Democracy; see Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 2 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953), p. 532
- Slavery
While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address (1861)
- Government
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865The Gettysburg Address (1863)
- Freedom
- Government
No democracy has ever long survived the failure of its adherents to be ready to die for it … My own conviction is this, the people must either go on or go under.
David Lloyd George1863–1945Address to a conference of trade union delegates, London (18 January 1918), in The Times (19 January 1918), p. 8
Today, freedom is on the offensive, democracy is on the march.
Douglas MacArthur1880–1964Victory broadcast (1945)
- Freedom
I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy.
Malcolm X1925–1965Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964)
- America
- Race
We must present democracy as a force holding within itself the seeds of unlimited progress by the human race.
George C. Marshall1880–1959Essentials to Peace (1953)
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956“A Few Pages of Notes,” The Smart Set (January 1915)
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule⁠—and both commonly succeed, and are right.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956Minority Report: H.L. Mencken’s Notebooks (1956)
Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
Reinhold Niebuhr1892–1971The Children of Light and The Children of Darkness (1944)
- Justice
Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.
POP. J. O'Rourke1947–2022Parliament of Whores (1991)
- Government
Democracy is a garden that has to be tended.
Barack Obamaborn 1961Remarks at a Qualtrics conference, Salt Lake City (6 March 2019)
If Selma taught us anything, it’s that our work is never done. The American experiment in self-government gives work and purpose to each generation.
Barack Obamaborn 1961Selma 50th Anniversary Address (2015)
- America