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Quotes about democracy

108 quotes from 83 people

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The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy.
Edward Abbey1927–1989Abbey’s Road (1979)
- Guns
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.
John Adams1735–1826XVIII, p. 484
The cure for the ills of Democracy is more Democracy.
Jane Addams1860–1935Democracy and Social Ethics (1902), ch. 1; cf. Al Smith
Here, in the first paragraph of the Declaration [of Independence], is the assertion of the natural right of all to the ballot; for how can “the consent of the governed” be given, if the right to vote be denied?
Susan B. Anthony1820–1906On the United States Declaration of Independence in her “Is It a Crime for a Citizen of the United States to Vote?” speech before her trial for voting (1873)
- Voting
If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.
Aristotle384–322 BCPolitics, book IV, 1291.b34
- Government
- Liberty
Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.
Aristotle384–322 BC
The fabric of democracy is always fragile everywhere because it depends on the will of citizens to protect it, and when they become scared, when it becomes dangerous for them to defend it, it can go very quickly.
Margaret Atwoodborn 1939The Progressive interview (2010)
I think democracy is the most revolutionary thing in the world, because if you have power you use it to meet the needs of you and your community.
Tony Benn1925–2014Interview with Michael Moore in the movie Sicko (2007).
- Power
The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest.
Edward Bernays1891–1995“The Engineering of Consent”, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 250 (March 1947), p. 113
We’ve learned again that democracy is precious; democracy is fragile. At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.
Joe Bidenborn 1942Joe Biden’s Inaugural Address (2021)
The only distinction that democracies reward is a high degree of conformity.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914Epigrams, p. 358
We want to take a chance on more democracy.
Willy Brandt1913–1992Government policy statement to the Bundestag (28 October 1969)
It is better to be a total failure in democracy than a martyr or the crème de la crème in tyranny.
Joseph Brodsky1940–1996Nobel Prize Lecture (8 December 1987)
The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Letter to Thomas Mercer
- Power
Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Speech to the Electors of Bristol (3 November 1774); reported in The Works of the Right Honorable Edmund Burke (1899), vol. 2, p. 95
- Politics