Explore Quotes on Democracy

Democracy is a process, not a static condition. It is becoming, rather than being. It can be easily lost, but is never finally won.

Term limits mean that you don't trust the voters. 'Stop me before I vote again.'

Surely anyone who has ever been elected to public office understands that one commodity above all others, namely the trust and confidence of the people, is fundamental in maintaining a free and open political system.

Democracy is like blowing your nose. You may not do it well, but it's something you ought to do yourself.

If there have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative democracy were a government competent to the wise and orderly management of the common concerns of a mighty nation, those doubts have been dispelled.

No real journalist makes $5 million a year... Those in power fear and dislike real journalists.

It's not healthy for a society if the people hate their own government.

Economic policies command bipartisan support only when they're incoherent.

Our children should learn the general framework of their government and then they should know where they come in contact with the government, where it touches their daily lives and where their influence is exerted on the government. It must not be a distant thing, someone else's business, but they must see how every cog in the wheel of a democracy is important and bears its share of responsibility for the smooth running of the entire machine.

I am a compromiser and maneuverer. I try to get something. That's the way our system works.

Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations. There are not only commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but others of a thousand different types-religious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very limited, immensely large and very minute....At the head of any new undertaking, where in France you would find the government or in England some territorial magnate, in the United States you are sure to find an association.

By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest... The latent causes of faction are sown in the nature of man.

Democracy is never a final achievement. It is a call to an untiring effort.

The effect of a representative democracy is to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of the nation.

Better use has been made of association and this powerful instrument of action has been applied for more varied aims in America than anywhere else in the world.

There is in the American Government...a want of unity.... The Sailors, the helmsman, the engineer, do not seem to have one purpose or obey one will so that instead of making steady way the vessel may pursue a devious or zigzag course, and sometimes merely turn round and round in the water.

The life of a republic lies certainly in the energy, virtue, and intelligence of its citizens.

Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos.

What I want is to get done what the people desire to have done, and the question for me is how to find that out exactly.

We are bound by ideals that teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these ideals. Every citizen must uphold them.... I ask you to be citizens. Citizens, not spectators. Citizens, not subjects. Responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character.

If you have a plan, we want to hear it. Tell your community leaders, your local officials, your governor, and your team in Washington. Believe me, your ideas count. An individual can make a difference.