Quotes on Democracy

Establish democracy at home, based on human rights as superior to property rights. . . .

I believe that it is essential to our leadership in the world and to the development of true democracy in our country to have no discrimination in our country whatsoever. This is most important in the schools of our country.

A democratic form of government, a democratic way of life, presupposes free public education over a long period; it presupposes also an education for personal responsibility that too often is neglected.

If you have a sense of purpose and a sense of direction, I believe people will follow you. Democracy isn't just about deducing what the people want. Democracy is leading the people as well.

The most popular man under a democracy is not the most democratic man, but the most despotic man. The common folk delight in the exactions of such a man. They like him to boss them. Their natural gait is the goose step.

I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while.

Democracy is a system where people are counted not weighed.

We say yes to the society of solidarity and democracy where free people together, in mutual respect and under mutual responsibility, shape a life where everyone has equal opportunities and equal value.

Democracy disciplined and enlightened is the finest thing in the world. A democracy prejudiced, ignorant, superstitious, will land itself in chaos and may be self-destroyed.

The very essence of democracy is that every person represents all the varied interests which compose the nation.

I'd rather vote for something I want and not get it than vote for something I don't want, and get it.

Where a government has come into power through some form of popular vote, fraudulent or not, and maintains at least an appearance of constitutional legality, the guerrilla outbreak cannot be promoted, since the possibilities of peaceful struggle have not yet been exhausted.

I do not admire 'the people,' as such. No one really does. Their folk wisdom is usually false, their instincts predatory. Even their sense of survival - so highly developed in the individual - goes berserk in the mass. A crowd is a fool.

Freedom has nothing to do with having the right to vote for your oppressor; freedom is not having any form of oppression.

Only a fool would try to deprive working men and working women of their right to join the union of their choice.

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.

The combination of economic and political power in the same hands is a sure recipe for tyranny.

The word 'radical' derives from the Latin word for root. Therefore, if you want to get to the root of anything you must be radical. It is no accident that the word has now been totally demonized.

What good shall I do this day?

The practice of arbitrary imprisonments have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.

The exercise of true leadership is inversely proportional to the exercise of power.