Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I think that our own crisis of democracy is in its own way affecting our ability to leverage in the same way that we used to in the world.
You cannot apply your high standards to a country [Egypt] burdened with decades of autocratic rule. Our democracy is still in its infancy.
Plainly elites in America don't want democracy. And why should they? Democracy is always harmful to elite interests. Almost by definition.
Freedom of the press is the mortar that binds together the bricks of democracy -- and it is also the open window embedded in those bricks.
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.
I would argue that in times of war, sealed lips sink entire democracies. If we don't have access to vital information, we lose everything.
Democracy and liberty are not the same. Democracy is little more than mob rule, while liberty refers to the sovereignty of the individual.
The foundation of our democracy is the ability to have a debate about any subject. That is why I am so committed to defending free speech.
Our electoral process has created perverse incentives that have warped our democracy and empowered special interests and a vocal minority.
Whether it's 'Veep' or 'Homeland' or 'The West Wing' - which is a more idealised version of democracy - people are fascinated by politics.
Democracy don't rule the world, You'd better get that in your head; This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that's better left unsaid.
Democracy cannot consist solely of elections that are nearly always fictitious and managed by rich landowners and professional politicians.
Of course, the aim of a constitutional democracy is to safeguard the rights of the minority and avoid the tyranny of the majority. (p. 102)
Public control of the political process requires public financing. The restoration of our American Democracy depends upon public financing.
Democracy isn't solely about polite conversations in parliaments. It needs to be continually refreshed with raw passions, anger and ideals.
China recognizes and also respects the universality of human rights. We will continue our efforts to promote democracy and the rule of law.
I do believe there is absolutely space for legitimate debate in a liberal democracy about immigration selection, screening and integration.
Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won't understand how anyone can have a problem with how they're treated.
Since outright slavery has been discredited, "democracy" is the only remaining rationale for state compulsion that most people will accept.
Democracy has turned out to be not majority rule but rule by well-organized and well-connected minority groups who steal from the majority.
Liberty has not only enemies which it conquers, but perfidious friends, who rob the fruits of its victories: Absolute democracy, socialism.
Popular congresses are the only means to achieve popular democracy. Any system of government other than popular congresses is undemocratic.
It is a tribute to Indian democracy that a person from a poor family, an ordinary family, is today addressing the nation from the Red Fort.
A democracy depends upon people getting brighter all the time. Democracies are delicate. They're not just ipso facto and just go on and on.
If pigs could vote, the man with the slop bucket would be elected swineherd every time, no matter how much slaughtering he did on the side.
Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy. Indeed, if history is anything to go by, all societies eventually will.
Pressure and protest is fine, but using fear and threats to force politicians to sing to a certain tune will be the death of our democracy.
I like democracy. I like to be able to throw out my political leaders when they get things wrong, and we don't get to do that with Brussels.
Brains are like representative democracies. They are built of multiple, overlapping experts who weigh in and compete over different choices.
It is no accident that the rise of so many democracies took place in a time when the world's most influential nation was itself a democracy.
Democracy will be transformative. It will help other societies realize the benefits of freedom. Nothing's as big as that, in terms of peace.
King Abdullah has died. A divisive figure in the Middle East. The sad irony is that the USA preached democracy in the face of absolute rule.
Democracy is the absolute value that makes for human dignity, as well as the only road to sustained economic development and social justice.
The greatest power of the mass media is the power to ignore. The worst thing about this power is that you may not even know you're using it.
I don't see democracy getting better. I see democracy diminishing. More rules, more legislation. Eventually governments will see everything.
I don't understand why it has to be either - or - either socialism or democracy. Why can't we combine things to get the best of each system?
Democracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.
The Democrats want to bring in the Third World because these are, by and large, people who have no experience with Constitutional democracy.
Democracies don't fight each other. Terrorists don't tend to come from places where they feel like they have recourse in a political system.
I think if people value democracy, they had damn well better get out and exercise their right to vote while their vote still means something.
Democracy is the most demanding of all forms of government in terms of the energy, imagination, and public spirit required of the individual.
We are here to advance the cause of women and to advance the cause of democracy and to make it absolutely clear that the two are inseparable.
American democracy and the Soviet system may peacefully exist side by side and compete with each other. But one cannot evolve into the other.
The importance of the ordinary citizen is very greatly underestimated - not so much by those in authority as by the ordinary citizen himself.
Democracy is essentially anti-authoritarian--that is, it not only demands the right but imposes the responsibility of thinking for ourselves.
Even in a society as tightly controlled as Singapore's, the market creates certain forces which perhaps in the long run may lead to democracy
That's why I call the Senate the graveyard of democracy, because even when you have 58 senators, they can block it and block it and block it.
One voice is tiny, and alone it cannot be heard above the din of politics as usual. The peoples voice, when it cries as one, is a great roar.
It scares me when the Europeans demand more and more democracy. It sounds like times past, when people here demanded more and more socialism.
Of course in a democracy the government and the citizens have to abide by court rulings, even if we don't like them or don't agree with them.