Democracy Quotes

"I am confident that in the end freedom and democracy will prevail over terror and tyranny. We will win this war on terror - and when we do Americans, the British, Iraqis, and people around the world will be more secure"

Doc Hastings, Politician

"In other words, the bar should be maintained at the level of a pluralistic and participatory democracy"

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President

"Everybody has a right to be defended, and every lawyer has a duty to defend people accused. And my office is to defend him, to discuss the accusation point by point, as I think this is a normal step in a democracy"

Jacques Verges, Lawyer

"This is supposed to be a participatory democracy and if we're not in there participating then the people that will manipulate and exploit the system will step in there"

George Takei, Actor

"Since President Bush took office in 2001, this Congress has supported an agenda of democracy, freedom and expansion of rights for all peoples throughout the world"

Ginny B. Waite

"You can't be a full participant in our democracy if you don't know our history"

David McCullough, Historian

"I'm much more attracted personally to governments going their full term. It's very hard to have a fixed term election I know with ah... a parliamentary democracy, but I've always had an instinct to say there should be a fixed term"

Jim Bolger, Statesman

"So in Asia I want to make - I want to succeed to make a model of what success, practicing democracy, and market economy. Then that will give a good influence over Asian countries"

Kim Dae Jung, Leader

"I may be wrong in that, but not I think in putting the questions. In our modern democracy the government needs not a unanimous but a general support for war before it orders our forces to fight"

Douglas Hurd, Politician

"Democracy is not about one party dominating"

Ed Townsend, Musician

"Our alliances should be understood as a means to expand our influence, not as a constraint on our power. The expansion of democracy and freedom in the world should be a shared interest and value with all nations"

Chuck Hagel, Politician

"We women of America tell you that America is not a democracy. Twenty million women are denied the right to vote"

Alice Paul, Activist

"Speak up! We live in a democracy. We all need to make sure our voices are heard and our opinions are known"

Bill Lipinski, Politician

"The US has not imposed democracy in Yemen, its people have"

Ali A. Saleh

"Democracy in Yemen did not stop, instead it is in a continuous development, there is no other way to follow rather than democracy, it is our national way for building up our country, it was not imposed on us by others"

Ali A. Saleh

"In order every one in our homeland learns principles of democracy and the peaceful transition of power, and in order to stabilize and develop multiple choices in democratic practice"

Ali A. Saleh

"Voting is fundamental in our democracy. It has yielded enormous returns"

Arlen Specter, Politician

"I don't run democracy. I train troops to defend democracy and I happen to be their surrogate father and mother as well as their commanding general"

Alfred M. Gray, Soldier

"The media is absolutely essential to the functioning of a democracy. It's not our job to cozy up to power. We're supposed to be the check and balance on government"

Amy Goodman, Journalist

"Taiwan is a budding democracy, and the people have participated in multi-party democratic elections since 1996"

Todd Akin, Politician

"Our Founding Fathers crafted a constitutional Republic for the first time in the history of the world because they were shaping a form of government that would not have the failures of a democracy in it, but had the representation of democracy in it"

Steve King, Politician

"The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy"

Theodore White, Journalist

"The Greens have every right to run, that's what democracy is, and they should argue their point by saying how they think people should vote, not by telling us to be silent"

Peter Camejo, Businessman

"Unfortunately, the true force which propels our endless political disputes, our constant struggles for political advantage, is often not our burning concern for democracy, it is often of our dedication to the principle of the rule of law"

Olusegun Obasanjo, Statesman

"Without the power of the Industrial Union behind it, Democracy can only enter the State as the victim enters the gullet of the Serpent"

James Connolly, Politician

"We shouldn't waste any more time in making sure that democracy is properly rooted in our political life and the supremacy of the law becomes an integral part of our state's structure"

Ahmet Necdet Sezner, President

"Our constitutional liberties shall not be sacrificed in our search for greater security, for that is what our enemies and all enemies of freedom and democracy hope to achieve"

Tammy Baldwin, Politician

"The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations"

Aung San Suu Kyi, Activist

"Democracy's a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it's no longer democracy, is it? It's something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism"

Sam Shepard, Playwright

"We should seek international support for our mutual objectives abroad, in promoting freedom, democracy, respect for human rights, and also the elimination of weapons of mass destruction"

Robert Menendez, Politician

"Christianity, democracy, science, education, wealth, and the cumulative inheritance of a thousand years, have not preserved us from the vain repetition of history"

Ralph A. Cram

"Maintain democracy or go to dictatorship: that is what is at stake in these elections"

Mario Vargas Llosa, Writer

"Democracy is an extraordinary adventure. It's difficult, full of daring and risk and danger. But it's the greatest gift we have"

Jon Voight, Actor

"We have a war dictator who was not elected, he snuck in. so he punishes people that threaten him in any way, or even say something he doesn't like. It has no resemblance to democracy"

Joni Mitchell, Musician

"Democracy in China is like Viagra; no such thing as free elections"

George Montgomery, Artist

"On a Chinese film you just give orders, no one questions you. Here, you have to convince people, you have to tell them why you want to do it a certain way, and they argue with you. Democracy"

Ang Lee, Director

"In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects"

James W. Fulbright, Politician

"We are losing the democracy that we're trying to sell in the Mideast and everywhere else right here in our own nation"

Rosie O'Donnell, Comedian

"There will always be a place for us somewhere, somehow, as long as we see to it that working people fight for everything they have, everything they hope to get, for dignity, equality, democracy, to oppose war and to bring to the world a better life"

Harry Bridges, Activist

"And that is my definition of democracy, the right to be in a minority and not be suppressed"

Lee Harvey Oswald, Criminal

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