Home / Topics / Democracy Quotes

Democracy Quotes

Browse 5972 quotes about Democracy.

Democracy Quotes

“Dictators can fix up their entire families in good jobs, in or around government, and often do. In democracies, such a practice is frowned upon. Privileged access to the corridors of power through family connections and a kind of old boys' network, is also deemed an abuse of power, and so it is.”

Kind Government Jobs Boys Practice Democracy Connections Abuse Access Dictator Privileged Good Job Abuse Of Power Corridors Family Connections

Author:Jimmy Reid

“In 1838, Mirabeau B. Lamar, the Second President of the Republic of Texas and the Father of Texas education, declared: 'The cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. It is the only dictator that free man acknowledges. It is the only security that free man desires.'”

Men Mind Desire Father President Education Democracy Security Genius Acknowledge Republic Texas Dictator Guardian Free Man

Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965

“Aspiring dictators sometimes win elections, and elected leaders sometimes govern badly and threaten their neighbors.History demonstrates that democracy usually follows good governance, not the reverse.”

Sometimes Winning Leader Democracy Election Neighbor Dictator Reverse Governance Good Governance Elected Leaders

Author:Rudy Giuliani

“We have our difficulties, true; but we are a wiser and a tougher nation than we were in 1932. Never have there been six years of such far flung internal preparedness in all of history. And this has been done without any dictator's power to command, without conscription of labor or confiscation of capital, without concentration camps and without a scratch on freedom of speech, freedom of the press or the rest of the Bill of Rights.”

Source: The Essential Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“In Latin America, in the past, it was almost impossible to guarantee democracy. There were military dictatorships, and nowadays there are not so many military dictatorships. Although we have a dictator in Honduras, as a result of a coup, now as a president, he is almost the only one I would say. But again led or managed, gestated by the U.S. government.”

Government America Past President Results Democracy Impossible Military Guarantees Latin Dictatorship Dictator Latin America Coups Honduras

Author:Evo Morales

“All democracies turn into dictatorships - but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it's Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea.”

People Giving Ideas Turns Democracy Population Dictatorship Dictator Julius Coups

Author:George Lucas

“It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.”

Freedom Democracy Speech Paradox Free Speech Dictatorship Dictator Ladders

Author:Herbert Hoover

“A democracy which fails to concentrate authority in an emergency inevitably falls into such confusion that the ground is prepared for the rise of a dictator.”

Fall Democracy Failing Authority Prepared Confusion Dictator Emergencies

Book:Authority in the crisis

Source: Authority in the crisis

“The war against ISIS will pose many new challenges for the next commander-in-chief. The last two presidents [George W. Bush and Barack Obama] pursued a Middle East policy that supported toppling dictators to try to promote democracy.”

“We will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like [Bashar] Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear.”

Ifs World Helping Government Perfect Democracy Tears Ideals Iraq Around The World Shed Dictator Not Perfect Jordan Arabia Saudi Arabia Saudis Assad Hezbollah Anti-american

Author:Marco Rubio

“How can we speak of Democracy or Freedom when from the very beginning of life we mould the child to undergo tyranny, to obey a dictator? How can we expect democracy when we have reared slaves? Real freedom begins at the beginning of life, not at the adult stage. These people who have been diminished in their powers, made short-sighted, devitalized by mental fatigue, whose bodies have become distorted, whose wills have been broken by elders who say: "your will must disappear and mine prevail!"-how can we expect them, when school-life is finished, to accept and use the rights of freedom?”

“We should say to the West: "You have been supporting dictators for too many years. Don't expect the people to introduce democracy over night. It is going to take time." It took time with the French revolution, it took time with the Eastern European revolutions. And it is going to take time there.”

People Should Years Has Beens Night Democracy Revolution West Introducing Take Time Dictator Eastern French Revolution

Author:Tariq Ramadan

“I first interviewed Fidel Castro 39 years ago. He was charming and fiercely guarded about his private life. He called our interviews 'fiery debates.' During our times together, he made clear to me that he was an absolute dictator and that he was a staunch opponent of democracy.”

Years Firsts Made Together Democracy Clear Years Ago Absolutes Debate Opponents Our Time Interviews Dictator Charming Private Life Fiery Guarded Castro Time Together Our Time Together

Author:Barbara Walters