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Democracy Quotes

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Democracy Quotes

“..(T)here are two opposite reasons for being a democrat. You may think all men so good that they deserve a share in the government of the commonwealth, and so wise that the commonwealth needs their advice. That is, in my opinion, the false, romantic doctrine of democracy. On the other hand, you may believe fallen men to be so wicked that not one of them can be trusted with any irresponsible power over his fellows.”

“Once the philosophical foundation of democracy has collapsed, the statement that dictatorship is bad is rationally valid only for those who are not its beneficiaries, and there is no theoretical obstacle to the transformation of this statement into its opposite.”

Democracy Opposites Transformation Philosophical Foundation Obstacles Statements Dictatorship Theoretical Democracies Have Beneficiaries

Book:Eclipse of Reason

Source: Eclipse of Reason

“We want capitalism and market forces to be the slave of democracy rather than the opposite.”

Want Force Democracy Capitalism Opposites Slave

Author:Thomas Piketty

“A State, in idea, is the opposite of a Church. A State regards classes, and not individuals; and it estimates classes, not by internal merit, but external accidents, as property, birth, etc. But a church does the reverse of this, and disregards all external accidents, and looks at men as individual persons, allowing no gradations of ranks, but such as greater or less wisdom, learning, and holiness ought to confer. A Church is, therefore, in idea, the only pure democracy.”

Source: Golden Hours with Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“For me democracy is the only way of life. The opposite is dictatorship or anarchy.”

Way Democracy Opposites Anarchy Dictatorship

Author:Elie Wiesel

“The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.”

People Hands Government Choices Principles Democracy Fate Depends Authority Tradition Opposites Absolutes Restraint Sovereignty Absolute Power Legality

Author:Lord Acton

“The democratic rule that all men are equal is sometimes confused with the quite opposite idea that all men are the same and that any man can be substituted for any other so that his differences make no difference. The two are not at all the same. The democratic rule that all men are equal means that men's being different cannot be made a basis for special privilege or for the invidious advantage of one man over another; equality, under the democratic rule, is the freedom and opportunity of each individual to be fully and completely his different self. Democracy means the right to be different.”

Men Mean Made Two Ideas Different Self Sometimes Opportunity Individual Differences Democracy Special Equal Advantage Opposites Bases Democratic Privilege Confused One Man Being Different

Author:Horace Kallen

“I did not suggest that Iran is a democracy; just the opposite. I talked about it being a repressive theocracy. What I think is indisputable is that even within this repressive regime, the political leaders there - including the Supreme Leader - are sensitive to the concerns of the population within bounds.”

Thinking Political Leader Democracy Concern Opposites Bounds Including Population Supreme Sensitive Iran Regimes Political Leaders Theocracy

Author:Barack Obama