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Ordinary Quotes

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Ordinary Quotes

“Democracy does not require perfect equality, but it does require that citizens share a common life. What matters is that people of different backgrounds and social positions encounter one another, and bump up against one another, in the course of ordinary life.”

“In a democracy, every ordinary citizen is effectively a king--but a king in a constitutional democracy, a monarch who decides only formally, whose function is merely to sign off on measures proposed by an executive administration. This is why the problem with democratic rituals is homologous to the great problem of constitutional monarchy: how to protect the dignity of the king? How to maintain the appearance that the king effectively makes decisions, when we all know this not to be true?”

Source: First As Tragedy, Then As Farce

“The importance of the ordinary citizen is very greatly underestimated - not so much by those in authority as by the ordinary citizen himself.”

Democracy Citizens Authority Ordinary Importance Underestimated Ordinary Citizens

Book:A pocketful of pebbles

Source: A pocketful of pebbles

“A democracy without faith is just a machine without power. Nothing can make it function except faith in itself, in the ordinary man and woman.”

Men Democracy Ordinary Men And Women Machines Function Ordinary Man

Author:Eleanor Dark

“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.”

Persons Today Nations Poor Powerful Democracy Ordinary Red Indian Tribute Forts Poor Family

Author:Narendra Modi

“What we're doing is saying what happens with the establishment and how are we as ordinary human beings are used as pawns. What do we really know about what goes on! We think we are a democracy.... Are we? I'm not so sure.”

Thinking Knows Humans Happens Used Human Beings Democracy Goes On Ordinary Establishment Pawns

Author:David Suchet

“There is nothing beyond the reach of ordinary citizens doing the daily work of democracy, and no problem too great to tackle with the power of active citizenship.”

Problem Democracy Citizens Ordinary Active Citizenship No Problem Daily Work Ordinary Citizens Active Citizenship

Author:Joan Claybrook

“Our ultimate weapon is not our guns but our beliefs ... Ours are not Western values. They are the universal values of the human spirit and anywhere, any time, ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same. Freedom not tyranny. Democracy not dictatorship. The rule of law not the rule of the secret police. The spread of freedom is the best security for the free. It is our last line of defence and our first line of attack.”

“The basic principles of democracy should be observed whatever the country - principles such as civil liberties, a free market, a free press, the priority of the individual over mythical state interests, a state which serves the interests of ordinary people and defends their rights and interests. This is all easy to say but hard to make reality.”

“In a democracy in the 20th and 21st century, if you can't base your fiction upon ordinary people and the issues that engage them, then you are reduced to writing about spectacular unreal people. You know, James Bond or something, and you cook up adventures.”

People Ifs Knows Writing Fiction Democracy Issues Century Adventure Ordinary Cooks 21st Century Ordinary People Spectacular Unreal

Author:John Updike

“Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.”

People Law Choices Given Chance Secret Democracy Ordinary Police Tyranny Dictatorship Dictator Ordinary People Rule Of Law Secret Police

Author:Tony Blair

“Democracy is not just voting for your leaders; it's really premised upon ordinary citizens understanding the issues.”

Understanding Leader Democracy Issues Citizens Ordinary Voting Ordinary Citizens

Author:Howard Rheingold

“One function of the librarian, as he saw it, was to blunt the edge of these differences and to provide a means whereby the rich and poor could live happily side by side. The public library was a great leveler, supplying a literature by which the ordinary man could experience some of the pleasures of the rich, and providing a common ground where employer and employee could meet on equal terms.”

“The democratic thought is based on that 'ordinary people' are suitable to rule themselves.”

People Democracy Ordinary Democratic Ordinary People Suitable

Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo

“The act of voting by ordinary Iraqis in the face of extreme danger confirms President Bush's belief that people around the globe, when given a chance, will choose liberty and democracy over enslavement and tyranny.”

People Faces Belief Given President Chance Liberty Democracy Danger Ordinary Extremes Tyranny Voting Globes President Bush Enslavement Given A Chance

Author:John Ensign

“In a word, removing control farther away from the ordinary citizen and taxpayer is tantamount to giving the intelligent, far-sighted and public spirited elements in society a longer lever to work with.”

Giving Democracy Citizens Elements Ordinary Intelligent Taxpayers Spirited Levers Ordinary Citizens

Author:Edward Alsworth Ross