83+ Best Democracy Quotes: Exclusive Selection

Profoundly inspirational democracy quotes will get you through anything when the going gets tough and help you succeed in every aspect of life.

Famous Democracy Quotes

If there were a nation of Gods, it would govern itself democratically. A government so perfect is not suited to men. Jean Jacques Rousseau

The strongest democracies flourish from frequent and lively debate, but they endure when people of every background and belief find a way to set aside smaller differences in service of a greater purpose. BARACK OBAMA

The price of democracy is the ongoing pursuit of the common good by all of the people. Saul Alinsky

Debate is never finished; it can’t be, lest democracy be no longer democratic and society be stripped of or forfeit its autonomy. Democracy means that the citizen’s task is never complete. Democracy exists through persevering and unyielding citizens’ concern. Once that concern is put to sleep, democracy expires. ZYGMUNT BAUMAN

Democracy is not the law of the majority but protection of the minority. Albert Camus

Democracy’s worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN

Democracy is messy, and it’s hard. It’s never easy. Robert Kennedy Jr

There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship. RALPH NADER

The only way to practice democracy, is to practice democracy. Hu Shih

The many are more incorruptible than the few; they are like the greater quantity of water which is less easily corrupted than a little. ARISTOTLE

Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife. John Dewey, The Middle Works

The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter. WINSTON CHURCHILL

Democracy is not a static thing. It does not stand still. Vincent Harding

The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. ROBERT HUTCHINS

Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least. Robert Byrne

Democracy is a system that gives people a chance to elect rascals of their own choice. DOUG LARSON

Democracy’s worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents. Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger In A Strange Land

Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people. OSCAR WİLDE

The democratic tradition does not advance a single and agreed ideal of popular rule, but is rather an arena of debate in which the notion of popular rule is discussed. Andrew Heywood, Political Theory

Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. WINSTON CHURCHILL

Democracy is a political method, that is to say, a certain type of institutional arrangement for arriving at political  legislative and administrative  decisions and hence incapable of being an end in itself. Joseph Schumpeter

Democracy is a difficult art of government, demanding of its citizens high ratios of courage and literacy, and at the moment we lack both the necessary habits of mind and a sphere of common reference. LEWIS H. LAPHAM

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democracy is alive, and like any other living thing it either flourishes and grows or withers and dies. There is no in between. It is freedom and life or dictatorship and death.

The real safeguard of democracy is education. Franklin D. Roosevelt

There cannot be daily democracy without daily citizenship. Ralph Nader

The main problem of participatory democracy is not how to run it, but how to reach it. C.B. Macpherson, The Life And Times Of Liberal Democracy.

The first and continuing argument for the curtailment of working hours and the raising of the minimum age was that education was necessary in a democracy and working children could not attend school. Grace Abbott

Democracy is not just a question of having a vote. It consists of strengthening each citizen’s possibility and capacity to participate in the deliberations involved in life in society. Fernando Cardoso

The USA was founded in the name of democracy, equality and individual freedom, but is failing to deliver the fundamental promise of protecting rights for all. Amnesty International

Democratic theory is concerned with processes by which ordinary citizens exert a relatively high degree of control over leaders. Robert A. Dahl, A Preface To Democratic Theory

Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development. Kofi Annan

Democracy is four wolves and a sheep voting on dinner. Robert A. Heinlein

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. Aristotle

A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. John Dewey

Now the first step has to be taken, the step towards democracy. This step is full of risks, and requires trust on all sides. We don’t know where it will lead. But if we just stand still, we will have no chance of escaping the violence. Daniel Barenboim

Liberal constitutional democracy is supposed to ensure that each citizen is free and equal and protected by basic rights and liberties. John Rawls

The primal principle of democracy

Democracy: stored up in heaven; but unhappily has not yet been communicated to us. Bernard Crick

Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.

The method of democracy is to bring conflicts out into the open where their special claims can be seen and appraised, where they can be discussed and judged. John Dewey, Political Writings

There never was a good war or a bad peace.

Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy. Kofi Annan

Better slip with foot than tongue.

A democracy is a state which recognizes the subjection of the minority to the majority. Vladimir Lenin

Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind.

The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter. Winston Churchill

Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass.

In the strict sense of the term, a true democracy has never existed, and never will exist. Jean Jacques Rousseau

Well done is better than well said.

Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it.

A right Heart exceeds all.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy. Abraham Lincoln

Lost Time is never found again.

The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done. Abraham Lincoln

When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.

The ballot is stronger than the bullet. Abraham Lincoln

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

Elections belong to the people. Abraham Lincoln

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity. Democracy will rise superior to the money power. Abraham Lincoln

Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.

Yet among the countries most comparable to the United States and where democratic institutions have long existed without breakdown, not one has adopted our American constitutional system. Robert A. Dahl, How Democratic Is The American Constitution?

I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.

Those who wish to reap the blessings of liberty must undergo the fatigues of supporting it. Thomas Paine

Many people in this country have paid the price before me and many will pay the price after me.

We are Americans because we practice democracy and believe in republican government, not because we practice revealed religion and believe in Bible based government. John Stuart Mill

Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.

Deliberation and debate is the way you stir the soul of our democracy. Jesse Jackson

Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti intellectualism has been a constant thread, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. Isaac Asimov

It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

Democracy is an unfinished experiment. Walt Whitman

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal. Aristotle, Politics

A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state interference. It must have the economic strength to stand up to the blandishments of government officials. It must have sufficient independence from vested interests to be bold and inquiring without fear or favor. It must enjoy the protection of the constitution, so that it can protect our rights as citizens.

The real difference between democracy and oligarchy is poverty and wealth. Wherever men rule by reason of their wealth, whether they be few or many, that is an oligarchy, and where the poor rule, that is a democracy. Aristotle

Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. Aristotle

For good or for ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power and fleets and armies, however vital and important, must accept a subordinate rank.

In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme. Aristotle

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.

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