Democracy

Explore 63 quotes about Democracy

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

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Topic

Masters and slaves Slavery Democracy Equality

Author

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Journals of Abraham Lincoln

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1858 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Definition of Democracy." 1 Aug. 1858?

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "On Slavery and Democracy, 1858?" Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832-1858, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

It is ESSENTIAL to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it; otherwise a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercising their oppressions by a delegation of their powers, might aspire to the rank of republicans, and claim for their government the honorable title of republic.

James Madison

Federalist 39

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Topic

Democratic theory Democracy Political theory Politics

Author

James Madison

Source

Federalist 39 The Federalist Papers

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1788 1780s 18th century

Era

American Revolutionary Period

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Madison, James [published as Publius]. "Federalist No. 39: The Conformity of the Plan to Republican Principles." Independent Journal, 16 Jan. 1788.

Current Citation

Madison, James. "No. 39: Constitution is strictly republican; is both federal and national.--Madison." The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States, edited by Robert Scigliano. The Modern Library, 2001.

Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.

Edmund Burke

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of democracy Democracy Freedom Moral decline Morality

Author

Edmund Burke

Source

Letters of Edmund Burke

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1777 1770s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. A Letter to John Farr and John Harris, Esqs., Sheriffs of the City of Bristol, on the Affairs of America. London: J. Dodsley, 3 Apr. 1777.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. "A Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol on the Affairs of America." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.

The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history. It is human history. It permeated the ancient life of early peoples. It blazed anew in the Middle Ages. It was written in Magna Charta.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Third Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Topic

Democracy Human nature

Speaker

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Source

Third Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1941 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "Third Inaugural Address." 20 Jan. 1941, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "Third Inaugral Address: Washington, DC, January 20, 1941." Great Speeches, edited by John Grafton. Dover, 1999.

Elections of any kind are fucking bourgeois affectation.

Milk

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Topic

Elections Democracy Politics

Speaker

Cleve Jones

Actor

Emile Hirsch

Source

Milk

Medium

Film

Genre

Biography (film) Biography

Language

English

Time

2008 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Milk. Directed by Gus Van Sant. Axon Films/Groundswell Productions/Jinks/Cohen Company, 2008.

Our constitution is named a democracy, because it is in the hands not of the few but of the many. But our laws secure equal justice for all in their private disputes, and our public opinion welcomes and honors talent in every branch of achievement, not for any sectional reason but on grounds of excellence alone. And as we give free play to all in our public life, so we care the same spirit into our daily relations with one another... Open and friendly in our private intercourse, in our public acts we keep strictly within the control of law. We acknowledge the restraint of authority, and to the laws, more especially to those which offer protection to the oppressed and those unwritten ordinances whose transgression brings admitted shame.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Democracy Rule of law

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

We may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior.

James Madison

Federalist 39

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Topic

Democratic theory Democracy Politics

Author

James Madison

Source

Federalist 39 The Federalist Papers

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1788 1780s 18th century

Era

American Revolutionary Period

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Madison, James [published as Publius]. "Federalist No. 39: The Conformity of the Plan to Republican Principles." Independent Journal, 16 Jan. 1788.

Current Citation

Madison, James. "No. 39: Constitution is strictly republican; is both federal and national.--Madison." The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States, edited by Robert Scigliano. The Modern Library, 2001.

It rests now with ourselves alone to enjoy in peace and concord the blessings of self-government, so long denied to mankind: to shew by example the sufficiency of human reason for the care of human affairs and that the will of the majority, the Natural law of every society, is the only sure guardian of the rights of man.

Thomas Jefferson

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Topic

Democracy Political theory

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Language

English

Time

1790 1790s 18th century

Era

American Revolutionary Period

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Jefferon, Thomas. "The Response." 12 Feb. 1790.

Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "The Response, 12 February 1790." The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: November 1789 to 4 July 1790, edited by Julian P. Boyd. Vol. 16, Princeton University Press, 1961.

Campaign promises are-by long democratic tradition-the least binding form of human commitment.

Antonin Scalia

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Topic

Campaign promises Political campaigns Democracy Politics

Author

Antonin Scalia

Medium

Supreme Court opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

2002 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Scalia, Antonin. United States, Supreme Court. Republican Party of Minnesota v. White. United States Reports, vol. 534, 17 June 2002, pp. 765-821. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/536/765/.

Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

Edmund Burke

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Topic

Representative democracy Political theory Democracy Politicians Politics

Author

Edmund Burke

Source

Speech to the Electors of Bristol

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1774 1770s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Speech to the Electors of Bristol," 3 Nov. 1774, Bristol, UK.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Speech at the Conclusion of the Poll at Bristol (3 November 1774)." Reflections on the Revolution in France and Other Writings. Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.

After each war there is a little less democracy to save.

Brooks Atkinson

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of democracy War Democracy

Author

Brooks Atkinson

Source

Once Around the Sun

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Atkinson, Brooks. Once Around the Sun. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1951.

No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy.

Amartya Sen

Development as Freedom

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Topic

Democracy

Author

Amartya Sen

Source

Development as Freedom

Genre

Political literature Economic literature

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sen, Amartya. Development as Freedom. Alfred A. Knopf, 1999, ch. 1.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

H.L. Mencken

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Topic

Democracy

Author

H.L. Mencken

Source

A Little Book in C Major

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1916 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mencken, Henry Louis. A Mencken Chrestomathy. Alfred A. Knopf, 1949, ch. 30. Originally published in A Little Book in C Major, published by John Lane Co., 1916, ch. 2.

In every well-governed state, wealth is a sacred thing; in democracies it is the only sacred thing.

Anatole France

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Topic

Wealth Democracy

Author

Anatole France

Source

Penguin Island

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Lament

Language

French

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

France, Anatole. L'Ile des Pingouins [Penguin Island]. Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1908, bk. 6, ch. 2.

Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

Reinhold Niebuhr

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Topic

Democracy Political theory Human nature Politics

Author

Reinhold Niebuhr

Source

The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Niebuhr, Reinhold. The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1944.

In a democratic society like ours, relief must come through an aroused popular conscience that sears the conscience of the people's representatives.

Felix Frankfurter

Baker v. Carr

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Topic

Political progress Theory of progress Democracy

Author

Felix Frankfurter

Source

Baker v. Carr

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Frankfurter, Felix. Dissenting Opinion. Baker v. Carr. United States Reports, vol. 369, 26 Mar. 1962, pp. 266-349. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/369/186/.

Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?

Bertolt Brecht

More information about this quote

Topic

Parliamentary democracy Citizen and state Democracy

Author

Bertolt Brecht

Source

The Solution

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Irony Joke

Language

German

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Brecht, Bertolt. "Die Lösung [The Solution]." Die Welt, 1959.

Democracy is a method of finding proximate solutions for insoluble problems.

Reinhold Niebuhr

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Topic

Democracy Political theory Politics

Author

Reinhold Niebuhr

Source

The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Niebuhr, Reinhold. The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1944.

I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty.

William F. Buckley

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Topic

Experts Democracy

Speaker

William F. Buckley

Source

Esquire

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Buckley, William F., Jr. Quoted in "William F. Buckley, Jr.: Portrait of a Complainer." Interviewed by Dan Wakefield. Esquire Magazine, Jan. 1961.

Democracies cannot dispense with hypocrisy any more than dictatorships can with cynicism.

Georges Bernanos

More information about this quote

Topic

Downsides of democracy Democracy

Author

Georges Bernanos

Language

French

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Bernanos, Georges. Nous Autres Francais. Gallimard, 1939.