2,003 Quotes About Democracy

oh, what a democracy MY PRIME MINISTER IS CORRUPT

Democracy is even more important for what it prevents than for what it provides.

All my years campaigning have given me one clear message: Voting isn't the most we can do, but it is the least. To have a democracy, you have to want one. Still, I realize this fully only by looking back.

We want the will of the people, not the votes of the people; and to give a man a vote against his will is to make voting more important than the democracy it declares.

Elections are supposed to be political occasions. In fact the opposite is true. The last thing politicians want to talk about at election-time is politics. What they want to talk about is votes. And the less you talk about politics, the more votes you're likely to win - otherwise you might offend someone.

―La democracia es una broma.―Sí. Muy incisivo ―dijo Jackson, satisfecho―. Una buena tesis también. En teoría es posible que el cincuenta y uno por ciento de la población desplume todo lo que puede al otro cuarenta y nueve por ciento. Ese tipo de Venezuela, ¿cómo se llama? Howard Chávez, algo así. Así hace él las cosas. En serio, él sólo envía cheques a los marginados. Les das a los gorrones dinero ajeno y después te votan.

When the qualities that now confer leadership have become universal, there will no longer be leaders and followers, and democracy will have been realized at last.

Heeft Afrika een ander soort democratie nodig?’ vroeg ik.De professor knikte. ‘In de prekoloniale tijd werd in Afrika een consensuspolitiek gevoerd. Bij een belangrijk probleem kwamen vertegenwoordigers van alle betrokken clans samen. Ze gingen niet uit elkaar voor er een oplossing was bedacht waarin iedereen zich kon vinden. Zo had niemand het gevoel dat hem door de meerderheid iets was opgedrongen.

Democracy cannot function or survive without a sufficient medium by which citizens remain informed and engaged in public policy debates.