It is the most beautiful truth in morals that we have no such thing as a distinct or divided interest from our race.—In their welfare is ours; and by choosing the broadest paths to effect their happiness, we choose the surest and shortest to our own.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
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 (1883–1950) Austrian-American Political Economist, Sociologist
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed, are right
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility.
—Norman Cousins (1915–90) American Journalist, Author, Academic, Activist
Lycurgus being asked why he, who in other respects appeared to be so zealous for the equal rights of men, did not make his government democratic rather than an oligarchy, replied, “Go you, and try a democracy in your own house.”
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
The devil was the first democrat.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Democracy: In which you say what you like and do what you’re told.
—Dave Barry (b.1947) American Humorist, Columnist
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions — it only guarantees equality of opportunity.
—Irving Kristol (1920–2009) American Political Writer, Publisher
That a peasant may become king does not render the kingdom democratic.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
It is not enough to merely defend democracy. To defend it may be to lose it; to extend it is to strengthen it. Democracy is not property; it is an idea.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
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 (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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 (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Nor is the people’s judgment always true: the most may err as grossly as the few.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Democracy is not the law of the majority but protection of the minority.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny.
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) American Novelist
Two cheers for democracy one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. Two cheers are quite enough: There is no occasion to give three.
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
But you have to understand, American democracy is not like the system you have. We’re not an ocean liner that sails across the ocean from point A to point B at 30 knots. That’s not American democracy. American democracy is kind of like a life raft that bobs around the ocean all the time. Your feet are always wet. Winds are always blowing. You’re cold. You’re wet. You’re uncomfortable—but you never sink.
—Colin Powell (1937–2021) American Military Leader
Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.
—Gore Vidal (1925–48) American Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Playwright
The real democratic American idea is, not that every man shall be on a level with every other man, but that every man shall have liberty to be what God made him, without hindrance.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
I swear to the Lord
I still can’t see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.
—Langston Hughes (1902–67) American Poet, Fiction Writer, Dramatist
At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man walking into the little booth with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper. No amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of that point.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
A man is judged by the company he keeps, and a company is judged by the men it keeps, and the people of Democratic nations are judged by the type and caliber of officers they elect.
—William J. H. Boetcker (1873–1962) American Presbyterian Minister
A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
The history of the gospel has been the history of the development and growth of Christian democratic ideas.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Democracy will itself accomplish the salutary universal change from the delusive to the real, and make a new blessed world of us bye and bye.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
—John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) Sixth President of the USA
I confess I enjoy democracy immensely. It is incomparably idiotic, and hence incomparably amusing.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Democracy arose from men’s thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
The freeman, casting with unpurchased hand the vote that shakes the turrets of the land.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That’s one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can help rebelling against. Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population—the intelligent ones or the fools? I think we can agree it’s the fools, no matter where you go in this world, it’s the fools that form the overwhelming majority.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
Democracy is the wholesome and pure air without which a socialist public organization cannot live a full-blooded life.
—Mikhail Gorbachev (b.1931) Soviet Head of State
The love of democracy is that of equality.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist
Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
We go by the major vote, and if the majority are insane, the sane must go to the hospital.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
It is a great blessing, says Pascal: “to be born a man of quality, since it brings a man as far forward at eighteen or twenty as another would be at fifty, which is a clear gain of thirty years.”—These thirty years are commonly wanting to the ambitious characters of democracies.—The principle of equality, which allows every man to arrive at everything, prevents all men from rapid advancement.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
In our democracy we must have a partnership of labor, of business and of government.
—Charles H. Percy (1919–2011) American Businessperson, Politician
When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong.
—Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) American Socialist, Union Leader
It is my principle that the will of the majority should always prevail.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Democracy does not contain any force which will check the constant tendency to put more and more on the public payroll. The state is like a hive of bees in which the drones display, multiply and starve the workers so the idlers will consume the food and the workers will perish.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Democracy is not so much a form of government as a set of principles.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State