The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) American Novelist
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
Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
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
A perfect democracy is therefore the most shameless thing in the world.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
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
Democracy is the wholesome and pure air without which a socialist public organization cannot live a full-blooded life.
—Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) Soviet Head of State
It is the common failing of totalitarian regimes that they cannot really understand the nature of our democracy. They mistake dissent for disloyalty. They mistake restlessness for a rejection of policy. They mistake a few committees for a country. They misjudge individual speeches for public policy.
—Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73) American Head of State, Political leader
No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
What we call a democratic society might be defined for certain purposes as one in which the majority is always prepared to put down a revolutionary minority.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator
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
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
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing. Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the People, who have… a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers. There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free ‘government’ ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among people.
—John Adams (1735–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry.
—William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925–2008) American Conservative Writer, Commentator
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
These, then, will be some of the features of democracy… it will be, in all likelihood, an agreeable, lawless, parti-colored commonwealth, dealing with all alike on a footing of equality, whether they be really equal or not.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, “’tis time to part.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
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 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
Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions — it only guarantees equality of opportunity.
—Irving Kristol (1920–2009) American Political Writer, Publisher
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
Wipe out college-the Electoral College, that is. It’s not merely that the constitutional provisions for it are anachronistic, but its continued existence is downright dangerous to our democratic system. It’s not merely that Presidents can be and have been elected who have lost the popular vote, but its existence forces Presidential candidates to emphasize issues … not necessarily of national importance … From all I’ve read, studied and thought about the matter, I can’t find one good reason why the President and Vice President shouldn’t be elected by popular vote.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
I believe in democracy, because it releases the energies of every human being.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
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
Democracy is never a thing done. Democracy is always something that a nation must be doing. What is necessary now is one thing and one thing only that democracy become again democracy in action, not democracy accomplished and piled up in goods and gold.
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) American Poet, Dramatist
When people put their ballots in the boxes, they are, by that act, inoculated against the feeling that the government is not theirs. They then accept, in some measure, that its errors are their errors, its aberrations their aberrations, that any revolt will be against them. It’s a remarkably shrewd and rather conservative arrangement when one thinks of it.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
In this and like communities public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed; consequently he who moulds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes and decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Democracy is supposed to give you the feeling of choice, like Painkiller X and Painkiller Y. But they’re both just aspirin.
—Gore Vidal (1925–48) American Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Playwright
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