Lessons You Can Learn From These Democracy Quotes | Have you ever searched for the meaning of the word “Democracy” on google? Let me straightforwardly tell you what democracy is. Democracy means a system made by the government in which people have rights to what they want to choose. If needed, they can also get any rule implemented.
In a way, in democratic countries, people have the freedom to live how they want to live. For example, India is the largest democratic country in the whole world.
To develop a nation, we need a perfect contribution of leaders and people of the country. Without good leaders, the country can’t grow without and without supportive people; the government can’t remain peaceful and harmonious.
In this article, we will read quotes of some influential, successful and famous leaders who have given their views on how they see democracy.
Check Out Some Democracy Quotes
“Democracy is “government of, by and for the people”.
“The people who own the country ought to govern it.”
– John Kay
“A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
“There cannot be daily democracy without daily citizenship.”
– Ralph Nader
“Democracy is never a thing done. Democracy is always something that a nation must be doing.”
– Archibald MacLeish
“The lesson of history is clear: democracy always wins in the end.”
– Marjorie Kelly
“It is my principle that the will of the majority should always prevail.”
– Thomas Jefferson
“I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong.”
– Mohandas Gandhi
“The primal principle of democracy is the worth and dignity of the individual.”
– Edward Bellamy
“In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, the will of the majority is supreme.”
– Aristotle
“Democracy is not the law of the majority but protection of the minority.”
– Albert Camus
“In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility.”
– Norman Cousins
“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 road to democracy may be winding and is like a river taking many curves, but eventually the river will reach the ocean.”
– Chen Shui-bian
“Democracy is not so much a form of government as a set of principles.”
– Woodrow Wilson
Random Quotes On Democracy
“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 winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
– Isaac Asimov
“It’s not the voting that’s democracy; it’s the counting.”
– Tom Stoppard
“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
– Louis D. Brandeis
“Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation.”
– Atifete Jahjaga
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
– H. L. Mencken
“Democracy is not just an election, it is our daily life.”
– Tsai Ing-wen
“For us democracy is a question of human dignity. And human dignity is political freedom.”
– Olof Palme
“Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs.”
– Joe Biden
“The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the political winds that are blowing.”
– Caroline Kennedy
“Democracy is when the people keep a government in check.”
– Aung San Suu Kyi
Motivational Quotes On Democracy
“Democracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.”
– Recep Tayyip Erdogan
“All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.”
– Al Smith
“Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.”
– George Bernard Shaw
“The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy.”
– Theodore White
“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 M. Hutchins
“In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”
– Graham Greene
“Hatred is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and block a nation’s progress to freedom and democracy.”
– Liu Xiaobo
“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
“137 years later, Memorial Day remains one of America’s most cherished patriotic observances. The spirit of this day has not changed – it remains a day to honor those who died defending our freedom and democracy.”
– Doc Hastings
“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
Famous Quotes On Democracy
“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.”
– James Bovard
“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
– Alexis de Tocqueville
“A vibrant civil society can challenge those in power by documenting corruption or uncovering activities like the murder of political enemies. In democracies, this function is mostly performed by the media, NGOs or opposition parties.”
– Evgeny Morozov
“Journalism is what we need to make democracy work.”
– Walter Cronkite
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
– John Adams
“A vibrant civil society can challenge those in power by documenting corruption or uncovering activities like the murder of political enemies. In democracies, this function is mostly performed by the media, NGOs or opposition parties.”
– Evgeny Morozov
“Democracy is the art of thinking independently together.”
– Alexander Meiklejohn
“I really rebel against this idea that politics has to be a place full of ego and where you’re constantly focused on scoring hits against each one another. Yes, we need a robust democracy, but you can be strong, and you can be kind.”
– Jacinda Ardern
“I am not Left or Right. I believe in nationalism, patriotism, the federal structure, democracy, and the poor.”
– Mamata Banerjee
“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”
– John F. Kennedy
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy.”
– Benito Mussolini
Motivational Quotes On Democracy
“If we desire a society of peace, then we cannot achieve such a society through violence. If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society. If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end.”
– Bayard Rustin
“There can be no democracy without truth. There can be no truth without controversy, there can be no change without freedom. Without freedom there can be no progress.”
– Andrew Young
“We’ve become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy. I think that’s been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I’ve ever seen in my life.”
– Jimmy Carter
“I always say the strength of democracy lies in criticism. If there is no criticism, that means there is no democracy. And if you want to grow, you must invite criticism. And I want to grow; I want to invite criticism.”
– Narendra Modi
“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.”
– H. L. Mencken
“Democracy is not a spectator sport, it’s a participatory event. If we don’t participate in it, it ceases to be a democracy.”
– Michael Moore
“Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.”
– James Russell Lowell
“Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions – it only guarantees equality of opportunity.”
– Irving Kristol
“Democracy’s a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it’s no longer democracy, is it? It’s something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism.”
– Sam Shepard
“Democracy is messy, and it’s hard. It’s never easy.”
– Robert Kennedy, Jr.
Inspirational Quotes On Democracy
“Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they’ve told you what you think it is you want to hear.”
– Alan Coren
“Freedom of speech is a human right and the foundation upon which democracy is built. Any restriction of freedom of speech is a restriction upon democracy.”
– Deeyah Khan
“Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.”
– Thurgood Marshall
“A healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant and respectful.”
– Charles W. Pickering
Abraham Lincoln Quotes On Democracy
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“The money power preys on the nation in times of peace, and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity. Democracy will rise superior to the money power.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“Democracy is “government of, by and for the people.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“When we were the political slaves of King George, and wanted to be free, we called the maxim that “all men are created equal” a self evident truth; but now when we have grown fat, and have lost all dread of being slaves ourselves, we have become so greedy to be masters that we call the same maxim “a self evident lie” The fourth of July has not quite dwindled away; it is still a great day-for burning fire-crackers!!!”
– Abraham Lincoln
More Abraham Lincoln Quotes On Democracy
“The Democracy of to-day hold the liberty of one man to be absolutely nothing, when in conflict with another mans right of property. Republicans, on the contrary, are for both the man and the dollar; but in cases of conflict, the man before the dollar.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“What I want is to get done what the people desire to have done, and the question for me is how to find that out exactly.”
– Abraham Lincoln
Babasaheb Ambedkar Quotes On Democracy
“I measure the progress of a community by the degree of freedom which women have achieved.”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
“Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man’s life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self.”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
“History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
“I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity.”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
“Indians today are governed by two different ideologies. Their political ideal set in the preamble of the Constitution affirms a life of liberty, equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodied in their religion denies them.”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
“If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it.”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
“On the 26th of January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality.”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
“In politics we will be recognizing the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value.”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
“In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value.”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
“How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions?”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
“How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life?”
– Babasaheb Ambedkar
Quotes On Democracy By Mahatma Gandhi
“What is really needed to make democracy function is not knowledge of facts, but right education.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless or corrupt.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Retaliation is counter-poison and poison breeds more poison. The nectar of Love alone can destroy the poison of hate.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts – that is where the battle should be fought.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Democracy necessarily means a conflict of will and ideas, involving sometimes a war of the knife between different ideas.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Democracy and dependence on the military and police are incompatible.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“If we want to cultivate a true spirit of democracy we cannot afford to be intolerant. Intolerance betrays want of faith in one’s cause.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“The true democrat is he who with purely nonviolent means defends his liberty and, therefore, his country’s and ultimately that of the whole of mankind.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Evolution of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
Quotes On Democracy In Hindi
“लोकतंत्र में गरीबों के पास अमीरों की तुलना में अधिक शक्ति होगी, क्योंकि वे संख्या में अधिक होंगे और बहुमत की इच्छा सर्वोपरि होगी।”
– अरस्तू
“लोकतंत्र के बारे में मेरी यह धारणा है कि इसमें कमजोर से कमजोर आदमी के पास भी उतने ही अवसर होने चाहिए जितने कि सबसे ताकतवर के पास।”
– महात्मा गांधी
“लोकतंत्र ‘जनता की, जनता के द्वारा, जनता के लिए शासन है’।”
– अब्राहम लिंकन
“सच्चा लोकतंत्र किसी एक केंद्र में बीस आदमियों के मिल बैठने से नहीं चलाया जा सकता। इसे नीचे से काम करना चाहिए, लोकतंत्र का संचालन गांव-गांव के लोगों द्वारा खुद से होना चाहिए।”
– महात्मा गांधी
“मेरा सिद्धांत यह है कि बहुमत की इच्छा ही लागू होनी चाहिए। ”
– थॉमस जेफरसन
“लोकतंत्र का मार्ग घुमावदार हो सकता है, यह कई बार मुड़ने वाली नदी की तरह हो सकता है, लेकिन अंततः नदी को (जनहित रूपी) समुद्र में ही मिल जाना है।”
– चेन शुई-बियान
“लोकतंत्र का अर्थ सरकार के एक स्वरूप से बढ़कर सिद्धांतों से एक समुच्चय से है।”
– वुडरो विल्सन
“स्वाभाविक तौर पर तनाशाही का जन्म लोकतंत्र से ही होता है, और निरंकुशता व गुलामी का सबसे चरम रूप सबसे स्वच्छंद आजादी से जन्म लेता है।”
– प्लेटो
“लोकतंत्र कोई पूरा हो जाने वाला काम नहीं है। लोकतंत्र हमेशा चलते रहने वाला काम है जो एक राष्ट्र को करते रहना चाहिए।”
– आर्कीबाल्ड मैकलीश
“लोकतंत्र दो भेड़िए और एक भेड़ द्वारा इस बात पर वोटिंग करना नहीं है कि खाने में क्या होना चाहिए।”
– जेम्स बोवार्ड
“लोकतंत्र समाजवाद के लिए अपरिहार्य है।”
– व्लादिमीर लेनिन
Quotes on Democracy (images)
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