Democracy Quotes
Barack Obama and the Nigerian president Bola Tinubu have the most entries, with H. L. Mencken and Franklin Roosevelt behind them, so a lot of the page is speeches. For the dry material go to Mencken in Smart Set (1910), who called democracy the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard; Shaw’s Maxims for Revolutionists (1903), on election by the incompetent many instead of appointment by the corrupt few; and Disraeli’s Lothair (1870).
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch” is credited to Benjamin Franklin and flagged misattributed. The earliest version in the notes is a Usenet post from 23 April 1990. The line that democracy is the most vile form of government, credited to Madison, is flagged too.
We love your adherence to democratic principles and to the democratic process.
I pass, at length, to the third and perfectly absolute dominion, which we call democracy.
We will have to invest more in the security of our country to protect out freedom and democracy.
Democracy is not for Africa. There was only one African chief and here in Zaire we must make unity.
They screwed with democracy. I’m not going to lose much sleep when democracy screws them back.
Universal suffrage is one kind of democracy, but it is not the only way of democracy.
Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.
There is no state with a democracy except Libya on the whole planet.
I genuinely feel that the survival of this country lies in democracy and democracy alone.
I learnt a lot about democracy in the schoolyards of Brooklyn, New York.
The [mask-wearing] ban [by Hong Kong protesters] represents a setback in democracy.