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 have declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it.
The best evidence that we are still in a democracy is the fact that there is still an opposition.
Democracy has no convictions for which people would be willing to stake their lives.
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
Democracy cannot survive without the guidance of a creative minority.
Democracy and liberty only exist when your armed forces want them to.
Today will go down in history as a dark one indeed for UK democracy.
If you're going to have an active and successful democracy, you have to have equal opportunity.