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.
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
You cannot have democratic accountability in anything bigger than a nation state.
Democracy does not reside in speeches but in actual practices of its votaries.
War is one of the constants of history, and has not diminished with civilization or democracy.
To give the victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary.
Tyrannies, when they are strong, and democracies, when they are weak, can not tolerate criticism.