Democracy quotes
2.6K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside democracy — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"To be a film director is not a democracy, it's really a tyranny. You're the head of the project, for better rather than worse. I write the film and I direct the film, I decide who's going to be in it, I decide on the editing, I put in the music from my own record collection."
"Our constitutional liberties shall not be sacrificed in our search for greater security, for that is what our enemies and all enemies of freedom and democracy hope to achieve."
"Basically, we are witnessing the twilight of democracy."
"A news conference is a device by which the establishment keeps large numbers of reporters from covering the news every place else."
"The best defense of democracy is an informed electorate."
"It is past time for the U.S. government to fully fulfill our moral obligation to those who have fought for freedom and democracy."
"If you are a designer, sometimes it is better not to delegate, because someone pays money for something that you designed, so it should be exactly the way you want it, exactly the way you would have chosen it. People call me a control freak, and I say, "Well, my name is on the shoe." It means the heel needs to be the way I want it and not the way somebody else wants it, and the toe needs to be exactly the way I want it, and the fabric and the material have to be exactly the way I want it. It is not a democracy - it is a dictatorship."
"I don't understand why it has to be either - or - either socialism or democracy. Why can't we combine things to get the best of each system?"
"Seeing that the 97's are a democracy through and through, inevitably, some of these tons of songs I write will get vetoed. The first time that happened (and every time thereafter), I consoled myself with the thought that sooner or later I'd make a solo record"
"With growing and intermixed minority populations, our democracy can not work optimally unless all people are integrated as full and equal members, and I think our collective freedom requires that."
"Democracy is the best chance for the best people."
"Unless bureaucracy is constantly resisted, it breaks down representative government and overwhelms democracy."
"Without God, democracy cannot and will not long endure."
"Democracy is not a fragile flower; still it needs cultivating."
"Everything has to be done to build some sort of international democracy. We've seen only the tiniest beginnings of that."
"It seems to me that actual democracy is where all of us get to participate and it's not just a sort of a blunt little dry hump in a ballot box, but an actual penetrative process."
"Democracy is a gleaming Excalibur - let's not use it just to mend the toaster."
"I think, you're not blagging me on this ridiculous journey, with this bit of paper. I think if you want to change things, it's not with an X on a piece of paper, it's with an X on someone's forehead."
"American democracy is spoiled by people buying everything in sight and then selling and buying everything in sight, including our politicians."
"We have to have a more realistic foreign policy and not a utopian one where we say, oh, we're going to spread freedom and democracy, and everybody in the Middle East is going to love us. They are not going to love us."
