Democracy Quotes

The greatest blessing of our democracy is freedom. But in the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves.

Democracy is not something you put away for ten years, and then in the 11th year you wake up and start practicing again. We have to begin to learn to rule ourselves again.

According to this view, democracy is a product of western culture, and it cannot be applied to the Middle East which has a different cultural, religious, sociological and historical background.

My parents told us how they felt but never imposed their beliefs on us, although I appreciate I got a healthy sense of democracy from them.

The birth of democracy in Iraq is one of the great positive changes of our era.

Education and democracy have the same goal: the fullest possible development of human capabilities.

The problem of the world today is the people talk on and on about democracy, freedom, justice. But I don't give a damn about democracy if I am worried about survival.

If the war has faded into history, democracy's defeat in Vietnam has left deep marks in the consciousness of both nations.

The building of America has had its fair share of mistakes, but it's a constitution that's the jewel of democracy, the envy of many, and it's the most generous nation in the world.

A global democracy works only when countries trust one another.

I think we are dying in America, I think our democracy is over.

To make democracy work, we must be a notion of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.

I am more convinced than ever that a lively two party system is essential to our democracy.

Iraq is part of a legitimate American effort not to have democracy everywhere but to have democracy somewhere.

Democracy, good governance and modernity cannot be imported or imposed from outside a country.

Nobody should be allowed to tinker with democracy. We will not discontinue the good works of the past government.

Therefore, the question is not whether such democratization is possible, but instead how to meet the yearning of the masses in the Middle East for democracy; in other words, how to achieve democratization in the Middle East.

What should be targeted is a concept of organic, and not just mechanic, democracy that preserves the rule of law, separation of powers, and that is participatory and pluralistic.

If you say simply that pressures toward democracy are created by the market, I would say yes.

In brief, Western democracy, as other political models, is not exportable to all regions of the world.

So I think one can say on empirical grounds - not because of some philosophical principle - that you can't have democracy unless you have a market economy.