Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity.Irving Kristol
I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.George Mason
In a democracy there are only two types of power: there's organized people and organized money, and organized money only wins when people aren't organized.Benjamin Todd Jealous
I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be.Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Western investment is usually assumed to walk hand-in-hand with the democratic values of its home countries, and indeed, opening an economy to outside money is one of the textbook steps in a shift from authoritarianism to an open society.Chrystia Freeland
The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.Jimmy Carter
Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellow men.B. R. Ambedkar
The moral and social aspiration proper to American life is, of course, the aspiration vaguely described by the word democratic; and the actual achievement of the American nation points towards an adequate and fruitful definition of the democratic ideal.Herbert Croly
People cannot be free unless they are willing to sacrifice some of their interests to guarantee the freedom of others. The price of democracy is the ongoing pursuit of the common good by all of the people.Saul Alinsky
I wish to assure you that there can never be any return to the state of armed conflict which existed before our commitment to peace and the democratic process of election under the Lancaster House agreement.Robert Mugabe
Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country.Maximilien Robespierre
Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.Plato
Democracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.Plato
Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen's faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs.Joe Biden
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.Abraham Lincoln
Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.Abraham Lincoln
I chose America as my home because I value freedom and democracy, civil liberties and an open society.George Soros
I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.Dan Quayle
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.Winston Churchill
It matters enormously to a successful democratic society like ours that we have three branches of government, each with some independence and some control over the other two. That's set out in the Constitution.Ruth Bader Ginsburg
A free and truly independent press - fiercely independent when necessary - is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy.Kevin Rudd
The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the political winds that are blowing.Barack Obama
Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.Winston Churchill