Shirin Ebadi Quotes

The essence of a democracy is a free electorate.

It is not suffrage that gives life to democracy; it is our democratic society that gives life to suffrage.

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

In a democracy the People are entitled to determine the Ends or general aims of foreign policy.

I shall on all subjects have a policy to recommend, but none to enforce against the will of the people.

In democracies the people seem to act as they please.

If we believe in a democratic system, we have to accept the will of the people.

In a democracy, voting is a huge and most important right of a common man.

My government will respect the will of the people.

While democracy must have its organization and controls, its vital breath is individual liberty.

Freedom to vote is valuable primarily as a means to safeguard other freedoms.

Africans require, want, the franchise on the basis of one man one vote. They want political independence.

I feel that the majority of people should decide for themselves what kind of government they want.

The wastes of democracy are among the greatest obvious wastes, but we have compensations in democracy which far outweigh that waste and make it more efficient than absolutism.

If any ask me what a free government is, I answer, that for any practical purpose, it is what the people think so, and that they, and not I, are the natural, lawful, and competent judges of the matter.

In a democracy we assume that people can define their own interest and vote that way.

Let The People Rule

I think democracy is a universal idea and I think letting people rule themselves happens to be something that serves America and America’s interests.

A democratic government must always be left free to be operated upon by the will of the majority of the time being. All that the government of the day can do is to ascertain what now appears to be the best principle.

Give all of the governed a voice in their government; that and that alone is self government.

The consent of the governed" is more than a safeguard against ignorant tyrants: it is an insurance against benevolent despots as well.

Democracy is not majority rule but rule by public opinion.

The will of the people... is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object

Democracy alone, of all forms of government, enlists the full force of men's enlightened will.

Democracy is the best revenge.