Vladimir Putin Quotes

From literature to ecology, from the escape velocity of galaxies to the greenhouse effect, from garbage disposal methods to traffic jams, everything is discussed in our world. But the democratic system, as if it were a given fact, untouchable by nature until the end of time, we don't discuss that.

The army is a poor school for democracy.

Democracy is not a form of government. It is a political philosophy that can be embodied in various systems of government.

The case for democracy is not esthetic.

To view the opposition as dangerous is to misunderstand the basic concepts of democracy. To oppress the opposition is to assault the very foundation of democracy.

The spirit of democracy cannot be established in the midst of terrorism, whether governmental or popular.

Anti-democracy...is a virus that exists, and pro-democracy is the antibody to that virus, and I think we have to become vigilant, and we have to stay on top of the issues of democracy and freedom.

You cannot have democracy without the institutions. You cannot have a democracy that is built on the moods of self-interested people.

A nation can be one or the other, a democracy or an imperialist, but it can't be both. If it sticks to imperialism, it will, like the old Roman Republic, on which so much of our system was modeled, like the old Roman Republic, it will lose its democracy to a domestic dictatorship.

Democracy is a request from a War Board, in the middle of a morning in the middle of a war, wanting to know what democracy is.

Democracy will never be supplanted by a republic of experts—and that is a very good thing.

Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.

Democracy is an insecure landscape.

We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I can tell you quite honestly.

I call government that works the best for people open society, which is basically just another more general term for a democracy that is - you call it maybe a liberal democracy. It's not only majority rule but also respect for minorities and minority opinions and the rule of law. So it's really a sort of institutional democracy.

When threatened, the first thing a democracy gives up is democracy.

Democracy demands that little men should not take big ones too seriously; it dies when it is full of little men who think they are big themselves.

Democracy disciplined and enlightened is the finest thing in the world. A democracy prejudiced, ignorant, superstitious, will land itself in chaos and may be self-destroyed.

It's hard in all countries. Democracy is hard, but it's better than the alternatives.

Democracy and dependence on the military and police are incompatible.

The greatest characters the world has known, have rose on the democratic floor. Aristocracy has not been able to keep a proportionate pace with democracy.

A democracy in the Middle East must be more than a democracy in name only - it must live out its principles.

So Israel won't be a democratic state, so what.

In the end, democratic societies are stronger and more resilient than any autocracy. And more adaptable too.

If the people of the Middle East are not sure what democracy means, let them look to Israel.