Aristotle Quotes

In a democracy, not everyone gets what they want.

In democracy everyone has the right to be represented, even the jerks.

Democracy matters because it reflects an idea of equality and an idea of liberty. It reflects an idea of dignity, the dignity of the individual, the idea that each individual should have an equal vote, an equal say, in the formation of their government.

Democracy is about opposition.

It is an essential tenet of our whole representative form of government, the idea that there should not be some tyranny which makes it so nobody can even have a chance to vote.

One has the right to be wrong in a democracy.

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

Democracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

Either we are all free, or we fail; democracy must belong to all of us.

Democracy is not so much a form of government as a set of principles.

Liberty and equality ... will best be attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.

The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.

It is in order that each one of you, through this free government which we have enjoyed, have an open field and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise and intelligence.... It is for this the struggle should be maintained.

The main difference in the conceptual framework of a democracy as compared to various Asian regimes is that these regimes do not accept equality as the fundamental basis of their societies …. It is no exaggeration to say that equality is being treated as an alien concept by a large section of the elite in Asia

Democracy, in a word, is meant to be an aristocracy which has broadened into a universal aristocracy.

In a democracy, people are supreme.

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.

Democracy is the right choice and is the greatest form of government ever created.

To take an analogy: if we say that a democratic government is the best kind of government, we mean that it most completely fulfills the highest function of a government - the realisation of the will of the people.

The king knows with what ardor and perseverance I have at all times been devoted to the cause of liberty and to the principles of humanity, equality and justice.

The Declaration calls us to recognize the inherent equality of all people. And when it becomes unmistakably evident that a government is denying the governed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it's the right of people to establish a new government to secure these unalienable rights.

Liberty does not exist where rights are on one side and power on the other. To be liberty, rights must be armed with vital powers. A people cannot be free who do not participate in the control of the government which operates upon them.

If we are to give the people of China complete self-government we must first solve the problem of livelihood for all, and give real freedom to the races within China. If the foundations of democracy are secure, then true equality can be achieved.

It is a strange fact that freedom and equality, the two basic ideas of democracy, are to some extent contradictory. Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive, just as society and the individual are mutually exclusive.

In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.