Adnan Menderes Quotes

In a democracy, expressing disagreement with the government’s actions does not amount to sedition or insurrection—it is, and must remain, protected speech.

The Framers of the Constitution knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny.

The free society tolerates those within it who would use that freedom to destroy it.

Civil war was taught them [Americans] that "the sacred right of insurrection" is as much out of place in a democratic state as in an aristocratic or a monarchical state; and that the government should always be clothed with ample authority to arrest and punish whoever plots its destruction.

We believe that this is not right for a democracy to make revolutions the beacon of promoting democracy.

It's important to show that, while authorizing the demonstrations and promoting diversity of opinion, the Republic can't allow itself to be undermined from within.

What is good about the United States is the sense that you can disagree with the government and not be seen as unpatriotic, although many in the government will try to make you seem unpatriotic.

There is a heated debate in Turkey these days over whether the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is furthering democracy or rolling it back.

Men may die, but the fabric of free institutions remain unshaken.

To fight against the government with any means is a basic right and sport of every German.

Freedom cannot long service where defiance and contempt are tolerated or condoned. That is why our country can ill-afford the binge of so called "civil disobedience" which has erupted on the streets ... and across the campuses of many colleges and universities.

A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.... Unsuccessful rebellions indeed generally establish the encroachment on the rights of people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governments so mild in their punishment of rebellion so as not to discourage them too much.

The fact that people gather with placards is abnormal. Other countries would not allow that. Our democracy is in many cases excessive.

You have the God-given right to kick the government around. Don't hesitate to do so.

This country has been without stern, sails and wind, and it needs someone at the helm. We are doomed to live in an authoritarian state until genuine democracy, which should not be confused with anarchy, can be set up.

A democratic society cannot tolerate mob rule.

If there is liberty, if there is democracy, in this country, it will stand or fall with the right of the minority to express to the full force of language its opposition in public to the policies of the government. And it will stand or fall with the courage of the minority so to express itself.

In most of the countries where the people don’t like their government, we are now allowed to ask whether people like their government.

If ballots don’t work, bullets will.

Rebellion against a king may be pardoned, or lightly punished, but the man who dares to rebel against the laws of a republic ought to suffer death.

I can imagine no greater disservice to the country than to establish a system of censorship that would deny to the people of a free republic like our own their indisputable right to criticize their own public officials. While exercising the great powers of the office I hold, I would regret in a crisis like the one through which we are now passing to lose the benefit of patriotic and intelligent criticism.

When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection is ... the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties.

No free speech for traitors.

Some people will never live comfortably in a modern liberal democracy.

In the United States, because we are a nation of laws, you can lose an election and keep your life. In the United States, you can lose an election where you can disagree with our leaders or our government, and you won't lose your business; you won't lose your family, and you won't lose your freedom.