Max Lerner Quotes

I don't run a democracy. I train troops to defend democracy.

We cannot have a separate group of people that are military and a separate civilian society. Otherwise, it's dangerous to democracy.

The military is very constitutionalist, and I have my faith in them and in the cooler heads of the people.

In a democracy such as ours military policy is dependent on public opinion.

Turkey has, of course, the right to protect itself against terrorism, against attacks, but I expect it to be done in a way which is in accordance with the rule of law, democratic values. And that is something I have expressed several times in meetings with the Turkish leaders.

There are some who've forgotten why we have a military. It's not to promote war, it's to be prepared for peace.

Any comparison between the military dictatorship and democracy can only come from those who do not value the Brazilian democracy.

I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history. We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement - that's the kindest word I can give you - of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war.

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

If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military.

[Donald] Trump is speaking in Philadelphia on military matters. He's doing quite well. I want to join a little bit of this in progress just to give you a flavor for how Trump is sounding.

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.

Democracy is an objective. Democratization is a process. Democratization serves the cause of peace because it offers the possibility of justice and of progressive change without force.

When it comes to security, when it comes to ISIS, when it comes to the military, every single category I'm leading, like, by a lot.

There are some who've forgotten why we have a military. It's not to promote war. It's to be prepared for peace. There's a sign over the entrance to the Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington state, and that sign says it all: 'Peace is our profession'.

A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.

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

The war on terror, rebranded under Obama as the "Overseas Contingency Operation," has morphed into war on democracy.

We increased expenses, particularly in two areas: the military. If I put somebody in harm's way, they're going to get the best, as far as I'm concerned.

You don't help a country by supporting a military regime that denies any sign of democracy, and what defeated Pakistan was its military regime.

We say that if America has entered the war to make the world safe for democracy, she must first make democracy safe in America. How else is the world to take America seriously, when democracy at home is daily being outraged, free speech suppressed, peaceable assemblies broken up by overbearing and brutal gangsters in uniform; when free press is curtailed and every independent opinion gagged? Verily, poor as we are in democracy, how can we give of it to the world?

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.

To ensure prosperity here at home and peace abroad, we all share the belief we have to maintain the strongest military on the planet.

We live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns.

How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments of every hostile nation? The means of security can only be regulated by the means and the danger of attack. They will, in fact, be ever determined by these rules, and by no others . . . . If one nation maintains constantly a disciplined army, ready for service of ambition or revenge, it obliges the most pacific nations who may be within the reach of its enterprises to take corresponding precautions.