Vladimir Lenin Quotes

Democracy can be sustained and developed only by people who understand its essence.

What is really needed to make democracy function is not knowledge of facts, but right education.

Democracy in the contemporary world demands, among other things, an educated and informed people.

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.

Among the foremost benefits of free government is that education of the intelligence and of the sentiments which is carried down to the very lowest ranks of the people when they are called to take a part in acts which directly affect the great interests of their country.

Good government could never be a substitute for government by the people themselves.

You cannot have a democracy without an informed people.

The survival of democracy depends on the ability of large numbers of people to make realistic choices in the light of adequate information.

Democracy is a difficult art of government, demanding of its citizens high ratios of courage and literacy, and at the moment we lack both the necessary habits of mind and a sphere of common reference.

I am not so much concerned with the right of everyone to say anything he pleases as I am about our need as a self-governing people to hear everything relevant

We need to listen and learn rather than dictate and declare. The US holds no patent on democracy or freedom: we are part of a larger and majority neighborhood of global and civic-minded nations that cherish the democratic process and democratic ideas over tyranny and dictatorial control.

Democracy is not a result. Democracy is a process.

The vitality of democracy depends on popular knowledge of complex questions.

Let's summon the courage to insist on a minimal level of civic knowledge for the citizens empowered to decide our fate.

Democracy depends on well educated and engaged citizens.

Courage is the lifeblood of democracy.

We cannot imagine democracies without a vibrant civil society.

Democracy requires an informed citizenry able to question its government.

Democracy requires a certain relish for confusion

Our whole system of government is based on "We the people," but if we the people don't pay attention to what's going on, we have no right to bellyache or squawk when things go wrong.

A democracy depends upon people getting brighter all the time. Democracies are delicate. They're not just ipso facto and just go on and on.

There is always the risk in advocating for democracy that the first people to wake up might not be your team, but that is a risk worth taking. I would rather have citizens I don't agree with organized and active than an oligarchy of people that I agree with.

The human heart is the first home of democracy.

Democracy only works, as President [Barack] Obama spoke of in his farewell message, if it's driven by the people and the people stay active and vigilant and speak out and let their concerns be known.

The best defence [for a democracy, for the public good] is aggressiveness, the aggressiveness of the involved citizen. We need to reassert that slow, time-consuming, inefficient, boring process that requires our involvement; it is called 'being a citizen.' The public good is not something that you can see. It is not static. It is a process. It is the process by which democratic civilizations build themselves.