Martin Schulz Quotes

Referendums are a democratic instrument, but so are decisions reached in a parliamentary democracy. I advise extreme caution when it comes to referendums. In Germany too.

Everything is more complicated than it looks to most people.

There are different ways to get responsive government leaders but one of the more effective ways is to have them democratically elected.

We are talking about an issue with fundamental significance to how democracies work. One can safely say it is now an even bigger issue.

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

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

No, Blitz. That's oversimplifying it.

I know there's an online petition to have another referendum [like Brexit] but I think honestly I think if people want to go for it a little further down the line it would be a hiding for nothing.

Political action involves mental vulgarity, not merely because it entails the occurrence and support of those who are mentally vulgar, but because of the simplification of human life implied in even the best of it purposes.

I don't understand why Italians should be bound to Brussels's choices without being able to express themselves through a referendum.

The only way change happens is when people become more significantly involved in the political process. We have to increase voter turnout and citizen participation so that people know what's going on and demand a government that works for everybody and not just the one percent.

The case to be made is that we have got to get people involved - continue to get people involved in the political process at every level.

I am convinced that whenever we exaggerate or demonize, oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose. Whenever we dumb down the political debate, we lose. For it's precisely the pursuit of ideological purity, the rigid orthodoxy and the sheer predictability of our current political debate, that keeps us from finding new ways to meet the challenges we face.

Nothing is more complicated than sex. Nor anything so beautifully simple.

There was no press involvement, there was no pressure. Life was very pure and it became more complicated.

it is all very well for you to write simply and the simpler the better. But do not start to think so damned simply. Know how complicated it is and then state it simply.

I think referendums are fantastic as long as the question is phrased in a way which is not meant to deliberately confuse or confound people.

Wherever there's capitalism there's this inclination toward simplicity. There's also a human need to process complicated things by turning them into something else.

Humor is a terrific tool for explaining things, especially when what you're explaining is frightening or dull and complicated.

Well, that's the way democracy works. We have to build this Europe with the material we have at our disposal. And this material is national democracy.

Illiteracy does not impede the practice of democracy, as witnessed by the success of democracy in India despite the high illiteracy rate. One doesn't need a university diploma to realize that the ruler is oppressive and corrupt. On the other hand, to eradicate illiteracy requires that we elect a fair and efficient political regime.

It may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more constant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves.

You can't have a democracy with an armed political party willing to bomb its neighbor without the consent of its government or, you know, just deciding, "Well, let's create enough chaos and discord by lobbing rockets. And so the reality is in order for Lebanon to succeed and we want Lebanon's democracy to succeed the process is going to the Lebanese government's eventually going to have to deal with Hezbollah.

She always says she dislikes the abnormal, it is so obvious. She says the normal is so much more simply complicated and interesting.

If democracy is control by the people, as it is supposed to be, it is the right form of government. I believe in a complete democracy - individual, political, social, economic. If we really had that, which we don't now, it would be in harmony with divine purpose.