John Lydon Quotes

If you go and live with these Arabs, you will find that they cannot understand our ideas of freedom and human dignity. They have lived so long under dictatorships of one kind or another, how can we expect them to run successfully a free government?

Democracy isn't just for people in the Middle East, but Britons, too.

One of the achievements of the reform movement is that people realize that they can be democrats and remain faithful Muslims. Democracy is now an established idea.

Ultimately, freedom and democracy are stronger than fear and tyranny.

Having lived through the transition from totalitarianism, I am acutely mindful of the need to never take for granted the basic freedoms of thought, expression and belief that democracy brings.

The West will never understand Muslims so long as we ... judge them by the rules we are accustomed to apply to ourselves.

We cannot impose democracy where it has no constituency.

I couldn’t believe that this could happen in the Arab world.

Like the government, Arab businessmen fear democracy and the possibility that their workers might be transformed into responsible citizens who might demand their rights.

There are many democracies in our Arab and Islamic countries, but unfortunately, they are all false democracies.

Across the region, those rights that we take for granted are being claimed with joy by those who are prying loose the grip of an iron fist.

Forcing some countries to accept democracy is something that should not be done.

The fact is that democracy anywhere in the world, including in the United States, is not something that comes easy. And yet, we are committed to it, and equality and democracy are the only ways in the long run that Jews will be safe in the Middle East.

The U.S. government must stand on the side of human rights, the rule of law, and democratic progress, not impede or otherwise stunt such progress.

We desire and thirst for freedom, democracy and the rule of law just like anyone else. And we are prepared to fight tooth and nail for all of those things.

We recognize Taiwan as the beacon of Asian democracy.

The world has to have zero tolerance for naked dictatorship.

Whereas Canada and our allies see the rule of law, freedom of speech, and fair elections as the guardrails to a more secure world, Beijing sees them as a threat to the rule of the Communist Party.

Freedom of opinion is a valuable asset in a democracy.

Turkey is a diverse country... I think that democracy is the ideal system for a country with a social foundation such as this. My view is based on my belief that everyone should be able to comfortably live what they believe, and this is only possible in a truly democratic environment. I am insistent in my views and I strongly believe in what I say.

What I find very painful are all these charges that democracy is really shaken in Poland, that we have been switching into some authoritarian regime.

Freedom of speech is a human right and the foundation upon which democracy is built. Any restriction of freedom of speech is a restriction upon democracy.

And one of the challenges, of course, is to convince people that Muslims would like to be free, that there's other people other than people in Britain and America that would like to be free in the world.

I recognize that in some cases it's more important to have freedom and justice than to have peace.

No democracy can long survive which does not accept as fundamental to its very existence the recognition of the rights of minorities.