Hillary Clinton Quotes

Democracy affords debate, discussion and dissent.

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.

Bring it on. Dissent is central to any democracy.

Healthy disagreement, debate, leading to compromise has always been the American way.

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.

A full and fair discussion is essential to democracy.

Questioning is the great strength of democracy; the ability to doubt without losing face

America remains an open society in which opposing forces can surface and clash, a necessary precondition for their solution.

Honest difference of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy among free men.

Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.

I think we Americans tend to put too high a value on unanimity, as if there were something dangerous and illegitimate about honest differences of opinion honestly expressed by honest men.

The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions.

There is no right in the world not to be offended. That right simply doesn’t exist. In a free society, an open society, people have strong opinions, and these opinions very often clash. In a democracy, we have to learn to deal with this.

And I think both the left and the right should celebrate people who have different opinions, and disagree with them, and argue with them, and differ with them, but don't just try to shut them up.

Political civility is not about being polite to each other. It's about reclaiming the power of 'We the People' to come together, debate the common good and call American democracy back to its highest values amid our differences.

People have a right to be a Democrat. People have a right to be wrong. I know they're the same thing.

A free society means that you might have to put up with a lot of things you despise.

I once said that democracy is a discussion. But real discussion is only possible where men trust one another, and honestly seek the truth. Democracy is a conversation among equals, the thinking of free people open to complete publicity—the word "parliament" has a fine meaning, if only we could give it body!

The University is not engaged in making ideas safe for students. It is engaged in making students safe for ideas. Thus it permits the freest expression of views before students, trusting to their good sense in passing judgment on these views. Only in this way can it best serve American democracy.

Democracy depends on the idea that we hold each others’ right to express ourselves and be heard above our own desire to always get the outcomes we want. You can’t impose tolerance top-down.

While the protection of speech is at the bedrock of our democracy, it's critical as a nation that we exercise our right every day - and that includes embracing and engaging with those we may not agree with.

We're all not going to agree on the same things, but that's what makes this country so great.

We ought to be able to talk about ideas, we ought to be able to debate ideas because that's how you get to consensus and that's how you move this country forward and that's how you move this state forward. We do a better job of it in Iowa. We do.

If the test of patriotism comes only by reflexively falling into lockstep behind the leader whenever the flag is waved, then what we have is a formula for dictatorship, not democracy... But the American way is to criticize and debate openly, not to accept unthinkingly the doings of government officials of this or any other country.

Opinions cannot survive if one has no chance to fight for them.