Boutros Boutros-Ghali Quotes

Since James Madison day (and long before), there have been constant struggles over "democratic governance".

When women are pessimistic about their political strength and feel hopeless about changing the conditions of their lives, it is almost as if they do not believe that democracy means the country belongs to them. But it's true.

Democracy is disruptive... there is no right in a democratic civil society to be free of disruption.

Democracy is an internal subject of the developing society. There are fundamentals of democracy, and they should be understood universally in different countries.

Democracy is based on the majority principle. This is especially true in a country such as ours where the vast majority have been systematically denied their rights. At the same time, democracy also requires that the rights of political and other minorities be safeguarded.

Democracy is reproached with saying that the majority is always right. But progress says that the minority is always right.

What we want to see is the development of human rights and greater democracy, not just because it is our system but because we think that's the best way that economic and political development go hand in hand.

In the long and dogged crusade that the human race has fought in favor of democracy, the ideal of liberty, of freedom, has always been the goal.

The natural tendency of representative government, as of modern civilisation, is towards collective mediocrity: and this tendency is increased by all reductions and extensions of the franchise, their effect being to place the principal power in the hands of classes more and more below the highest level of instruction in the community.

For countries to succeed, for democracies to succeed, the women and men in those countries need to be free. Women and men need to know their rights.

The right to vote is a consequence, not a primary cause, of a free social system - and its value depends on the constitutional structure implementing and strictly delimiting the voters' power; unlimited majority rule is an instance of the principle of tyranny.

A government or a party gets the people it deserves and sooner or later a people gets the government it deserves.

Democracy is the right choice and is the greatest form of government ever created.

I think we need to be a superpower of human rights, of support for true grassroots democracy, not corporatist economic development, which suits our economic elite but has not been helpful to the cause of democracies around the world.

Democracy is never a thing done. Democracy is always something that a nation must be doing.

Democracy alone can supply the vitalizing force to stir the peoples of the world into triumphant action, not only against their human oppressors, but also against their ancient enemies-hunger, misery, and despair.

Liberty has never lasted long in a democracy, nor has it ever ended in anything better than despotism.

With all its faults, the American political system is the freest and most democratic in the world.

We tie ourselves in knots when we act as if democracy is good for the United States and Israel but not for the Arab world. For far too long, we've treated the Arab world as just an oil field.

We're nowhere near democracy. I've been released, that's all.

As far as domestic democracy, all here present know that democracy means government of the people by the people. While we agree that consultation and participation are essential to every democracy, this is seldom achieved in practice.

Part of the reason we like democracy is it's the portfolio of decades, which is to say you don't also get the disastrous dictator who completely destroys a society, engages you in wars and so forth.

Popular congresses are the only means to achieve popular democracy. Any system of government other than popular congresses is undemocratic.