William Quandt Quotes

You don't spread democracy through the barrel of a gun.

I've never known a country to be starved into democracy.

If my goal were to spread democracy, Iraq would be the last country that I would use as a demonstration.

Democracies are poor breeding grounds for terrorism and war.

It serves notice that President Bush is serious about promoting freedom, because free societies are a lot more peaceable than dictatorships and monarchies.

Democracy is not imperialism… Imposing democracy is an oxymoron ….You can’t have democracy instantly.

Through democracy we shall have peace [in the Balkans].

We cannot impose democracy where it has no constituency.

Democracies do not commit aggression.

If any country wants to develop, it must practice democracy. If I look around the world, I see that the prosperous countries practice democracy.

The Muslim world needs democracy. It wants democracy. But it should be real democracy and not just democracy by name only... Democracy has done some good things. It has saved humanity from despots and dictators who act like gods. The details should be left to the people. Let them decide for themselves

We had a revolution 2 years ago, and we see a people moving from a completely authoritarian system into a democracy. They don’t know how democracy works. They don’t know the ingredients of a democracy.

The United States supports the idea that every people should have the right to make a free choice as to the kind of government they want.

Once confined to a handful of wealthy countries, it [democracy] became, in a short period of time, the most popular political system in the world. In 1900, only 10 countries were democracies. By mid-century, the number had increased to 30…. By 2005 fully 119 of the world’s 190 countries had become democracies.

In South America, there is no more room for alternatives to democracy.

Democracies don't fight each other. Terrorists don't tend to come from places where they feel like they have recourse in a political system.

If the English want a king, it is their business. If the Russians want communism, it is their business. If the Americans want our form of government, it is our business.

The Americans' position is clear: we promote democracy.

Democracy in Yemen did not stop, instead it is in a continuous development, there is no other way to follow rather than democracy, it is our national way for building up our country, it was not imposed on us by others.

Imposing democracy through force is a roll of the dice.

In nation after nation, democracy has taken the place of autocracy.

We have to implant democracies where there are now dictatorships.

The spread of freedom is the best security for the free.

I think, as a general matter, clearly, the United States globally supports the development of democracy and the democratic yearnings of all people.

I hope that the German people will never again make the mistake of believing that because the American people are peace-loving, they will sit back hoping for peace if any nation uses force or the threat of force to acquire dominion over other peoples and other governments.