Majorities Quotes

The human race is made up of sheep. It is governed by minorities, seldom or never by majorities. It suppresses its feelings and its beliefs and follows the handful that makes the most noise. Sometimes the noisy handful is right, sometimes wrong; but no matter, the crowd follows it.

Majorities are generally wrong, if only in their reasons for being right.

The Constitution was essentially an economic document based upon the concept that the fundamental rights of private property are anterior to government and morally beyond the reach of popular majorities.

An elected executive—whether President, governor or mayor—needs a popularity majority every day in his term.

The quality of moral behaviour varies in inverse ratio to the number of human beings involved.

You know, a lot of the people that are running. We want to go in; we want to have majorities. It's very important.

The majority is always sane.

Majorities are no less exposed to error and frustration than kings and dictators. That a fact is deemed true by the majority does not prove its truth.

The great questions of the day are not to be decided by speeches and majorities ... but by iron and blood.

I am one of the great army of mediocrity which constitutes the majority.

There is no cause so right that one cannot find a fool following it.

The history of the world shows us that men are not to be counted by their numbers, but by the fire and vigor of their passions

It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.... From the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.

A vocal minority beats a silent majority.

We must reflect more on what democracy in the exercise of authority would mean. Is truth determined by a majority vote, only for a new 'truth' to be 'discovered' by a new majority tomorrow?

Majorities … are often mistaken. That is why the silencing of minorities is necessarily dangerous. Criticism and dissent are the indispensable antidote to major delusions.

Men do not make laws. They do but discover them. Laws must be justified by something more than the will of the majority. They must rest on the eternal foundation of righteousness. That state is the most fortunate which has the aptest instruments for the discovery of laws.

The parliamentary regime leaves everything to the decision of majorities,--how can the large majorities beyond parliament be expected not to wish to decide? If, from above, they hear the fiddle screeching, what else is to be expected than that those below should dance?

Nobody builds a permanent majority in politics, if they did It wouldn’t be politics.

When the chips are down, the majority always wins.

The principal concern of Mexico’s political elite today is how to build governing majorities and achieve consensus.

Legislative bodies have tended more and more to become wholly inefficient for the purposes of legislation. The prime feature in causing this unhealthy growth has been the discovery by minorities that under the old rules of parliamentary procedure they could put a complete stop to all legislative action... If the minority is as powerful as the majority there is no use of having political contests at all, for there is no use in having a majority.

Large sustainable measures are seldom built on slim majorities.

The tyranny of majorities may be as bad as the tyranny of Kings.