Democracy Definition Quotes & Sayings

Covert action is by definition outside the ambit of democracy. — Hodding Carter III

My definition of democracy is -
A form and a method of Government whereby revolutionary changes in the social life are brought about without bloodshed.
That is the real test. It is perhaps the severest test. But when you are judging the quality of the material you must put it to the severest test. — B.R. Ambedkar

To include freedom in the very definition of democracy is to define a process not by its actual characteristics as a process but by its hoped for results. This is not only intellectually invalid, it is, in practical terms, blinding oneself in advance to some of the unwanted consequences of the process. — Thomas Sowell

For me George Bush is just as scary, if not more. Because he doesn't look like a scary guy, because he's shaved and he has a tie on. But he's a real fanatic - a fanatic by definition is the one who says, if you are not with me, you are against me, and that's exactly the position he takes. The mullahs in my country, it's obvious. But a guy who says I am the president of the biggest secular democracy in the world and asks people to read the Bible and make crusades and says he's God's best friend - this guy is even more scary because you don't see it at the beginning. — Marjane Satrapi

We do not need to use our own strength to fulfill the will of God — Sunday Adelaja

The doctrine that the cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy is like saying that the cure of crime is more crime. — H.L. Mencken

Though liberals have portrayed themselves throughout the past several decades as champions of the homeless, they are actually guilty of having created and perpetuated their condition. — Mona Charen

What is democracy? If it is the rule of the majority, ignoring the rest, then it is not good, it is very bad! But if it is the rule of the whole citizens, caring the wills of both the majority and the rest, then it is good, then it is real democracy! And the purpose of every real democracy is to be a modern country, to be a modern structure! — Mehmet Murat Ildan

Lincoln's reference to government of the people, by the people, for the people is a generally satisfactory definition of democracy. I say generally because when it comes to fair and workable details, democracy fails to completely meet the criteria enunciated by Lincoln by a rather wide margin. — George Aiken

I am not concerned with dodging the odium of the word. The proposed definition of democracy is socialistic ... (democracy) should be characterized not so much socialistic, as unscrupulously and loyally nationalistic. — Herbert Croly

Democracy is always harmful to elite interests. Almost by definition. — Noam Chomsky

I'm always thinking about what I might want to do next, but there's still things I want to do with Powerpuff - so I can keep going with this one for awhile. — Craig McCracken

The genius of capitalism consists precisely in its lack of morality. Unless he is rich enough to hire his own choir, a capitalist is a fellow who, by definition, can ill afford to believe in anything other than the doctrine of the bottom line. Deprive a capitalist of his God-given right to lie and cheat and steal, and the poor sap stands a better than even chance of becoming one of the abominable wards of the state from whose grimy fingers the Reagan Administration hopes to snatch the ark of democracy. — Lewis H. Lapham

I never thought it would be easy to serve God," she said. "I just didn't think it would be this hard. — Frank Herbert

Send a coin into the abyss and wish for a blissful kiss — Sean F. Hogan

Under capitalism, we can't have democracy by definition. Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle under autocratic control. — Noam Chomsky

To totalitarianism, an opponent is by definition subversive; democracy treats subversives as mere opponents for fear of betraying its principles. — Jean Francois Revel

Conflict avoidance often causes greater conflict. — Bryant McGill

At the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God and a belief that government should replace God. — Todd Akin

Every day Fu-shee, the smaller children, and I fan out in the hills around Green Dragon to strip trees of their bark and leaves, dig up roots and search for wild grass. We'll eat anything, and we have. But you can't eat a leather belt like it's a crisp cucumber. You soak it, boil it, and chew on it for days. — Lisa See

And that brings me to my definition of power, which is simply this: the capacity to make others do what you would have them do. It sounds menacing, doesn't it? We don't like to talk about power. We find it scary. We find it somehow evil. We feel uncomfortable naming it. In the culture and mythology of democracy, power resides with the people. — Eric Liu

Does Pete (Rose) hustle? Before the All-Star game he came into the clubhouse and took off his shoes and they ran another mile without him. — Hank Aaron

There's a 'me' in every 'you'. — Sandra Chami Kassis

There are many who suppose a democracy cannot be tyrannical, by definition. But of all its forms, the most odious type of tyranny is one propagated by a majority in sole possession of statutory power, giving it free reign to step on and humiliate the minority. Those in the minority should always be afforded an equal right to express their views and have their liberty respected. — W. Kristjan Arnold

The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable" ... In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning. — George Orwell

British rule meant not democracy -colonialism is almost by definition underdemocratic - but limited constitutional liberalism and capitalism — Fareed Zakaria

Usually when I see myself in a film or on television, there's about a six-month period where I can't look at it because all I'll see are the mistakes. I'm just appalled by the person that I see. — Tim Daly

By sending the contradictory message that the famous are just plain folks on Mount Olympus, America has forged a relentless tension between loftiness and accessibility. Stir in the fact that the inborn talent and intelligence needed to achieve fame are immune to distributive tinkering by government programs and you have a definition of fame certain to produce envious rage: somebody screwed democracy. — Florence King

Definition of victory which is really an important thing for the American people to understand is that we have an ally in the war on terror, that democracy is able to sustain itself and defend itself, and the Iraqi people feel that the security forces that we've trained up are capable of defending themselves against the violent. — George W. Bush

And that is my definition of democracy, the right to be in a minority and not be suppressed — Lee Harvey Oswald

My definition of secularism is very clear. The sole religion of the Government is Nation First, the holy book is the Constitution. — Narendra Modi

To justify such direct forms of imperialism and oppression, whites developed the IDEA of whiteness to define a privileged social category elevated above everyone who wasn't included in it. This made it possible to reconcile conquest, treachery, slavery, and genocide, with the nation's newly professed ideals of democracy, freedom, and human dignity. If whiteness define what it meant to be human, then it was seen as less off an offense against the Constitution (not to mention God) to dominate and oppress those who happened to fall outside that definition as the United States marched onward toward what was popularly perceived as its Manifest Destiny. — Allan G. Johnson

Keep a strict, predictable schedule 365 days a year that has you eating, sleeping, and exercising at about the same times day in and day out. — David Agus

Democracy. For something that has no specific dictionary definition, it is as open to interpretation as any holy book is, and as wide open to as many translative abuses, yet without any definitive definition the process means something very different to every person it impacts upon. I would add that until we get an accurate definition the word is meaningless, and when the process is so open to interpretation that the Koch Bros can buy it, legally, without any fuss, that action in itself is not democratic, but neither is it illegal? All that before i hit the dangers of party politics ... — Steve Merrick

No one had ever talked about me that way, like I was so close to perfect the imperfections were washed away. I — Nicole Williams