Democracy is the worst form of government, apart from all the others.
[Winston Churchill]

Government of the people, by the people, for the people
[Abraham Lincoln]

The highest measure of democracy is neither the 'extent of freedom' nor the 'extent of equality', but rather the highest measure of participation.
[A. d. Benoist]

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.
[Federalist Papers]

Democracy is a system guaranteeing that we are no better governed than we deserve.
[George Bernard Shaw]

The spirit of democracy cannot be superimposed from the outside. It must come from within.
[Mahatma Gandhi]

Calm and order can be just as dangerous to democracy as uneasiness and disorder.
[Hildegard Hamm-Brücher]

Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
[Reinhold Niebuhr]

Democracy means decision by those concerned.
[Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker]

Dictatorships are one-way streets. Democracy boasts two-way traffic.
[Albert Moravia]

Democracy is not "I am as good as you", but "You are as good as I am".
[Theodore Parker]

Democracy does not create strong ties between people. But it does make living together easier.
[Alexis de Tocqueville]

That the will of the people can be established by voting for democrats is, of course, a delusion. Yet when considering a non-threatening system for deciding between diverse interests, then voting, of course, can be regarded as a humane and civilized process.
[Robert Musil]

A democrat need not believe that the majority will always reach a wise decision. He should however believe in the necessity of accepting the decision of the majority, be it wise or unwise, until such a time that the majority reaches another decision.
[Bertrand Russell]

A constitutional state is like daily bread, like water to drink and air to breathe, and the best thing about democracy is that it is the only system capable of securing the constitutional state.
[Gustav Radbruch]

Democracy means: Sticking to the rules of the game, even when the referee is not looking.
[Manfred Hausmann]

Democracy is our most valuable possession. Upholding it is our duty and our responsibility. This means a continuous, decisive and self-confident argument; it means effort and endeavor to reach compromise and long-lasting consensus. These form the cornerstones of the only form of political system that can guarantee freedom.
[Wolfgang Thierse, President of the German Bundestag]

Democracy cannot be forced upon a society, neither is it a gift that can be held forever. It has to be struggled hard for and defended everyday anew.
[Heinz Galinski]

Life in freedom is not easy, and democracy is not perfect.
[John F. Kennedy]

I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong.
[Mahatma Gandhi]

Democracy means having the choice. Dictatorship means being given the choice.
[Jeannine Luczak]

Democratic institutions form a system of quarantine for tyrannical desires.
[Friedrich Nietzsche]

Democracy evolves where freedom is able to determine its own policy.
[John Dos Passos]

Those wanting to improve democracy in their countries should not wait for permission.
[Brülent Ecevit]

Democracy feeds on argument, on the discussion as to the right way forward. This is the reason why respecting the opinion of others belongs to democracy.
[Richard von Weizsäcker]

Democracy does not race, it reaches the finish slowly but surely.
[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]

It is wrong to ask who will rule. The ability to vote a bad government out of office is enough. That is democracy.
[Karl Popper]

Governments that suppress freedom of speech because they find the truth spread by it troublesome are like small children who close their eyes in order not to be seen.
[Börne]

Asking "whether the mass media forms political policy?" reminds me of an old Yiddish joke: "What makes coffee sweet - the sugar or stirring it?".
[Franz Kreuzer]

The freedom of speech does not mean having the right to shout "fire!" in a full theatre.
[Morris Seidmann]

The press has to have the right to print everything in order that certain people are prevented from doing as they please.
[Terrenoire]

Sir, I do not share your views, but I would risk my life for your right to express them.
[Voltaire]

In actual fact those who do not care for politics and sit on the fence do indeed side for a political party: The ruling party.
[Max Frisch]

Elections belong to the people. It is their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.
[Abraham Lincoln]

Those against politics are in favor of the politics inflicted upon them.
[Bertolt Brecht]

The dignity of man is in free choice.
[Max Frisch]

Justice will only exist where those not effected by injustice are filled with the same amount of indignation as those offended.
[Plato]

The well being of democracies regardless of their type and status is dependent on one small technical detail: The right to vote. Everything else is secondary.
[Jose Ortega y Gasset]

The greatest task of democracy, its ritual and feast - is choice.
[H.G. Wells]

Those believing they have not voted are mistaken, for their indifference affects all our futures.
[M.A. Denck]

That anyone who possesses power has a tendency to abuse it is an eternal truth. They tend to go as far as the barriers will allow.
[Montesquieu]

Power is an expansive being, which can only be limited by other powers that are equal or at least almost as great.
[Aldous Huxley]

Enlightenment requires nothing other than freedom. Indeed, the most harmless kind of freedom known, namely making public use of ones reason in all its pieces.
[Immanuel Kant]

The history of freedom is a history of resistance. The history of freedom is a history of limiting governmental power.
[Thomas Woodrow Wilson]

Give me the most dangerous form of freedom over simple slavery.
[Jean Jacques Rousseau]

Freedom is to society what health is to the individual.
[Lord Bolingbroke]

Freedom is an entity that brings less fulfillment when it exists than pain when it doesn't.
[Jean Paul]

Freedom is something that allows everything else to be enjoyed.
[Montesquieu]

But natural right is freedom and freedom's calling is the right to equality before the law.
[Hegel]

To forgo ones freedom is to forgo ones dignity, ones human rights and even to forgo ones duties.
[Jean Jacques Rousseau]

Legislation is based on the principle of limiting the freedoms of every individual to the conditions under which they can survive alongside all other freedoms in a common law.
[Immanuel Kant]

For as long as democracy fails to flourish in all countries, it cannot thrive in one alone.
[John F. Kennedy]

Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters.
[Rosa Luxemburg]

One is always free at the cost of another.
[Albert Camus]

The freedom of an individual is not that he can do what he wants, but that he does not have to do what he does not want to.
[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]

Our aims were clear for as long as we fought for freedom. Now that we have freedom, we are no longer sure of what we want.
[Vaclav Havel]

Freedom is not only a right. Freedom is a permanent duty and an on-going process.
[Kurt Biedenkopf]

Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom.
[Maria von Ebner-Eschenbach]