Some to the common pulpits, and cry out / “Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement!”
—William Shakespeare, c. 1599Quotes
Television is democracy at its ugliest.
—Paddy Chayefsky, 1976The king times are fast finishing. There will be blood shed like water, and tears like mist; but the peoples will conquer in the end.
—Lord Byron, 1821What keeps the democracy alive at all but the hatred of excellence, the desire of the base to see no head higher than their own?
—Mary Renault, 1956If the people be the governors, who shall be governed?
—John Cotton, c. 1636An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.
—George Eliot, 1866The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.
—James Fenimore Cooper, 1838An electoral choice of ten different fascists is like choosing which way one wishes to die.
—George Jackson, 1971Democracy produces both heroes and villains, but it differs from a fascist state in that it does not produce a hero who is a villain.
—Margaret Halsey, 1946Do you suppose it possible to know democracy without knowing the people?
—Xenophon, c. 370 BCNothing but a permanent body can check the imprudence of democracy.
—Alexander Hamilton, 1787The worship of opinion is, at this day, the established religion of the United States.
—Harriet Martineau, 1839Let the people think they govern, and they will be governed.
—William Penn, 1693