Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw
Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for the appointment by the corrupt few. George Bernard Shaw
Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people. Oscar Wilde
Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame. Laurence J Peter
Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions – it only guarantees equality of opportunity. Irving Kristol
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. John Adams
Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking. Clement Atlee
Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. Plato
It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting. Tom Stoppard
Democracy becomes a government of bullies tempered by editors. Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty, or civilization, or both. Thomas Babington Macaulay
Political parties created modern democracy and modern democracy is unthinkable save in terms of parties. E E Schattschneider
The love of democracy is that of equality. Montesquieu
Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude. Alexis de Tocqueville
Democracies don’t go to war against each other, and by and large they don’t sponsor terrorism. They’re more likely to respect the environment and human rights and social justice. It’s no accident that most of the terrorists come from non-democratic countries. Bill Clinton
Democracy consists of choosing your dictators after they’ve told you what you think it is you want to hear. Alan Coren
Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people. Harry Emerson Fosdick
The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. Robert M Hutchins
There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship. Ralph Nader
Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. Reinhold Niebuhr
Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated. G K Chesterton
All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy. Alfred E Smith
After each war there is a little less democracy to save. Brooks Atkinson
While democracy must have its organization and controls, its vital breath is individual liberty. Charles Evans Hughes
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. H L Mencken
The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections. Lord Acton
The true natural check on absolute democracy is the federal system, which limits the central government by the powers reserved, and the state governments by the powers they have ceded. Lord Acton
Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms. Aristotle.
Decision by majorities is as much an expedient as lighting by gas. W E Gladstone
The more I see of democracy the more I dislike it. It just brings everything down to the mere vulgar level of wages and prices, electric light and water closets, and nothing else. D H Lawrence
Democracy demands that little men should not take big ones too seriously; it dies when it is full of little men who think they are big themselves. C S Lewis
Democracy is the form of government that gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. James Russell Lowell
Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn’t grow up can be vice president. Johnny Carson