{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy", "heading": "Quotes about democracy", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md", "quotes_count": 160, "authors_count": 85, "parent": { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics", "heading": "Quotes about politics" }, "children": [], "quotes": [ { "id": "faf6e5c4-ce31-4642-a8af-12c293d40bd5", "slug": "no-one-stuck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation/no-one-stuck", "text": "No one stuck up their hands and there was no voting, but she thought, I wonder if it was like this in ancient Athens? This is pure democracy. People don’t just get a vote; they have a say.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Nation", "slug": "nation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 276, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nation_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:11" }, { "id": "f5099ade-8b4a-4451-b008-a78c88fcf206", "slug": "if-citizenship-is-a-matter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass/if-citizenship-is-a-matter", "text": "If citizenship is a matter of shared beliefs, then I believe in the democracy of species. If citizenship means an oath of loyalty to a leader, then I choose the leader of the trees. If good citizens agree to uphold the laws of the nation, then I choose natural law, the law of reciprocity, of regeneration, of mutual flourishing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robin Wall Kimmerer", "slug": "robin-wall-kimmerer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer" }, "book": { "title": "Braiding Sweetgrass", "slug": "braiding-sweetgrass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 173, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robin_Wall_Kimmerer#Braiding_Sweetgrass_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:31" }, { "id": "eae6de3a-c399-436c-9596-9b1badc9157f", "slug": "thats-the-wonderful", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/thats-the-wonderful", "text": "That's the wonderful thing about democracy: you can hold public office legitimately while still being despised by 49.9 percent of the suspicious eyes on the street.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Steve Toltz", "slug": "steve-toltz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz" }, "book": { "title": "A Fraction Of The Whole", "slug": "a-fraction-of-the-whole", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Toltz#Five", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:11" }, { "id": "de9dc27d-383e-45d3-a6fe-bd825864a436", "slug": "democracy-in-crime", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/democracy-in-crime", "text": "Democracy in crime was turning out no different from democracies everywhere: a sublime idea in theory, soiled by the reality that deep down nobody really believes that all men are created equal.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Steve Toltz", "slug": "steve-toltz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz" }, "book": { "title": "A Fraction Of The Whole", "slug": "a-fraction-of-the-whole", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Toltz#Democracy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:10" }, { "id": "e023f19b-35d7-437f-9a52-51b934730bd7", "slug": "they-can-extinguish", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas/they-can-extinguish", "text": "They can extinguish awareness by dumbing down education, owning TV stations, paying \"guest fees\" to leader writers, or just buying the media up. The media—and not just The Washington Post—is where democracies conduct their civil wars.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Mitchell", "slug": "david-mitchell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell" }, "book": { "title": "Cloud Atlas", "slug": "cloud-atlas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 124, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(novel)#Half-Lives:_The_First_Luisa_Rey_Mystery_(Part_1)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:56" }, { "id": "406e3e00-98e8-409a-8d30-5ce6ab902512", "slug": "the-finest-design", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-coperthwaite/a-handmade-life/the-finest-design", "text": "The finest design for society will not be one worked up by specialists but a design created by the people themselves to fit their needs.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Coperthwaite", "slug": "william-coperthwaite", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-coperthwaite" }, "book": { "title": "A Handmade Life", "slug": "a-handmade-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-coperthwaite/a-handmade-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Coperthwaite#A_Handmade_Life:_In_Search_of_Simplicity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:49" }, { "id": "3c39b15d-9474-4475-8a09-8063a49471f9", "slug": "public-opinion-wouldnt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isabel-allende/the-house-of-the-spirits/public-opinion-wouldnt", "text": "\"Public opinion wouldn’t stand for it,” Gómez replied. “This is a democracy. It’s not a dictatorship and it never will be.” “We always think things like that only happen elsewhere,” said Miguel, “until they happen to us too.” (p367)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isabel Allende", "slug": "isabel-allende", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isabel-allende" }, "book": { "title": "The House of the Spirits", "slug": "the-house-of-the-spirits", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isabel-allende/the-house-of-the-spirits" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isabel_Allende#The_House_of_the_Spirits_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:45" }, { "id": "5c8e3dbe-b0bb-4f93-92f0-2427e3fcf26b", "slug": "e-mancipation-cannot-be-so-easily", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/allen-guelzo/gettysburg/e-mancipation-cannot-be-so-easily", "text": "[E]mancipation cannot be so easily detached from union (which is another way of saying that racial justice and liberal democracy rise or fall with each other).", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Allen Guelzo", "slug": "allen-guelzo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/allen-guelzo" }, "book": { "title": "Gettysburg", "slug": "gettysburg", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/allen-guelzo/gettysburg" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Allen_C._Guelzo#Gettysburg:_The_Last_Invasion_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:03" }, { "id": "135730be-00bc-4464-a876-35b284365c94", "slug": "n-o-democracy-worth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/allen-guelzo/gettysburg/n-o-democracy-worth", "text": "[N]o democracy worth its name could continue to drag the burden of slavery around after it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Allen Guelzo", "slug": "allen-guelzo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/allen-guelzo" }, "book": { "title": "Gettysburg", "slug": "gettysburg", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/allen-guelzo/gettysburg" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "slavery", "slug": "slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Allen_C._Guelzo#Gettysburg:_The_Last_Invasion_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:03" }, { "id": "36bbe9b6-1f78-4e04-9479-23743df0d213", "slug": "democracies-that-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-j-evans/the-coming-of-the-third-reich/democracies-that-are", "text": "Democracies that are under threat of destruction face the impossible dilemma of either yielding to that threat by insisting on preserving the democratic niceties, or violating their own principles by curtailing democratic rights.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard J. Evans", "slug": "richard-j-evans", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-j-evans" }, "book": { "title": "The Coming of the Third Reich", "slug": "the-coming-of-the-third-reich", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-j-evans/the-coming-of-the-third-reich" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 452, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_J._Evans#The_Coming_of_the_Third_Reich_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:42" }, { "id": "2e298344-44b6-4611-a583-95cc0b58c223", "slug": "e-ternal-vigilance-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/timothy-snyder/on-tyranny/e-ternal-vigilance-is-the", "text": "\"[E]ternal vigilance is the price of liberty,\"...We see ourselves as a city on the hill, a stronghold for democracy, looking for threats from abroad. But the sense of the saying was entirely different: that human nature is such that American democracy must be defended from Americans who would exploit its freedoms to bring about its end.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Timothy Snyder", "slug": "timothy-snyder", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/timothy-snyder" }, "book": { "title": "On Tyranny", "slug": "on-tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/timothy-snyder/on-tyranny" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Timothy_D._Snyder#On_Tyranny_(2017)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:40" }, { "id": "b588e6ee-a764-491d-9836-33ce5811d21f", "slug": "when-we-lack", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/naomi-klein/no-logo/when-we-lack", "text": "When we lack the ability to talk back to entities that are culturally and politically powerful, the very foundations of free speech and democratic society are called into question.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Naomi Klein", "slug": "naomi-klein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/naomi-klein" }, "book": { "title": "No Logo", "slug": "no-logo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/naomi-klein/no-logo" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "freedom of speech", "slug": "freedom-of-speech", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom-of-speech" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein#No_Logo:_Taking_Aim_at_the_Brand_Bullies_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:49" }, { "id": "d75913b8-f5e9-49e3-b64b-b448b89324aa", "slug": "this-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/orthodoxy/this-is-the", "text": "This is the first principle of democracy: that the essential things in men are the things they hold in common, not the things they hold separately. And the second principle is merely this: that the political instinct or desire is one of these things which they hold in common.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Orthodoxy", "slug": "orthodoxy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/orthodoxy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orthodoxy_(book)#Chapter_IV._'The_Ethics_of_Elfland%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:12" }, { "id": "5ddb3c86-a048-46c8-bd21-b1a40aed1cb2", "slug": "tradition-means-giving", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/orthodoxy/tradition-means-giving", "text": "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father. I, at any rate, cannot separate the two ideas of democracy and tradition; it seems evident to me that they are the same idea. We will have the dead at our councils. The ancient Greeks voted by stones; these shall vote by tombstones. It is all quite regular and official, for most tombstones, like most ballot papers, are marked with a cross.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Orthodoxy", "slug": "orthodoxy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/orthodoxy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "tradition", "slug": "tradition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tradition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orthodoxy_(book)#Chapter_IV._'The_Ethics_of_Elfland%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:12" }, { "id": "bef50846-74cf-4c67-940f-6181ef96e15c", "slug": "the-very-right", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/the-social-contract/the-very-right", "text": "The very right to vote imposes on me the duty to instruct myself in public affair, however little influence my voice may have in them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "The Social Contract", "slug": "the-social-contract", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/the-social-contract" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "duty", "slug": "duty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/duty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Social_Contract#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:45" }, { "id": "ef652819-727a-4135-9647-eddf52808631", "slug": "our-representative-government", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederik-pohl/the-space-merchants/our-representative-government", "text": "Our representative government now is perhaps more representative than it has ever been before in history. It is not necessarily representative per capita, but it most surely is ad valorem. If you like philosophical problems. Here is one for you: should each human being’s vote register alike, as the lawbooks pretend and as some say the founders of our nation desired? Or should a vote be weighted according to the wisdom, the power, and the influence—that is, the money—of the voter?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frederik Pohl", "slug": "frederik-pohl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederik-pohl" }, "book": { "title": "The Space Merchants", "slug": "the-space-merchants", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederik-pohl/the-space-merchants" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 15, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederik_Pohl#The_Space_Merchants_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:30" }, { "id": "07e80b39-d5bb-438c-851b-2c8c5c9c88f5", "slug": "it-was-an-idea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niall-ferguson/civilization/it-was-an-idea", "text": "It was an idea that made the crucial difference between British and Iberian America – an idea about the way people should govern themselves. Some people make the mistake of calling that idea ‘democracy’ and imagining that any country can adopt it merely by holding elections. In reality, democracy was the capstone of an edifice that had as its foundation the rule of law – to be precise, the sanctity of individual freedom and the security of private property rights, ensured by representative, constitutional government.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Niall Ferguson", "slug": "niall-ferguson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niall-ferguson" }, "book": { "title": "Civilization", "slug": "civilization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niall-ferguson/civilization" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niall_Ferguson#Civilization:_The_West_and_the_Rest_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:03" }, { "id": "99c7b71d-60a1-4a79-83a7-8f2b544ef5e4", "slug": "countries-with-high", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-may/losing-confidence/countries-with-high", "text": "Countries with high voting rates also have high levels of political knowledge.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Elizabeth May", "slug": "elizabeth-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-may" }, "book": { "title": "Losing Confidence", "slug": "losing-confidence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-may/losing-confidence" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_May#Losing_Confidence_-_Power,_politics,_And_The_Crisis_In_Canadian_Democracy_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:40" }, { "id": "589ec8cd-381e-4b8e-9efa-5ac241c5b5dd", "slug": "i-participate-therefore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-may/losing-confidence/i-participate-therefore", "text": "I participate, therefore I am.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Elizabeth May", "slug": "elizabeth-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-may" }, "book": { "title": "Losing Confidence", "slug": "losing-confidence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-may/losing-confidence" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_May#Losing_Confidence_-_Power,_politics,_And_The_Crisis_In_Canadian_Democracy_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:40" }, { "id": "061e8359-a9ea-4a1f-afb8-1da9e87feec7", "slug": "we-canadians-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-may/losing-confidence/we-canadians-think", "text": "We Canadians think that Canada is a modern, well informed democracy. We look down our noses at the dumbed down content on Fox News and CNN, without noticing that we are rapidly heading in the same direction.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Elizabeth May", "slug": "elizabeth-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-may" }, "book": { "title": "Losing Confidence", "slug": "losing-confidence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-may/losing-confidence" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_May#Losing_Confidence_-_Power,_politics,_And_The_Crisis_In_Canadian_Democracy_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:40" }, { "id": "f8e064f2-fba2-4eb9-b374-88dc2c233894", "slug": "we-are-at-an-extraordinary", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/heather-brooke/the-revolution-will-be-digitised/we-are-at-an-extraordinary", "text": "We are at an extraordinary moment in human history: never before has the possibility of true democracy been so close to realisation. At the cost of publishing and duplication has dropped to near zero, a truly free press, and a truly informed public, becomes a reality. A new Information Enlightment is dawning where knowledge flows freely, beyond national boundaries. Technology is breaking down traditional social barriers of status, class, power, wealth and geography, replacing them with an ethos of collaboration and transparency. In this new Enlightenment it isn't just scientific truths that are the goal, but discovering truths about the way we live, about politics and power.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Heather Brooke", "slug": "heather-brooke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/heather-brooke" }, "book": { "title": "The Revolution will be Digitised", "slug": "the-revolution-will-be-digitised", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/heather-brooke/the-revolution-will-be-digitised" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heather_Brooke#The_Revolution_Will_Be_Digitised:_Dispatches_From_the_Information_War,_1st_Edition", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:05" }, { "id": "6bf363a5-8d38-4caf-96d5-77f279824413", "slug": "we-now-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/heather-brooke/the-revolution-will-be-digitised/we-now-have", "text": "We now have a technology that unites individuals in such a way that we can create the first global democracy. Hundreds of millions of people are climbing out of poverty and the Internet gives them access to the sort of information that was previously accessible only to elite scholars. They can join a worldwide conversation and come together in infinite permutations to check power anywhere it concentrates. The greatest achievement isn't in producing technology, but using it to re-define the boundaries of what is possible.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Heather Brooke", "slug": "heather-brooke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/heather-brooke" }, "book": { "title": "The Revolution will be Digitised", "slug": "the-revolution-will-be-digitised", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/heather-brooke/the-revolution-will-be-digitised" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 238, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heather_Brooke#The_Revolution_Will_Be_Digitised:_Dispatches_From_the_Information_War,_1st_Edition", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:05" }, { "id": "3692586f-e25c-4da2-a4be-4c6825815f33", "slug": "unlike-what-neo-liberals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang/bad-samaritans/unlike-what-neo-liberals", "text": "Unlike what neo-liberals say, market and democracy clash at a fundamental level. Democracy runs on the principle of 'one man (one person), one vote'. The market runs on the principle of 'one dollar, one vote'. Naturally, the former gives equal weight to each person, regardless of the money she/he has. The latter give greater weight to richer people. Therefore, democratic decisions usually subvert the logic of market.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ha-Joon Chang", "slug": "ha-joon-chang", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang" }, "book": { "title": "Bad Samaritans", "slug": "bad-samaritans", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang/bad-samaritans" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 172, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ha-Joon_Chang#Bad_Samaritans:_The_Myth_of_Free_Trade_and_the_Secret_History_of_Capitalism_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:57" }, { "id": "22052757-30b7-4b60-aa2a-41cfe48deb87", "slug": "democracy-is-acceptable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang/bad-samaritans/democracy-is-acceptable", "text": "Democracy is acceptable to neo-liberals only in so far as it does not contradict the free market.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ha-Joon Chang", "slug": "ha-joon-chang", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang" }, "book": { "title": "Bad Samaritans", "slug": "bad-samaritans", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang/bad-samaritans" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 176, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ha-Joon_Chang#Bad_Samaritans:_The_Myth_of_Free_Trade_and_the_Secret_History_of_Capitalism_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:57" }, { "id": "03cfee37-719d-4749-a7f8-ab02a24f7aac", "slug": "democracy-and-markets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang/bad-samaritans/democracy-and-markets", "text": "Democracy and markets are both fundamental building blocks for a decent society. But they clash at a fundamental level. We need to balance them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ha-Joon Chang", "slug": "ha-joon-chang", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang" }, "book": { "title": "Bad Samaritans", "slug": "bad-samaritans", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang/bad-samaritans" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 174, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ha-Joon_Chang#Bad_Samaritans:_The_Myth_of_Free_Trade_and_the_Secret_History_of_Capitalism_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:57" }, { "id": "81148bf5-6a0e-4f8d-b3f2-ba28a03a895a", "slug": "everybody-has-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-chretien/my-years-as-prime-minister/everybody-has-the", "text": "Everybody has the right to speak up in a democracy. We would be in trouble as a society if there wasn't a constant pressure to make reforms and to be just. Sometimes as prime minister, when I was caught up in a really loud demonstration, I used to say to myself that I deserved it because of all the demonstrations I myself had organized as a student against Duplessis.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Chretien", "slug": "jean-chretien", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-chretien" }, "book": { "title": "My Years as Prime Minister", "slug": "my-years-as-prime-minister", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-chretien/my-years-as-prime-minister" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 183, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Chr%C3%A9tien#My_Years_As_Prime_Minister_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:51" }, { "id": "92dca207-a5e0-4166-aece-2f4ed0564772", "slug": "the-gentlemen-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lewis-lapham/waiting-for-the-barbarians/the-gentlemen-who", "text": "The gentlemen who wrote the Constitution were as suspicious of efficient government as they were wary of democracy, a \"turbulence and a folly\" that was associated with the unruly ignorance of an urban mob.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Lewis Lapham", "slug": "lewis-lapham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lewis-lapham" }, "book": { "title": "Waiting for the Barbarians", "slug": "waiting-for-the-barbarians", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lewis-lapham/waiting-for-the-barbarians" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 73, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_H._Lapham#Waiting_For_The_Barbarians_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:46" }, { "id": "44d7fb76-5339-4a53-bc80-c59e1fe466ab", "slug": "democracy-has-to-be-judged", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amartya-sen/the-idea-of-justice/democracy-has-to-be-judged", "text": "Democracy has to be judged not just by the institutions that formally exist but by the extent to which different voices from diverse sections of the people can actually be heard.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Amartya Sen", "slug": "amartya-sen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amartya-sen" }, "book": { "title": "The Idea of Justice", "slug": "the-idea-of-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amartya-sen/the-idea-of-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amartya_Sen#The_Idea_of_Justice_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:15" }, { "id": "97d44e36-e42f-4f22-88b1-1f40bf90196d", "slug": "technique-shapes-an-aristocratic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/the-technological-society/technique-shapes-an-aristocratic", "text": "Technique shapes an aristocratic society, which in turn implies aristocratic government. Democracy in such a society can only be a mere appearance. Even now, we see in propaganda the premises of such a state of affairs. When it comes to state propaganda, there is no longer any question of democracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jacques Ellul", "slug": "jacques-ellul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul" }, "book": { "title": "The Technological Society", "slug": "the-technological-society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/the-technological-society" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 275, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul#The_Technological_Society_(1954)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:02" }, { "id": "259711ea-9c9f-4d3a-ad71-57cef52b9b22", "slug": "there-is-a-limited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/the-technological-society/there-is-a-limited", "text": "...there is a limited elite that understands the secrets of their own techniques, but not necessarily of all techniques. These men are close to the seat of modern governmental power. The state is no longer founded on the 'average citizen', but on the ability and knowledge of this elite. The average man is altogether unable to penetrate technical secrets or governmental organization and consequently can exert no influence at all on the state.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jacques Ellul", "slug": "jacques-ellul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul" }, "book": { "title": "The Technological Society", "slug": "the-technological-society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/the-technological-society" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 274, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul#The_Technological_Society_(1954)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:02" }, { "id": "40e73b37-bffc-436d-aaeb-ca81a36cbb48", "slug": "circumstantial-evidence-markham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ss-van-dine/the-benson-murder-case/circumstantial-evidence-markham", "text": "Circumstantial evidence, Markham, is the utt‘rest tommyrot imag‘nable. Its theory is not unlike that of our present-day democracy. The democratic theory is that if you accumulate enough ignorance at the polls, you produce intelligence; and the theory of circumst‘ntial evidence is that if you accumulate a sufficient number of weak links, you produce a strong chain.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "S.S. Van Dine", "slug": "ss-van-dine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ss-van-dine" }, "book": { "title": "The Benson Murder Case", "slug": "the-benson-murder-case", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ss-van-dine/the-benson-murder-case" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/S._S._Van_Dine#The_Benson_Murder_Case_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:59" }, { "id": "47004c9e-0cb3-4ea1-8041-16fb57e8f82b", "slug": "plato-is-correct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-mcdevitt/odyssey/plato-is-correct", "text": "Plato is correct about democracy. It is essentially mob rule. And once the mob gets an idea into its collective head, it’s almost impossible to get it out, or modify it in any way. In an era of mass communication and irresponsible media, it can be a deadly characteristic.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Mcdevitt", "slug": "jack-mcdevitt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-mcdevitt" }, "book": { "title": "Odyssey", "slug": "odyssey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-mcdevitt/odyssey" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 289, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "crowd", "slug": "crowd", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/crowd" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_McDevitt#Odyssey_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:58" }, { "id": "55ce4abd-07a4-41c4-8528-caacbfcaf12d", "slug": "government-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years/government-of-the", "text": "“‘Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.’ Yeah, trouble is, the three classes of people aren’t the same.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Poul Anderson", "slug": "poul-anderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Boat of a Million Years", "slug": "the-boat-of-a-million-years", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 336, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson#The_Boat_of_a_Million_Years_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:48" }, { "id": "10f0851f-74c4-40fe-ac66-ae08efa36774", "slug": "once-this-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years/once-this-was", "text": "Once this was a free country. Oh, I always knew that couldn’t last, that here too things were bound to grind back to the norm—masters and serfs, whatever names they go by. And so far we continue happier than most of the world ever was. But damn, modern democracy has the technology to regiment us beyond anything Caesar, Torquemada, Suleyman, or Louis XIV dared dream of.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Poul Anderson", "slug": "poul-anderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Boat of a Million Years", "slug": "the-boat-of-a-million-years", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 327, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson#The_Boat_of_a_Million_Years_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:48" }, { "id": "f9180177-0ecc-4f1e-9adc-1e0952ffb670", "slug": "above-everything-else", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/there-will-be-time/above-everything-else", "text": "Above everything else, perhaps, was today’s concept of working together. I don’t mean its totalitarian version, for which Jack Havig had total loathing, or that “togetherness,” be it in a corporation or a commune, which he despised. I mean an enlightened pragmatism that rejects self-appointed aristocrats, does not believe received doctrine is necessarily true, stands ready to hear and weigh what anyone has to offer, and maintains well-developed channels to carry all ideas to the leadership and back again.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Poul Anderson", "slug": "poul-anderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson" }, "book": { "title": "There Will Be Time", "slug": "there-will-be-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/there-will-be-time" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 155, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "cooperation", "slug": "cooperation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cooperation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson#There_Will_Be_Time_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:47" }, { "id": "94dff1c4-bd14-4953-a8e0-d78f73721f08", "slug": "i-suspect-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-suarez/daemon/i-suspect-that", "text": "\"I suspect that democracy is not viable in a technologically advanced society. Free people wield too much ability to destroy.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Suárez", "slug": "daniel-suarez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-suarez" }, "book": { "title": "Daemon", "slug": "daemon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-suarez/daemon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Suarez#Daemon_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:19" }, { "id": "750f921c-f8e6-4681-b054-00b3ad533ace", "slug": "i-wouldnt-put", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/anthills-of-the-savannah/i-wouldnt-put", "text": "I wouldn't put myself under the democratic dictatorship even of angels and archangels.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chinua Achebe", "slug": "chinua-achebe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe" }, "book": { "title": "Anthills of the Savannah", "slug": "anthills-of-the-savannah", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/anthills-of-the-savannah" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe#Anthills_of_the_Savannah_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:56" }, { "id": "d3efae4d-b18b-4745-9485-b39f15d19de6", "slug": "it-is-probable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism/it-is-probable", "text": "It is probable that democracy owes more to Nonconformity than to any other single movement.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "R. H. Tawney", "slug": "r-h-tawney", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney" }, "book": { "title": "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism", "slug": "religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._H._Tawney#Religion_and_the_Rise_of_Capitalism_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:49" }, { "id": "c0636701-b0f3-4237-b4dc-9309f486124a", "slug": "the-foundation-of-democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism/the-foundation-of-democracy", "text": "The foundation of democracy is the sense of spiritual independence which nerves the individual to stand alone against the powers of this world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "R. H. Tawney", "slug": "r-h-tawney", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney" }, "book": { "title": "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism", "slug": "religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "independence", "slug": "independence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/independence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._H._Tawney#Religion_and_the_Rise_of_Capitalism_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:49" }, { "id": "e1d7dfcb-212e-4d3c-81b6-b464466574ab", "slug": "all-the-powers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-jefferson/notes-on-the-state-of-virginia/all-the-powers", "text": "All the powers of government, legislative, executive, and judiciary, result to the legislative body. The concentrating these in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic government. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. . . . As little will it avail us that they are chosen by ourselves. An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Jefferson", "slug": "thomas-jefferson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-jefferson" }, "book": { "title": "Notes on the State of Virginia", "slug": "notes-on-the-state-of-virginia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-jefferson/notes-on-the-state-of-virginia" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 128, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Notes_on_the_State_of_Virginia#Query_XIII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:39" }, { "id": "7e9466f5-112c-4efa-adc9-303c18378829", "slug": "you-got-to-learn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/against-infinity/you-got-to-learn", "text": "You got to learn to wait people out. Hear what they got to say. Not enough to have a majority rule, y’know. Otherwise, the minority won’t be convinced and they won’t support the plan. No point havin’ people at your elbow who’re against what you’re doin’. So we just got to talk it out Quaker-style till ever’body agrees. More efficient in the long run.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory Benford", "slug": "gregory-benford", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford" }, "book": { "title": "Against Infinity", "slug": "against-infinity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/against-infinity" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 179, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "patience", "slug": "patience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/patience" }, { "name": "compromise", "slug": "compromise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compromise" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#Against_Infinity_(1983)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:22" }, { "id": "a6bf5d29-e6ea-40ea-be56-71727f1dc15d", "slug": "what-we-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama/the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man/what-we-may", "text": "What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such … That is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Francis Fukuyama", "slug": "francis-fukuyama", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama" }, "book": { "title": "The End of History and the Last Man", "slug": "the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama/the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Fukuyama#The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:14" }, { "id": "a47a54d0-0e99-452e-bd5b-2131d8013eae", "slug": "experience-suggests-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama/the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man/experience-suggests-that", "text": "Experience suggests that if men cannot struggle on behalf of a just cause because that just cause was victorious in an earlier generation, then they will struggle against the just cause. They will struggle for the sake of struggle. They will struggle, in other words, out of a certain boredom: for they cannot imagine living in a world without struggle. And if the greater part of the world in which they live is characterized by peaceful and prosperous liberal democracy, then they will struggle against that peace and prosperity, and against democracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Francis Fukuyama", "slug": "francis-fukuyama", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama" }, "book": { "title": "The End of History and the Last Man", "slug": "the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama/the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 330, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "boredom", "slug": "boredom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/boredom" }, { "name": "peace", "slug": "peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Fukuyama#The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:14" }, { "id": "7f034abe-3fa4-41fb-bfdb-dbaefac7236c", "slug": "no-regime-no-socio-economic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama/the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man/no-regime-no-socio-economic", "text": "No regime—no “socio-economic system”—is able to satisfy all men in all places. This includes liberal democracy. This is not a matter of the incompleteness of the democratic revolution, that is, because the blessings of liberty and equality have not been extended to all people. Rather, the dissatisfaction arises precisely where democracy has triumphed most completely: it is a dissatisfaction with liberty and equality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Francis Fukuyama", "slug": "francis-fukuyama", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama" }, "book": { "title": "The End of History and the Last Man", "slug": "the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama/the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 334, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Fukuyama#The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:14" }, { "id": "85921bce-31fc-4850-881a-0fa7b2daeb0a", "slug": "the-writer-must", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lionel-trilling/the-liberal-imagination/the-writer-must", "text": "The writer must define his audience by its abilities, by its perfections, so far as he is gifted to conceive them. He does well, if he cannot see his right audience within immediate reach of his voice, to direct his words to his spiritual ancestors, or to posterity, or even, if need be, to a coterie. The writer serves his daemon and his subject. And the democracy that does not know that the daemon and the subject must be served is not, in any ideal sense of the word, a democracy at all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Lionel Trilling", "slug": "lionel-trilling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lionel-trilling" }, "book": { "title": "The Liberal Imagination", "slug": "the-liberal-imagination", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lionel-trilling/the-liberal-imagination" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lionel_Trilling#The_Liberal_Imagination_(1950)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:29" }, { "id": "cc4e05aa-e33b-4943-923c-dfb138dd68ad", "slug": "democracy-is-a-system", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice/democracy-is-a-system", "text": "Democracy is a system of government according to which every member of society is considered as a man and nothing more.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Godwin", "slug": "william-godwin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin" }, "book": { "title": "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice", "slug": "enquiry-concerning-political-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Godwin#Enquiry_Concerning_Political_Justice_(1793)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:09" }, { "id": "c3b3bb77-658e-4421-85ba-ecb4b53a5dce", "slug": "democracy-2-0-he-shudders", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/accelerando/democracy-2-0-he-shudders", "text": "“Democracy 2.0.” He shudders briefly. “I’m not sure about the validity of voting projects at all, these days. The assumption that all people are of equal importance seems frighteningly obsolescent.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Stross", "slug": "charles-stross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross" }, "book": { "title": "Accelerando", "slug": "accelerando", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/accelerando" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 353, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Accelerando_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:05" }, { "id": "1509a45e-ff51-4e97-87f5-2ffffa4c3ad0", "slug": "it-was-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/the-fabulous-riverboat/it-was-not", "text": "It was not that he was unintelligent. It was just that he was not emotionally able to comprehend democracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip José Farmer", "slug": "philip-jose-farmer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer" }, "book": { "title": "The Fabulous Riverboat", "slug": "the-fabulous-riverboat", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/the-fabulous-riverboat" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 119, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Jos%C3%A9_Farmer#The_Fabulous_Riverboat_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:30" }, { "id": "3fc92bad-65b1-4119-816f-95f7dae1527f", "slug": "i-dont-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-hari/stolen-focus/i-dont-think", "text": "I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this crisis in paying attention has taken place at the same time as the worst crisis of democracy since the 1930s. People who can’t focus will be more drawn to simplistic authoritarian solutions– and less likely to see clearly when they fail.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Johann Hari", "slug": "johann-hari", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-hari" }, "book": { "title": "Stolen Focus", "slug": "stolen-focus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-hari/stolen-focus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 12, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "attention", "slug": "attention", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/attention" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Hari#Stolen_Focus_(2022)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:29" }, { "id": "efd110b3-be80-48e3-b6b8-e5cf315ca0ed", "slug": "believe-me-democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/look-to-windward/believe-me-democracy", "text": "Believe me; democracy in action can be an unpretty sight.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "Look To Windward", "slug": "look-to-windward", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/look-to-windward" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 198, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Look_to_Windward_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:18" }, { "id": "b727717c-ff90-40de-b4eb-e06e46880c8a", "slug": "to-many-our", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cornel-west/democracy-matters/to-many-our", "text": "To many, our democratic system seems so broken that they have simply lost faith that their participation could really matter. The politics of self-interest and catering to narrow special interests is so dominant that so many ask themselves: Why vote? This disaffection stems both from the all-too-true reality of the corruptions of our system and from a deeper psychic disillusionment and disappointment. The is so formulaic, so tailored into poll-driven, focus-group-approved slogans that don't really say anything substantive or strike at the core of our lived experience; the lack of authenticity of discourse—and the underlying lack of gravitas, of penetrating insight and wisdom on the part of politicians—is numbing. But we must keep in mind that the disgust so many feel comes from a deep desire to hear more authentic expressions of insights about our lives and more genuine commitment to improving them. Many of us long for expressions of real concern both about the pain of our individual lives and about the common good [...] as opposed to the blatant catering to base interests and to narrow elite constituencies. We long for politics that in not about winning a political game but about producing better lives.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cornel West", "slug": "cornel-west", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cornel-west" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy Matters", "slug": "democracy-matters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cornel-west/democracy-matters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornel_West#Democracy_Matters:_Winning_the_Fight_Against_Imperialism_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:02" }, { "id": "454d717b-ff6d-4294-b262-fd4960a08bda", "slug": "a-good-novel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi/reading-lolita-in-tehran/a-good-novel", "text": "A good novel is one that shows the complexity of individuals, and creates enough space for all these characters to have a voice; in this way a novel is called democratic — not that it advocates democracy but that by nature it is so.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Azar Nafisi", "slug": "azar-nafisi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi" }, "book": { "title": "Reading Lolita in Tehran", "slug": "reading-lolita-in-tehran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi/reading-lolita-in-tehran" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "literature", "slug": "literature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Azar_Nafisi#Reading_Lolita_in_Tehran_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:27" }, { "id": "68406711-3a89-4cb2-ba11-7e25db99dddb", "slug": "the-real-problem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-bova/saturn/the-real-problem", "text": "“The real problem,” Eberly burst out, “is that these regulations were written by people who live in a world that must be tightly controlled. They all share the same basic, underlying view that society must be hierarchical and controlled from the top.” Wilmot felt pleased that the discussion was moving into his field of interest. “Aren’t all societies controlled from the top? Even so-called democracies are ruled by a small elite group; the only difference is that a democracy can shift its elite without bloodshed and give the general populace the illusion that they have made a telling change.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ben Bova", "slug": "ben-bova", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-bova" }, "book": { "title": "Saturn", "slug": "saturn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-bova/saturn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 115, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Bova#Saturn_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:02" }, { "id": "390642ad-0650-4506-b092-5a3c91f32a81", "slug": "voting-we-might", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman/amusing-ourselves-to-death/voting-we-might", "text": "Voting, we might even say, is the next to last refuge of the politically impotent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Postman", "slug": "neil-postman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman" }, "book": { "title": "Amusing Ourselves to Death", "slug": "amusing-ourselves-to-death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman/amusing-ourselves-to-death" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 69, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Postman#Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death:_Public_Discourse_in_the_Age_of_Show_Business_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:39" }, { "id": "0a3992f3-d2e7-4b46-b6f1-1de049dd691a", "slug": "in-a-democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides/history-of-the-peloponnesian-war/in-a-democracy", "text": "In a democracy ...someone who fails to get elected to office can always console himself with the thought that there was something not quite fair about it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thucydides", "slug": "thucydides", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides" }, "book": { "title": "History of the Peloponnesian War", "slug": "history-of-the-peloponnesian-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides/history-of-the-peloponnesian-war" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 298, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thucydides#Book_VIII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:37" }, { "id": "0cdb2ba7-47bc-4fe5-a216-a811fc6933d8", "slug": "i-have-often", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides/history-of-the-peloponnesian-war/i-have-often", "text": "I have often before now been convinced that a democracy is incapable of empire...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thucydides", "slug": "thucydides", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides" }, "book": { "title": "History of the Peloponnesian War", "slug": "history-of-the-peloponnesian-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides/history-of-the-peloponnesian-war" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thucydides#Book_III", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:36" }, { "id": "9d9389e1-6859-4c22-967c-1a57fa9470c8", "slug": "if-you-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/diary-of-a-bad-year/if-you-have", "text": "If you have reservations about the system and want to change it, the democratic argument goes, do so within the system: put yourself forward as a candidate for political office, subject yourself to the scrutiny and the vote of fellow citizens. Democracy does not allow for politics outside the democratic system. In this sense, democracy is totalitarian.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "J. M. Coetzee", "slug": "j-m-coetzee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee" }, "book": { "title": "Diary of a Bad Year", "slug": "diary-of-a-bad-year", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/diary-of-a-bad-year" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 15, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Coetzee#Diary_of_a_Bad_Year_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:33" }, { "id": "6c484e26-6ca0-4772-8f43-8b9f2d8a76f9", "slug": "as-during-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/diary-of-a-bad-year/as-during-the", "text": "As during the time of kings it would have been naive to think that the king’s firstborn son would be the fittest to rule, so in our time it is naive to think that the democratically elected ruler will be the fittest. The rule of succession is not a formula for identifying the best ruler, it is a formula for conferring legitimacy on someone or other and thus forestalling civil conflict.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "J. M. Coetzee", "slug": "j-m-coetzee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee" }, "book": { "title": "Diary of a Bad Year", "slug": "diary-of-a-bad-year", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/diary-of-a-bad-year" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 14, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Coetzee#Diary_of_a_Bad_Year_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:33" }, { "id": "d4112b84-c7ae-4608-9dd0-de098ca360bc", "slug": "we-indians-arjun", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shashi-tharoor/the-great-indian-novel/we-indians-arjun", "text": "We Indians, Arjun, are so good at respecting outward forms while ignoring the substance. We took the forms of parliamentary democracy, preserved them, put them on pedestal and paid them due obeisance. But we ignored the basic fact that parliamentary democracy can only work if those who run it are constantly responsive to needs of the people and if parliamentarians are qualified enough to legislate. Neither condition was fulfilled in India for long. Today most people are simply aware of their own irrelevance to the process. They see themselves standing helplessly on the margins while professional politicians and unprofessional politicians combine to run the country to the ground.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Shashi Tharoor", "slug": "shashi-tharoor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shashi-tharoor" }, "book": { "title": "The Great Indian Novel", "slug": "the-great-indian-novel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shashi-tharoor/the-great-indian-novel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shashi_Tharoor#The_Great_Indian_Novel_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:29" }, { "id": "66dff25d-8a19-4ad4-9585-5e04f49409b1", "slug": "democracy-doesnt-mean", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/the-chomsky-reader/democracy-doesnt-mean", "text": "Democracy doesn't mean much if people have to confront concentrated systems of economic power as isolated individuals. Democracy means something if people can organize to gain information, to have thoughts for that matter, to make plans, to enter into the political system in some active way, to put forth programs and so on. If organizations of that kind exist, then democracy can exist too. Otherwise it's a matter of pushing a lever every couple of years; it's like having the choice between Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Noam Chomsky", "slug": "noam-chomsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky" }, "book": { "title": "The Chomsky Reader", "slug": "the-chomsky-reader", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/the-chomsky-reader" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 334, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Chomsky_Reader#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:47" }, { "id": "77ab7db5-3f8c-4fb2-8fa8-7f11dc3d0c4c", "slug": "the-democratic-ideal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky/rules-for-radicals/the-democratic-ideal", "text": "The democratic ideal springs from the ideas of liberty, equality, majority rule through free elections, protection of the rights of minorities, and freedom to subscribe to multiple loyalties in matters of religion, economics, and politics rather than to a total loyalty to the state. The spirit of democracy is the idea of importance and worth in the individual, and faith in the kind of world where the individual can achieve as much of his potential as possible.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Saul Alinsky", "slug": "saul-alinsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky" }, "book": { "title": "Rules for Radicals", "slug": "rules-for-radicals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky/rules-for-radicals" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky#Rules_for_Radicals:_A_Practical_Primer_for_Realistic_Radicals_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:42" }, { "id": "0ed9f0d1-9fd4-4eed-b1b8-c084cbfcb70b", "slug": "those-who-claim", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/first-as-tragedy-then-as-farce/those-who-claim", "text": "Those who claim a natural link between capitalism and democracy are cheating with the facts in the same way the Catholic Church cheats when it presents itself as the \"natural\"advocate of democracy and human rights against the threat of totalitarianism - as if it were not the case that the Church accepted democracy only at the end of the nineteenth century, and even then with clenched teeth, as a desperate compromise, making it clear that it preferred monarchy, and that it was making a reluctant concession to new times.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Slavoj Žižek", "slug": "slavoj-zizek", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek" }, "book": { "title": "First as Tragedy, Then as Farce", "slug": "first-as-tragedy-then-as-farce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/first-as-tragedy-then-as-farce" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Slavoj_%C5%BDi%C5%BEek#First_as_Tragedy,_Then_as_Farce_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:19" }, { "id": "d84e76b2-5ab2-44e9-8b85-c8b1b02cc033", "slug": "but-when-democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton/the-coming-race/but-when-democracy", "text": "But when Democracy... degenerates from popular ignorance into that popular passion or ferocity which precedes its decease, as (to cite illustrations from the upper world) during the French Reign of Terror, or for the fifty years of the Roman Republic preceding the ascendancy of Augustus, their name for that state of things is Glek-Nas. Ek is strife—Glek, the universal strife. (Chapter XII)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward George Bulwer-Lytton", "slug": "edward-george-bulwer-lytton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton" }, "book": { "title": "The Coming Race", "slug": "the-coming-race", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton/the-coming-race" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Coming_Race#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:09" }, { "id": "29d02fb4-9c86-41a6-ad7e-d14fe55173f5", "slug": "the-fabric-of-american", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers/the-fabric-of-american", "text": "The fabric of American Empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of National power ought to flow immediately from that pure original fountain of all legitimate authority.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexander Hamilton", "slug": "alexander-hamilton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton" }, "book": { "title": "The Federalist Papers", "slug": "the-federalist-papers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton#The_Federalist_Papers_(1787%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:06" }, { "id": "636ae628-bb80-4541-bf83-d06370ce02dc", "slug": "it-has-been", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers/it-has-been", "text": "It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexander Hamilton", "slug": "alexander-hamilton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton" }, "book": { "title": "The Federalist Papers", "slug": "the-federalist-papers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton#The_Federalist_Papers_(1787%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:05" }, { "id": "76db4cd1-68d8-4778-b920-2cabba23c734", "slug": "ankh-morpork-had-dallied", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/mort/ankh-morpork-had-dallied", "text": "Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Mort", "slug": "mort", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/mort" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mort#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:52" }, { "id": "91528b91-9acd-4f34-b4dc-9c495ddd3d9a", "slug": "in-the-long", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-e-stiglitz/making-globalization-work/in-the-long", "text": "In the long run, the most important changes required to make globalization work are reforms to reduce the democratic deficit.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph E. Stiglitz", "slug": "joseph-e-stiglitz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-e-stiglitz" }, "book": { "title": "Making Globalization Work", "slug": "making-globalization-work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-e-stiglitz/making-globalization-work" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 284, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "globalization", "slug": "globalization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/globalization" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Stiglitz#Making_globalization_work_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:50" }, { "id": "62d99d30-aa29-4a3e-8f8a-6c0d9713ba80", "slug": "i-didnt-need", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed/i-didnt-need", "text": "I didn't need this job. I ran for governor to find out if the American dream still exists in anyone's heart other than mine. I'm living proof that the myths aren't true. The candidate with the most money isn't always the one who wins. You don't have to be a career politician to serve in public office. You don't have to be well-connected. You don't even have to be a Democrat or a Republican. You can stand on your own two feet and speak your mind, because if people like where you're coming from, they will vote you in. The will of the people is still the most powerful force in our government.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jesse Ventura", "slug": "jesse-ventura", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura" }, "book": { "title": "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", "slug": "i-aint-got-time-to-bleed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#I_Ain't_Got_Time_To_Bleed_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:49" }, { "id": "02081edc-0914-4920-990b-c76b5b082ba4", "slug": "she-was-grumbling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-steel-tsar/she-was-grumbling", "text": "She was grumbling. “The least he could have done was drop us near a town. Although in these parts they’d probably burn us as witches before asking any questions.” She shuddered. “I’m an awful snob about peasants, I’m afraid.” I mentioned dryly that I thought those of her political persuasion had some sort of egalitarian duty to resist such prejudice. “Egalitarianism isn’t about prejudices,” she said, “it’s about equal shares of power. It’s the only means we have of steering some sort of even course through a future which is forever, by the very nature of the multiverse, unguessable. We have only institutions and a crude, fragile kind of democracy standing between us and absolute Chaos. That is why we must value and protect those institutions. And be forever reexamining them.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The Steel Tsar", "slug": "the-steel-tsar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-steel-tsar" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 419, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Steel_Tsar_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:44" }, { "id": "93b8c64e-5998-48ec-b72c-905460fae1fa", "slug": "paternalism-and-centralism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-warlord-of-the-air/paternalism-and-centralism", "text": "Paternalism and centralism, the bane of capitalist as well as socialist politics, are for me the permanent enemy of democracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The Warlord of the Air", "slug": "the-warlord-of-the-air", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-warlord-of-the-air" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Warlord_of_the_Air_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:42" }, { "id": "fc690c14-425d-40c2-b81e-6b6cd6ad36cc", "slug": "when-it-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lawrence-lessig/free-culture/when-it-has", "text": "When it has become silly to suppose that the role of our government should be to \"seek balance,\" then count me with the silly, for that means that this has become quite serious indeed. If it should be obvious to everyone that the government does not seek balance, that the government is simply the tool of the most powerful lobbyists, that the idea of holding the government to a different standard is absurd, that the idea of demanding of the government that it speak truth and not lies is just naïve, then who have we, the most powerful democracy in the world, become?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Lawrence Lessig", "slug": "lawrence-lessig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lawrence-lessig" }, "book": { "title": "Free Culture", "slug": "free-culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lawrence-lessig/free-culture" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig#Free_Culture_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:25" }, { "id": "7ee13323-61eb-43f2-8b3f-e6f3451a987d", "slug": "citizens-who-refuse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem/revolution-from-within/citizens-who-refuse", "text": "Citizens who refuse to obey anything but their own conscience can transform countries, it is the basis of any real democracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gloria Steinem", "slug": "gloria-steinem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem" }, "book": { "title": "Revolution from Within", "slug": "revolution-from-within", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem/revolution-from-within" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "conscience", "slug": "conscience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conscience" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gloria_Steinem#Revolution_From_Within_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:49" }, { "id": "18303741-502f-4853-8a9e-a5fb31a19cf6", "slug": "ive-learned-from", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem/revolution-from-within/ive-learned-from", "text": "I’ve learned from these events that self-esteem plays as much a part in the destiny of nations as it does in the lives of individuals; that self-hatred leads to the need either to dominate or to be dominated; that citizens who refuse to obey anything but their own conscience can transform their countries; in short, that self-esteem is the basis of any real democracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gloria Steinem", "slug": "gloria-steinem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem" }, "book": { "title": "Revolution from Within", "slug": "revolution-from-within", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem/revolution-from-within" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "self-esteem", "slug": "self-esteem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-esteem" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gloria_Steinem#Revolution_From_Within_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:49" }, { "id": "b6a8dbcb-203f-43c8-aa9c-edbee9ef93ef", "slug": "if-by-democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/oswald-spengler/the-decline-of-the-west/if-by-democracy", "text": "If by \"democracy\" we mean the form which the Third Estate as such wishes to impart to public life as a whole, it must be concluded that democracy and plutocracy are the same thing under the two aspects of wish and actuality, theory and practice, knowing and doing. It is the tragic comedy of the world‑improvers' and freedom‑teachers' desperate fight against money that they are ipso facto assisting money to be effective. Respect for the big number—expressed in the principles of equality for all, natural rights, and universal suffrage—is just as much a class‑ideal of the unclassed as freedom of public opinion (and more particularly freedom of the press) is so. These are ideals, but in actuality the freedom of public opinion involves the preparation of public opinion, which costs money; and the freedom of the press brings with it the question of possession of the press, which again is a matter of money; and with the franchise comes electioneering, in which he who pays the piper calls the tune. The representatives of the ideas look at one side only, while the representatives of money operate with the other. The concepts of Liberalism and Socialism are set in effective motion only by money. … There is no proletarian, not even a Communist movement, that has not operated in the interests of money, and for the time being permitted by money—and that without the idealists among its leaders having the slightest suspicion of the fact.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Oswald Spengler", "slug": "oswald-spengler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/oswald-spengler" }, "book": { "title": "The Decline of the West", "slug": "the-decline-of-the-west", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/oswald-spengler/the-decline-of-the-west" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oswald_Spengler#The_Decline_of_the_West_(1918,_1923)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:42" }, { "id": "838e77ad-d649-4144-be41-68020cd0c014", "slug": "to-day-we-live", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/oswald-spengler/the-decline-of-the-west/to-day-we-live", "text": "To-day we live so cowed under the bombardment of this intellectual artillery that hardly anyone can attain to the inward detachment that is required for a clear view of the monstrous drama. The will-to-power operating under a pure democratic disguise has finished off its masterpiece so well that the object's sense of freedom is actually flattered by the most thorough-going enslavement that has ever existed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Oswald Spengler", "slug": "oswald-spengler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/oswald-spengler" }, "book": { "title": "The Decline of the West", "slug": "the-decline-of-the-west", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/oswald-spengler/the-decline-of-the-west" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 461, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oswald_Spengler#The_Decline_of_the_West_(1918,_1923)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:42" }, { "id": "02c430f9-d2ed-4cc8-90b1-0101cbbe0bde", "slug": "operational-analysis-cannot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man/operational-analysis-cannot", "text": "Operational analysis … cannot raise the decisive question whether the consent itself was not the work of manipulation—a question for which the actual state of affairs provides ample justification. The analysis cannot raise it because it would transcend its terms toward transitive meaning—toward a concept of democracy which would reveal the democratic election as a rather limited democratic process. Precisely such a non-operational concept is the one rejected by the authors as “unrealistic” because it defines democracy on too articulate a level as the clear-cut control of representation by the electorate—popular control as popular sovereignty.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herbert Marcuse", "slug": "herbert-marcuse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse" }, "book": { "title": "One-Dimensional Man", "slug": "one-dimensional-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 116, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "manipulation", "slug": "manipulation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse#One-Dimensional_Man_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:39" }, { "id": "022f7bd4-c2e9-4379-a499-6a197a6648d4", "slug": "domination-has-its", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man/domination-has-its", "text": "Domination has its own aesthetics, and democratic domination has its democratic aesthetics.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herbert Marcuse", "slug": "herbert-marcuse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse" }, "book": { "title": "One-Dimensional Man", "slug": "one-dimensional-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 65, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse#One-Dimensional_Man_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:38" }, { "id": "e44cdecf-8429-4f98-abd0-774be1476309", "slug": "what-is-new", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism/what-is-new", "text": "What is new in work democracy? Neither the idea that democracy is the best possible form of social living nor the idea that work and consumption are the natural basis of social existence. Neither its anti-dictatorial orientation, or its will to fight for the natural rights of all working individuals of all nations. All these demands, ideals and programs have been advocated for centuries in liberal, socialist, early communist and other political organizations. What is new in work democracy is that its exponents neither founded political parties in order to enforce a work-democratic organization, nor were content with a mere ideological reiteration of these old demands, ideals and programs. What is new is that the work democrats asked themselves, scientifically, why it was that thus far all democratic demands, ideals and programs have failed and, both in Europe and Asia, had to give way to reactionary dictatorships. What is new in work democracy is: that for the first time in the history of sociology a possible future order of human society is deduced not from ideologies or from conditions yet to be created, but from processes which are naturally given and which have always been in operation. What is new in it is the renunciation and rejection of any kind of politics and demagogy. New is that, instead of the working masses of people being relieved of social responsibility, they are being burdened with it. Further, that the work democrats have no political ambitions nor are allowed to develop any. Further, that it consciously develops formal democracy — which means merely the voting for ideological representatives without any further responsibility on the part of the voter — into genuine, factual and practical democracy on an international scale; a democracy which is borne, in progressive organic development, by the functions of love, work and knowledge.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wilhelm Reich", "slug": "wilhelm-reich", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich" }, "book": { "title": "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", "slug": "the-mass-psychology-of-fascism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich#Ch._10_:_Work_Democracy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:34" }, { "id": "c0bc1636-fa2a-4260-b7ac-f1efdc091098", "slug": "natural-work-democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism/natural-work-democracy", "text": "Natural work democracy is politically neither \"left\" nor \"right.\" It embraces anyone who does vital work; for this reason, its orientation is only and alone forward. It has no inherent intention of being against ideologies, including political ideologies. On the other hand, if it is to function, it will be forced to take a firm stand, on a factual basis, against any ideology or political party which puts irrational obstacles in its path. Yet, basically, work democracy is not \"against,\" as is the rule with politics, but \"for\"; for the formulation and solution of concrete tasks.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wilhelm Reich", "slug": "wilhelm-reich", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich" }, "book": { "title": "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", "slug": "the-mass-psychology-of-fascism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich#Ch._10_:_Work_Democracy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:34" }, { "id": "6b232374-60a0-492c-99cf-a7983cd71984", "slug": "political-ideological-systems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism/political-ideological-systems", "text": "Political ideological systems are based on conceptions of the natural life process. They may further or hinder the natural life process. They themselves, however, do not function at the roots of the social process. They may be democratic; in that case they further the natural human life process. They may be authoritarian and dictatorial; in that case they are its deadly enemy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wilhelm Reich", "slug": "wilhelm-reich", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich" }, "book": { "title": "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", "slug": "the-mass-psychology-of-fascism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich#Ch._10_:_Work_Democracy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:34" }, { "id": "10e734a9-6635-4841-a1fe-ad2644817d89", "slug": "work-democracy-cannot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism/work-democracy-cannot", "text": "Work democracy cannot be imposed on people as a political system. It depends on the consciousness on the part of the working people in all professions of their responsibility for the social process. This consciousness may be present or it may grow in an organic manner, like a tree or an animal organism. The growth of this consciousness of social responsibility is the most important prerequisite for the prevention of the cancer-like growth of political systems in the social organism. If they are allowed to grow, they will sooner or later bring about social chaos. Furthermore, such consciousness of responsibility alone will, in the course of time, bring the institutions of human society into harmony with the natural functions of work democracy. Political systems come and go without stopping or fundamentally changing the social process. But the pulse of human society would stop and not return should the natural life functions of love, work and knowledge cease for only one day.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wilhelm Reich", "slug": "wilhelm-reich", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich" }, "book": { "title": "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", "slug": "the-mass-psychology-of-fascism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" }, { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich#Ch._10_:_Work_Democracy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:34" }, { "id": "0242f7ce-ed10-4508-b97e-addb4e0c2caf", "slug": "it-is-obvious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism/it-is-obvious", "text": "It is obvious that the fascist mass pestilence, with its background of thousands of years, cannot be mastered with social measures corresponding to the past three hundred years. The discovery of the natural biological work democracy in international human intercourse is the answer to fascism. This will be no less true even if not one of the living sex-economists, orgone biophysicists or work democrats should live to see its general functioning and its victory over the irrationalism in social life.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wilhelm Reich", "slug": "wilhelm-reich", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich" }, "book": { "title": "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", "slug": "the-mass-psychology-of-fascism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich#The_Mass_Psychology_of_Fascism_(1933)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:34" }, { "id": "5dd0a9b4-a76a-4364-bcc1-f8d3cbde8c24", "slug": "i-believe-in-a-relatively", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-r-krugman/the-conscience-of-a-liberal/i-believe-in-a-relatively", "text": "I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law. That makes me a liberal, and I’m proud of it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paul R. Krugman", "slug": "paul-r-krugman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-r-krugman" }, "book": { "title": "The Conscience of a Liberal", "slug": "the-conscience-of-a-liberal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-r-krugman/the-conscience-of-a-liberal" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Krugman#The_Conscience_of_a_Liberal_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:18" }, { "id": "00811bce-636b-4110-8733-21d1cf3bab4e", "slug": "free-speech-is-democracys", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-goodman/static/free-speech-is-democracys", "text": "Free speech is democracy's last line of defense. We must demand it. Defend it. And most of all, use it-now.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Amy Goodman", "slug": "amy-goodman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-goodman" }, "book": { "title": "Static", "slug": "static", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-goodman/static" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amy_Goodman#%22Introduction:_Unembedded%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:16" }, { "id": "74a69a53-c2cc-4efc-b71f-f810655bc9c1", "slug": "we-must-build", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-goodman/the-exception-to-the-rulers/we-must-build", "text": "We must build a trickle-up media that reflects the true character of this country and its people. A democratic media serving a democratic society.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Amy Goodman", "slug": "amy-goodman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-goodman" }, "book": { "title": "The Exception To The Rulers", "slug": "the-exception-to-the-rulers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-goodman/the-exception-to-the-rulers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amy_Goodman#The_Exception_to_the_Rulers_written_with_David_Goodman_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:15" }, { "id": "203c3723-e66d-4b25-afcb-ed6201e0f195", "slug": "this-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-goodman/the-exception-to-the-rulers/this-is-not", "text": "This is not a media that is serving a democratic society, where a diversity of views is vital to shaping informed opinions. This is a well-oiled propaganda machine that is repackaging government spin and passing it off as journalism.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Amy Goodman", "slug": "amy-goodman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-goodman" }, "book": { "title": "The Exception To The Rulers", "slug": "the-exception-to-the-rulers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-goodman/the-exception-to-the-rulers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amy_Goodman#The_Exception_to_the_Rulers_written_with_David_Goodman_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:15" }, { "id": "c14ca0e6-b619-4d84-8baa-8a7ef4767e19", "slug": "it-is-also", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zbigniew-brzezinski/the-grand-chessboard/it-is-also", "text": "It is also a fact that America is too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America's power, especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public's sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties, even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Zbigniew Brzezinski", "slug": "zbigniew-brzezinski", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zbigniew-brzezinski" }, "book": { "title": "The Grand Chessboard", "slug": "the-grand-chessboard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zbigniew-brzezinski/the-grand-chessboard" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 35, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski#The_Grand_Chessboard_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:07" }, { "id": "44024cac-4175-402a-9841-da73c9a5d864", "slug": "our-system-which", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-mortimer/where-theres-a-will/our-system-which", "text": "Our system, which we call democracy, at least leaves us the right from time to time to get rid of those who wish to govern us. And, if it's nowhere near Utopia, it is probably the best of all imperfect systems. All I can do is to advise you to be very cautious of those who claim to represent you and order you about for your own good.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Mortimer", "slug": "john-mortimer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-mortimer" }, "book": { "title": "Where There's a Will", "slug": "where-theres-a-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-mortimer/where-theres-a-will" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Mortimer#Where_There's_a_Will:_Thoughts_on_the_Good_Life_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:44" }, { "id": "630273a8-ec2b-498e-9ef6-1a4306277e62", "slug": "in-the-political", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-badiou/ethics/in-the-political", "text": "In the political domain, deprived of any collective politcal landmark, stripped of any notion of the 'meaning of History’; and no longer able to hope for or expect a social revolution, many intellectuals, along with much of public opinion, have been won over to the logic of a capitalist economy and a parliamentary democracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alain Badiou", "slug": "alain-badiou", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-badiou" }, "book": { "title": "Ethics", "slug": "ethics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-badiou/ethics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alain_Badiou#Ethics:_An_Essay_on_the_Understanding_of_Evil_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:41" }, { "id": "d09e8eae-17c5-4479-bc74-28f9f59bfa59", "slug": "we-are-beginning", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin/the-conquest-of-bread/we-are-beginning", "text": "We are beginning to see that government by majorities means abandoning all the affairs of the country to the tide-waiters who make up the majorities in the House and in election committees; to those, in a word, who have no pinion of their own.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Peter Kropotkin", "slug": "peter-kropotkin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin" }, "book": { "title": "The Conquest of Bread", "slug": "the-conquest-of-bread", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin/the-conquest-of-bread" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 81, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin#The_Conquest_of_Bread_(1892)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:37" }, { "id": "26b50193-d88c-4a9a-a5ea-cb1e7b59c6a3", "slug": "all-of-them", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/babbitt/all-of-them", "text": "All of them perceived that American Democracy did not imply any equality of wealth, but did demand a wholesome sameness of thought, dress, painting, morals, and vocabulary. ~ Ch. 34", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sinclair Lewis", "slug": "sinclair-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "Babbitt", "slug": "babbitt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sinclair-lewis/babbitt" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis#Babbitt_(1922)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:01" }, { "id": "8c05f5d2-136a-45fe-8a0d-c0fb74c3a3fb", "slug": "apocalypse-could-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/greg-bear/the-forge-of-god/apocalypse-could-not", "text": "Apocalypse could not be repealed by the democratic process.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Greg Bear", "slug": "greg-bear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/greg-bear" }, "book": { "title": "The Forge Of God", "slug": "the-forge-of-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/greg-bear/the-forge-of-god" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 250, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Greg_Bear#The_Forge_of_God_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:45" }, { "id": "da146d7b-eee8-4e7f-91d5-1c6c74459681", "slug": "in-a-democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-william-fulbright/the-arrogance-of-power/in-a-democracy", "text": "In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not its taste, but its effect, ...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "J. William Fulbright", "slug": "j-william-fulbright", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-william-fulbright" }, "book": { "title": "The Arrogance of Power", "slug": "the-arrogance-of-power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-william-fulbright/the-arrogance-of-power" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 25, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "rebellion", "slug": "rebellion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rebellion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._William_Fulbright#The_Arrogance_of_Power_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:44" }, { "id": "ef18e0dc-829e-4f35-9c7d-e0d2da8b35e3", "slug": "to-consider-powerful", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman/growing-up-absurd/to-consider-powerful", "text": "To consider powerful souls as if they were a useful public resource is quite foreign to our customs. In a small sense it is undemocratic, for it assumes that some people really know better in a way that must seem arbitrary to most. In a large sense it is certainly democratic, in that it makes the great man serve as a man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paul Goodman", "slug": "paul-goodman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman" }, "book": { "title": "Growing Up Absurd", "slug": "growing-up-absurd", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman/growing-up-absurd" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 153, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Goodman#Growing_Up_Absurd_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:40" }, { "id": "7c4411d6-6ff2-438c-8bc6-9b3f5421211d", "slug": "one-reason-an-egalitarian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/one-reason-an-egalitarian", "text": "One reason an egalitarian approach to the value of life is important is that it draws from ideals of radical democracy at the same time that it enters into ethical considerations about how best to practice nonviolence. The institutional life of violence will not be brought down by a prohibition, but only by a counter-institutional ethos and practice.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Judith Butler", "slug": "judith-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler" }, "book": { "title": "The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind", "slug": "the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 61, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Judith_Butler#Chapter_One", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:35" }, { "id": "b5247b67-68a5-4125-9ca7-5491224c65bf", "slug": "democracy-and-slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/democracy-and-slavery", "text": "Democracy and slavery are inseparable. Why. Democracy as it existed among the ancients was no more than government by a number of men large enough to be called the people. But this designation is false. The true people, in such a state, the greatest number, the majority belong to the class of slaves, and slavery inevitably develops in a country governed this way, because it is impossible that those who spend their time making laws can make shoes and clothes, plant crops, work fields, etc.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "slavery", "slug": "slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:06" }, { "id": "fc798695-aad8-438d-9598-efec1f184404", "slug": "the-democratization-of-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason/the-democratization-of-knowledge", "text": "The democratization of knowledge by the print medium brought the Enlightenment. Now, broadband interconnection is supporting decentralized processes that reinvigorate democracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Al Gore", "slug": "al-gore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore" }, "book": { "title": "The Assault on Reason", "slug": "the-assault-on-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "the internet", "slug": "the-internet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-internet" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Al_Gore#The_Assault_on_Reason_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:55" }, { "id": "d5fcacc7-d66c-4eec-b0c2-8bcdc2114db8", "slug": "fortunately-the-internet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason/fortunately-the-internet", "text": "Fortunately, the Internet has the potential to revitalize the role played by the people in our constitutional framework. It has extremely low entry barriers for individuals. It is the most interactive medium in history and the one with the greatest potential for connecting individuals to one another and to a universe of knowledge. It's a platform for pursuing the truth, and the decentralized creation and distribution of ideas, in the same way that markets are a decentralized mechanism for the creation and distribution of goods and services. It's a platform, in other words, for reason. But the Internet must be developed and protected, in the same way we develop and protect markets — through the establishment of fair rules of engagement and the exercise of the rule of law. The same ferocity that our Founders devoted to protect the freedom and independence of the press is now appropriate for our defense of the freedom of the Internet. The stakes are the same: the survival of our Republic. We must ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible to all citizens without any limitation on the ability of individuals to choose the content they wish regardless of the Internet service provider they use to connect to the Web. We cannot take this future for granted. We must be prepared to fight for it, because of the threat of corporate consolidation and control over the Internet marketplace of ideas.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Al Gore", "slug": "al-gore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore" }, "book": { "title": "The Assault on Reason", "slug": "the-assault-on-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "the internet", "slug": "the-internet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-internet" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Al_Gore#The_Assault_on_Reason_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:55" }, { "id": "46a21b84-f161-4e31-8b78-92bb47055b6b", "slug": "in-the-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason/in-the-world", "text": "In the world of television, the massive flows of information are largely in only one direction, which makes it virtually impossible for individuals to take part in what passes for a national conversation. Individuals receive, but they cannot send. They hear, but they do not speak. The \"well-informed citizenry\" is in danger of becoming the \"well-amused audience.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Al Gore", "slug": "al-gore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore" }, "book": { "title": "The Assault on Reason", "slug": "the-assault-on-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "television", "slug": "television", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/television" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Al_Gore#The_Assault_on_Reason_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:55" }, { "id": "36517490-ae8b-449e-aa95-8ba23a5c8e1f", "slug": "the-remedy-for", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason/the-remedy-for", "text": "The remedy for what ails our democracy is not simply better education (as important as that is) or civic education (as important as that can be), but the re-establishment of a genuine democratic discourse in which individuals can participate in a meaningful way — a conversation of democracy in which meritorious ideas and opinions from individuals do, in fact, evoke a meaningful response.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Al Gore", "slug": "al-gore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore" }, "book": { "title": "The Assault on Reason", "slug": "the-assault-on-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "conversation", "slug": "conversation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conversation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Al_Gore#The_Assault_on_Reason_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:55" }, { "id": "2fffb49b-4f59-47e1-9391-c50d2fc90040", "slug": "for-the-first", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason/for-the-first", "text": "For the first time in American history, the Executive Branch of our government has not only condoned but actively promoted the treatment of captives in wartime that clearly involves torture, thus overturning a prohibition established by General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. It is too easy — and too partisan — to simply place the blame on the policies of President George W. Bush. We are all responsible for the decisions our country makes. We have a Congress. We have an independent judiciary. We have checks and balances. We are a nation of laws. We have free speech. We have a free press. Have they all failed us? Why has America's public discourse become less focused and clear, less reasoned? Faith in the power of reason — the belief that free citizens can govern themselves wisely and fairly by resorting to logical debate on the basis of the best evidence available, instead of raw power — remains the central premise of American democracy. This premise is now under assault.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Al Gore", "slug": "al-gore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore" }, "book": { "title": "The Assault on Reason", "slug": "the-assault-on-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "torture", "slug": "torture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/torture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Al_Gore#The_Assault_on_Reason_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:55" }, { "id": "2126bfff-3900-4592-8cc9-a7011c36cc45", "slug": "we-have-created", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason/we-have-created", "text": "We have created a wealthy society with tens of millions of talented, resourceful individuals who play virtually no role whatsoever as citizens. Bringing these people in — with their networks of influence, their knowledge, and their resources — is the key to creating the capacity for shared intelligence that we need to solve our problems.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Al Gore", "slug": "al-gore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore" }, "book": { "title": "The Assault on Reason", "slug": "the-assault-on-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/al-gore/the-assault-on-reason" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Al_Gore#The_Assault_on_Reason_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:55" }, { "id": "3e83c6f7-5ce1-4ff8-a6a8-68d510ae178b", "slug": "dominance-hierarchies-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars/dominance-hierarchies-had", "text": "Dominance hierarchies had underlain every system ever realized so far, but at the same time democratic values had been always a hope and a goal, expressed in every primate’s sense of self, and resentment of hierarchies that after all had to be imposed, by force.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kim Stanley Robinson", "slug": "kim-stanley-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Blue Mars", "slug": "blue-mars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 483, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson#Blue_Mars_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:45" }, { "id": "cc4ea18f-ae66-40bc-830e-bf8033b0d691", "slug": "you-may-succeed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nelson-mandela/long-walk-to-freedom/you-may-succeed", "text": "You may succeed in delaying, but never in preventing the transition of South Africa to a democracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nelson Mandela", "slug": "nelson-mandela", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nelson-mandela" }, "book": { "title": "Long Walk to Freedom", "slug": "long-walk-to-freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nelson-mandela/long-walk-to-freedom" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela#Long_Walk_to_Freedom_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:25" }, { "id": "383d0617-2c2c-44fb-840c-59aa22fd4fbe", "slug": "the-victory-of-democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nelson-mandela/long-walk-to-freedom/the-victory-of-democracy", "text": "The victory of democracy in South Africa is the common achievement of all humanity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nelson Mandela", "slug": "nelson-mandela", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nelson-mandela" }, "book": { "title": "Long Walk to Freedom", "slug": "long-walk-to-freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nelson-mandela/long-walk-to-freedom" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela#Long_Walk_to_Freedom_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:25" }, { "id": "7a13df41-60f7-42d7-8afe-ce6ecbb4967a", "slug": "he-tell-us-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-plot-against-america/he-tell-us-that", "text": "He tell us that in a democracy, keeping abreast of current events was a citizen’s most important duty and that you could never start too early to be informed about the news of the day.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Roth", "slug": "philip-roth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth" }, "book": { "title": "The Plot Against America", "slug": "the-plot-against-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-plot-against-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 181, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Roth#The_Plot_Against_America_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:09" }, { "id": "e672e4ad-3c43-4881-a4aa-9c25f054f14a", "slug": "if-you-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/if-you-are", "text": "If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for, but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong. If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 346, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:01" }, { "id": "c2c9281f-1701-4311-9648-d456141560af", "slug": "democracy-is-based", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/democracy-is-based", "text": "Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 246, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:01" }, { "id": "999fb65c-3601-4e89-9640-87a9eefbd786", "slug": "does-history-record", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/does-history-record", "text": "Does history record any case in which the majority was right?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 347, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:01" }, { "id": "771b50cf-80e2-4c28-aed7-4a82a689d2fe", "slug": "autocracy-is-based", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/autocracy-is-based", "text": "Autocracy is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a million men. Let's play that over again, too. Who decides?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 246, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:01" }, { "id": "330eb3ff-78c9-4658-8573-1d323f6aae9b", "slug": "llita-was-well", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/llita-was-well", "text": "Llita was well above average smart but suffered from the democratic fallacy: the notion that her opinion was as good as anyone’s — while Joe suffered from the aristocratic fallacy: He accepted the notion of authority in opinion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 225, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "authority figures", "slug": "authority-figures", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authority-figures" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:00" }, { "id": "b520a257-e314-4a52-9974-230f5492bb83", "slug": "at-one-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress/at-one-time", "text": "At one time kings were anointed by Deity, so the problem was to see to it that Deity chose the right candidate. In this age the myth is \"the will of the people\" ... but the problem changes only superficially.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress", "slug": "the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:59" }, { "id": "86a30f54-c652-48d7-90a1-6496310a3490", "slug": "in-past-history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress/in-past-history", "text": "In past history popularly elected governments have been no better and sometimes far worse than overt tyrannies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress", "slug": "the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:59" }, { "id": "760b350c-d476-44ec-8d2d-d3ab4f392728", "slug": "i-have-never", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/starship-troopers/i-have-never", "text": "I have never been able to see how a thirty-year-old moron can vote more wisely than a fifteen-year-old genius . . . but that was the age of the \"divine right of the common man.\" Never mind, they paid for their folly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Starship Troopers", "slug": "starship-troopers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/starship-troopers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers#Chapter_12", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:58" }, { "id": "34a7b848-efc1-4dc6-8c3d-3f67977292dc", "slug": "to-vote-is-to-wield", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/starship-troopers/to-vote-is-to-wield", "text": "To vote is to wield authority; it is the supreme authority from which all other authority derives—such as mine to make your lives miserable once a day. Force if you will!—the franchise is force, naked and raw, the Power of the Rods and the Ax. Whether it is exerted by ten men or by ten billion, political authority is force.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Starship Troopers", "slug": "starship-troopers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/starship-troopers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers#Chapter_12", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:58" }, { "id": "338e5527-4d6b-4e8f-8ede-1a49d84397ce", "slug": "to-permit-irresponsible", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/starship-troopers/to-permit-irresponsible", "text": "To permit irresponsible authority is to sow disaster; to hold a man responsible for anything he does not control is to behave with blind idiocy. The unlimited democracies were unstable because their citizens were not responsible for the fashion in which they exerted their sovereign authority . . . other than through the tragic logic of history. The unique 'poll tax' that we must pay was unheard of. No attempt was made to determine whether a voter was socially responsible to the extent of his literally unlimited authority. If he voted the impossible, the disastrous possible happened instead—and responsibility was then forced on him willy-nilly and destroyed both him and his foundationless temple.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Starship Troopers", "slug": "starship-troopers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/starship-troopers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers#Chapter_12", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:58" }, { "id": "a040a541-8e58-45ae-9a49-9c2570249c63", "slug": "in-whichever-way", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/and-yet/in-whichever-way", "text": "In whichever way a democratic system might be sick, terrorism does not heal it; it kills it. Democracy is healed with democracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Christopher Hitchens", "slug": "christopher-hitchens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens" }, "book": { "title": "And Yet", "slug": "and-yet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/and-yet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "terrorism", "slug": "terrorism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/terrorism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#And_Yet...:_Essays_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:06" }, { "id": "0c2a4dab-33c0-499a-83f1-fa0367a7634d", "slug": "that-most-risky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/for-the-sake-of-argument/that-most-risky", "text": "That most risky and volatile of all things—a self-pitying majority.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Christopher Hitchens", "slug": "christopher-hitchens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens" }, "book": { "title": "For the Sake of Argument", "slug": "for-the-sake-of-argument", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/for-the-sake-of-argument" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#For_the_Sake_of_Argument:_Essays_and_Minority_Reports_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:04" }, { "id": "483094d0-aee4-4593-bcda-9c7e8f611302", "slug": "we-used-to-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell/we-used-to-think", "text": "We used to think that secrecy was perhaps the greatest enemy of democracy, and as long as there was no suppression or censorship, people could be trusted to make the informed decisions that would preserve our free society, but we have learned in recent years that the techniques of misinformation and misdirection have become so refined that, even in an open society, a cleverly directed flood of misinformation can overwhelm the truth, even though the truth is out there, uncensored, quietly available to anyone who can find it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Breaking the Spell", "slug": "breaking-the-spell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" }, { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Breaking_the_Spell_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:30" }, { "id": "066d35e8-230d-4976-b1f9-277dbc9b7d9d", "slug": "eternal-vigilance-remember", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-dean/authoritarian-nightmare/eternal-vigilance-remember", "text": "Eternal vigilance. Remember, no one said democracy would be easy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Dean", "slug": "john-dean", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-dean" }, "book": { "title": "Authoritarian Nightmare", "slug": "authoritarian-nightmare", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-dean/authoritarian-nightmare" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 282, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dean#Authoritarian_Nightmare_(2020)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:20" }, { "id": "015e84c8-ebc9-447c-a69b-5f60ab957947", "slug": "i-f-the-majority", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-journals-of-ayn-rand/i-f-the-majority", "text": "[I]f the majority of men cannot know what is good for them, each for himself, how can they know what is good for others by proxy? If they are to be controlled by specialists, how and by what standard can they choose the specialist?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Journals of Ayn Rand", "slug": "the-journals-of-ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-journals-of-ayn-rand" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "authority figures", "slug": "authority-figures", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authority-figures" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#Journals_of_Ayn_Rand_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:54" }, { "id": "ca7b62a8-d062-4cab-9e03-9d8cc7788cb9", "slug": "individual-rights-are-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-virtue-of-selfishness/individual-rights-are-not", "text": "Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Virtue of Selfishness", "slug": "the-virtue-of-selfishness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-virtue-of-selfishness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "human rights", "slug": "human-rights", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-rights" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#The_Virtue_of_Selfishness_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:52" }, { "id": "7582dc22-29a5-40f8-a51d-efb0fe6cc545", "slug": "by-means-of-ever", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited/by-means-of-ever", "text": "By means of ever more effective methods of mind-manip­ulation, the democracies will change their nature; the quaint old forms— elections, parliaments, Supreme Courts and all the rest—will remain. The underlying substance will be a new kind of non-violent totalitari­anism. All the traditional names, all the hallowed slo­gans will remain exactly what they were in the good old days. Democracy and freedom will be the theme of every broadcast and editorial—but democracy and free­dom in a strictly Pickwickian sense. Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained elite of sol­diers, policemen, thought-manufacturers and mind-manipulators will quietly run the show as they see fit.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World Revisited", "slug": "brave-new-world-revisited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 25, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "manipulation", "slug": "manipulation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley#Brave_New_World_Revisited_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:37" }, { "id": "7381cd20-f777-4468-b1f4-60382f52906a", "slug": "the-survival-of-democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited/the-survival-of-democracy", "text": "The survival of democracy depends on the ability of large numbers of people to make realistic choices in the light of adequate information.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World Revisited", "slug": "brave-new-world-revisited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 47, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley#Brave_New_World_Revisited_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:37" }, { "id": "4a9c9bb7-10a1-4b94-a901-aee0276d3073", "slug": "democracy-can-hardly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited/democracy-can-hardly", "text": "Democracy can hardly be expected to flourish in societies where political and economic power is being progressively concentrated and centralized. But the progress of technology has led and is still leading to just such a concentration and centralization of power.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World Revisited", "slug": "brave-new-world-revisited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 19, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley#Brave_New_World_Revisited_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:37" }, { "id": "ecde9d42-93af-4c85-9ad6-c60c57d5ae96", "slug": "the-conflict-between", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jawaharlal-nehru/glimpses-of-world-history/the-conflict-between", "text": "The conflict between capitalism and democracy is inherent and continuous; it is often hidden by misleading propaganda and by the outward forms of democracy, such as parliaments, and the sops that the owning classes throw to the other classes to keep them more or less contented. A time comes when there are no more sops left to be thrown, and then the conflict between the two groups comes to a head, for now the struggle is for the real thing, economic power in the State. When that stage comes, all the supporters of capitalism, who had so far played with different parties, band themselves together to face the danger to their vested interests. Liberals and such-like groups disappear, and the forms of democracy are put aside. This stage bas now arrived in Europe and America, and fascism, which is dominant in some form or other in mast countries, represents that stage. Labour is everywhere on the defensive, not strong enough to face this new and powerful consolidation of the forces of capitalism. And yet, strangely enough, the capitalist system itself totters and cannot adjust itself to the new world. It seems certain that even if it succeeds in surviving, it will be but another stage in the long conflict. For modern industry and modern life itself, under any form of capitalism, are battlefields where armies are continually clashing against each other.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jawaharlal Nehru", "slug": "jawaharlal-nehru", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jawaharlal-nehru" }, "book": { "title": "Glimpses Of World History", "slug": "glimpses-of-world-history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jawaharlal-nehru/glimpses-of-world-history" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru#Glimpses_of_World_History_(1934-1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:24" }, { "id": "472d40db-2b1a-4e68-80cf-f78c482f0853", "slug": "i-spoke-after", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman/living-my-life/i-spoke-after", "text": "I spoke after Sasha, for an hour. I discussed the farce of a government undertaking to carry democracy abroad by suppressing the last vestiges of it at home. I took up the contention of Judge Mayer that only such ideas are permissible as are \"within the law.\" Thus he had instructed the jurymen when he had asked them if they were prejudiced against those who propagate unpopular ideas. I pointed out that there had never been an ideal, however humane and peaceful, which in its time had been considered \"within the law.\" I named Jesus, Socrates, Galileo, Giordano Bruno. \"Were they 'within the law\"?\" I asked. \"And the men who set America free from British rule, the Jeffersons and the Patrick Henrys? The William Lloyd Garrisons, the John Browns, the David Thoreaus and Wendell Phillipses-were they within the law?\" (chapter 45)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emma Goldman", "slug": "emma-goldman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman" }, "book": { "title": "Living My Life", "slug": "living-my-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman/living-my-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman#Living_My_Life_(1931)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:23" }, { "id": "17e58074-87f1-4a75-87bc-3f52be06e60b", "slug": "we-must-know", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/tomorrow-is-now/we-must-know", "text": "We must know what we think and speak out, even at the risk of unpopularity. In the final analysis, a democratic government represents the sum total of the courage and the integrity of its individuals. It cannot be better than they are. … In the long run there is no more exhilarating experience than to determine one's position, state it bravely and then act boldly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eleanor Roosevelt", "slug": "eleanor-roosevelt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt" }, "book": { "title": "Tomorrow Is Now", "slug": "tomorrow-is-now", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/tomorrow-is-now" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 119, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "courage", "slug": "courage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#Tomorrow_Is_Now_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:58" }, { "id": "dbdbb09c-4963-4565-8f23-fcbded4b64b4", "slug": "the-film-industry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/my-day/the-film-industry", "text": "The film industry is a great industry with infinite possibilities for good and bad. Its primary purpose is to entertain people. On the side, it can do many other things. It can popularize certain ideals, it can make education palatable. But in the long run, the judge who decides whether what it does is good or bad is the man or woman who attends the movies. In a democratic country I do not think the public will tolerate a removal of its right to decide what it thinks of the ideas and performances of those who make the movie industry work. (29 October 1947)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eleanor Roosevelt", "slug": "eleanor-roosevelt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt" }, "book": { "title": "My Day", "slug": "my-day", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/my-day" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "cinema", "slug": "cinema", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cinema" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#My_Day_(1935%E2%80%931962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:57" }, { "id": "7a4b0f3e-069c-478e-9823-eb55b4b91a2b", "slug": "if-man-is", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/my-day/if-man-is", "text": "If man is to be liberated to enjoy more leisure, he must also be prepared to enjoy this leisure fully and creatively. For people to have more time to read, to take part in their civic obligations, to know more about how their government functions and who their officials are might mean in a democracy a great improvement in the democratic processes. Let's begin, then, to think how we can prepare old and young for these new opportunities. Let's not wait until they come upon us suddenly and we have a crisis that we will be ill prepared to meet. (5 November 1958)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eleanor Roosevelt", "slug": "eleanor-roosevelt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt" }, "book": { "title": "My Day", "slug": "my-day", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/my-day" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#My_Day_(1935%E2%80%931962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:57" }, { "id": "85c13245-1f5c-4076-a699-557dad318d69", "slug": "those-who-want", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/hegemony-or-survival/those-who-want", "text": "Those who want to face their responsibilities with a genuine commitment to democracy and freedom - even to decent survival - should recognize the barriers that stand in the way. In violent states these are not concealed. In more democratic societies barriers are more subtle. While methods differ sharply from more brutal to more free societies, the goals are in many ways similar: to ensure that the \"great beast,\" as Alexander Hamilton called the people, does not stray from its proper confines.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Noam Chomsky", "slug": "noam-chomsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky" }, "book": { "title": "Hegemony or Survival", "slug": "hegemony-or-survival", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/hegemony-or-survival" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky#Hegemony_or_Survival_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:46" }, { "id": "b53e1873-a3c3-4afe-a045-2cec5f262ae5", "slug": "unfortunately-you-cant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/government-in-the-future/unfortunately-you-cant", "text": "Unfortunately, you can't vote the rascals out, because you never voted them in, in the first place. The corporate executives and the corporation lawyers and so on who overwhelmingly staff the executive, assisted increasingly by a university based mandarin class, remain in power no matter whom you elect.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Noam Chomsky", "slug": "noam-chomsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky" }, "book": { "title": "Government in the Future", "slug": "government-in-the-future", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/government-in-the-future" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 140, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky#Government_in_the_Future_(1970)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:45" }, { "id": "1dda8321-c935-4987-8c98-61dd1bce8147", "slug": "we-have-today", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/government-in-the-future/we-have-today", "text": "We have today the technical and material resources to meet man’s animal needs. We have not developed the cultural and moral resources or the democratic forms of social organization that make possible the humane and rational use of our material wealth and power. Conceivably, the classical liberal ideals, as expressed and developed in their libertarian socialist form, are achievable. But if so, only by a popular revolutionary movement, rooted in wide strata of the population, and committed to the elimination of repressive and authoritarian institutions, state and private. To create such a movement is the challenge we face and must meet if there is to be an escape from contemporary barbarism.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Noam Chomsky", "slug": "noam-chomsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky" }, "book": { "title": "Government in the Future", "slug": "government-in-the-future", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/government-in-the-future" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 146, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "revolution", "slug": "revolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/revolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky#Government_in_the_Future_(1970)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:45" }, { "id": "df902317-32ba-414a-b45b-1d031e2e4b93", "slug": "they-the-emperors", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/they-the-emperors", "text": "They (the emperors) frequently abused their power arbitrarily to deprive their subjects of property or of life: their tyranny was extremely onerous to the few, but it did not reach the greater number; .. But it would seem that if despotism were to be established amongst the democratic nations of our days it might assume a different character; it would be more extensive and more mild, it would degrade men without tormenting them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:39" }, { "id": "d930675d-ecfa-4a35-90c4-75ec326b649b", "slug": "all-those-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/all-those-who", "text": "All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:39" }, { "id": "c6f5b4d4-d5e9-4936-bfdd-c3d921198bb9", "slug": "there-are-two", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/there-are-two", "text": "There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult—to begin a war and to end it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:39" }, { "id": "7ba51f1d-8177-42d6-a591-21ec3bad0b2b", "slug": "the-foremost-or-indeed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-foremost-or-indeed", "text": "The foremost, or indeed the sole condition which is required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community, is to love equality, or to get men to believe you love it. Thus the science of despotism, which was once so complex, is simplified, and reduced as it were to a single principle.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:39" }, { "id": "502cebea-095e-463e-beec-964bce694c85", "slug": "when-an-opinion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/when-an-opinion", "text": "When an opinion has taken root in a democracy and established itself in the minds of the majority, it afterward persists by itself, needing no effort to maintain it since no one attacks it. Those who at first rejected it as false come in the end to adopt it as accepted, and even those who still at the bottom of their hearts oppose it keep their views to themselves, taking great care to avoid a dangerous and futile contest.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "public opinion", "slug": "public-opinion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/public-opinion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:39" }, { "id": "33f8d521-87d2-42d3-925a-918a059577bf", "slug": "no-protracted-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/no-protracted-war", "text": "No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:39" }, { "id": "d824cdd2-ea7b-40bb-88e1-c525f8bca41d", "slug": "what-chiefly-diverts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/what-chiefly-diverts", "text": "What chiefly diverts the men of democracies from lofty ambition is not the scantiness of their fortunes, but the vehemence of the exertions they daily make to improve them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "ambition", "slug": "ambition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ambition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "b3e74a9e-b7e8-4951-b29f-81bb9ac6a74e", "slug": "not-only-does", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/not-only-does", "text": "Not only does democracy make every man forget his ancestors, but also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from their contemporaries. Each man is for ever thrown back on himself alone, and there is danger that he may be shut up in the solitude of his own heart.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "individualism", "slug": "individualism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/individualism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "b1b14eeb-b2b6-4953-b4fa-d9e6940c611e", "slug": "the-public-therefore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-public-therefore", "text": "The public, therefore, among a democratic people, has a singular power, which aristocratic nations cannot conceive; for it does not persuade others to its beliefs, but it imposes them and makes them permeate the thinking of everyone by a sort of enormous pressure of the mind of all upon the individual intelligence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "public opinion", "slug": "public-opinion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/public-opinion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "a6096444-8af3-48c2-940e-5c4630a0fef7", "slug": "i-am-far", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/i-am-far", "text": "I am far from denying that newspapers in democratic countries lead citizens to do very ill-considered things in common; but without newspapers there would be hardly any common action at all. So they mend many more ills than they cause.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "journalism", "slug": "journalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/journalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "9369134e-6c9a-4e4f-85b9-524b1cb1deec", "slug": "the-debates-of-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-debates-of-that", "text": "The debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged rather than to march, to the intended goal. Something of this sort must, I think, always happen in public democratic assemblies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "5c4a111a-b9bc-478c-a5a4-5bec7f4eda4c", "slug": "the-genius-of-democracies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-genius-of-democracies", "text": "The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they express.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "language", "slug": "language", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "ideas", "slug": "ideas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "546f8a3f-c74a-4c7b-aab0-001ca71a0f6c", "slug": "in-democratic-ages", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/in-democratic-ages", "text": "In democratic ages men rarely sacrifice themselves for another, but they show a general compassion for all the human race. One never sees them inflict pointless suffering, and they are glad to relieve the sorrows of others when they can do so without much trouble to themselves. They are not disinterested, but they are gentle.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "compassion", "slug": "compassion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compassion" }, { "name": "sacrifice", "slug": "sacrifice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sacrifice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "4fd19f85-e4c1-4cd9-85f8-a8d8f7058869", "slug": "i-think-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/i-think-that", "text": "I think that democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: left to themselves, they will seek it, cherish it, and view any privation of it with regret. But for equality, their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible: they call for equality in freedom; and if they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "2f0a6318-6654-4597-b49e-1250da43d70b", "slug": "by-and-large", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/by-and-large", "text": "By and large the literature of a democracy will never exhibit the order, regularity, skill, and art characteristic of aristocratic literature; formal qualities will be neglected or actually despised. The style will often be strange, incorrect, overburdened, and loose, and almost always strong and bold. Writers will be more anxious to work quickly than to perfect details. Short works will be commoner than long books, wit than erudition, imagination than depth. There will be a rude and untutored vigor of thought with great variety and singular fecundity. Authors will strive to astonish more than to please, and to stir passions rather than to charm taste.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "literature", "slug": "literature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "263fb164-4d96-4ee5-b7a2-66ed6a19fe13", "slug": "americans-of-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/americans-of-all", "text": "Americans of all ages, all stations of life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations... In democratic countries knowledge of how to combine is the mother of all other forms of knowledge; on its progress depends that of all the others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "America", "slug": "america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america" }, { "name": "cooperation", "slug": "cooperation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cooperation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "f77eb953-9b5c-46aa-86a0-0e245675dcd5", "slug": "in-the-united", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/in-the-united", "text": "In the United States, except for slaves, servants and the destitute fed by townships, everyone has the vote and this is an indirect contributor to law-making. Anyone wishing to attack the law is thus reduced to adopting one of two obvious courses: they must either change the nation's opinion or trample its wishes under foot.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:37" }, { "id": "e7edfd81-379f-44f2-890b-a1418287e93d", "slug": "the-hatred-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-hatred-that", "text": "The hatred that men bear to privilege increases in proportion as privileges become fewer and less considerable, so that democratic passions would seem to burn most fiercely just when they have least fuel. I have already given the reason for this phenomenon. [all conditions are unequal, no inequality is so great as to offend the eye, whereas the slightest dissimilarity is odious in the midst of general uniformity; the more complete this uniformity is, the more insupportable the sight of such a difference becomes.] Hence it is natural that the love of equality should constantly increase together with equality itself, and that it should grow by what it feeds on.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:37" }, { "id": "be68bd4d-6234-4c63-a2eb-6f83706a2f92", "slug": "with-much-care", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/with-much-care", "text": "With much care and skill power has been broken into fragments in the American township, so that the maximum possible number of people have some concern with public affairs.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:37" }, { "id": "7f96028c-1295-4a0b-9c6b-4e50636327a5", "slug": "the-people-reign", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-people-reign", "text": "The people reign over the American political world as God rules over the universe. It is the cause and the end of all things; everything rises out of it and is absorbed back into it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "America", "slug": "america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:37" }, { "id": "79c2119c-887a-4108-bd0a-60e5253f57b4", "slug": "the-new-englander", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-new-englander", "text": "The New Englander is attached to his township because it is strong and independent; he has an interest in it because he shares in its management; he loves it because he has no reason to complain of his lot; he invests his ambition and his future in it; in the restricted sphere within his scope, he learns to rule society; he gets to know those formalities without which freedom can advance only through revolutions, and becoming imbued with their spirit, develops a taste for order, understands the harmony of powers, and in the end accumulates clear, practical ideas about the nature of his duties and the extent of his rights.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:37" }, { "id": "606ca800-7283-4511-bf16-2659f56e7c5d", "slug": "the-surface-of-american", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-surface-of-american", "text": "The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "America", "slug": "america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:37" }, { "id": "0b8f913b-fca0-4360-bd22-160cefde1edb", "slug": "a-democratic-government", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/a-democratic-government", "text": "A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "taxes", "slug": "taxes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/taxes" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:37" }, { "id": "afb97eab-81a8-4475-b80e-41051bb84b7b", "slug": "books-purchasable-at-low", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-demon-haunted-world/books-purchasable-at-low", "text": "Books, purchasable at low cost, permit us to interrogate the past with high accuracy; to tap the wisdom of our species; to understand the point of view of others, and not just those in power; to contemplate — with the best teachers — the insights, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, drawn from the entire planet and from all of our history. They allow people long dead to talk inside our heads. Books can accompany us everywhere. Books are patient where we are slow to understand, allow us to go over the hard parts as many times as we wish, and are never critical of our lapses. Books are key to understanding the world and participating in a democratic society.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Demon-Haunted World", "slug": "the-demon-haunted-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-demon-haunted-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 357, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" }, { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Demon-Haunted_World_:_Science_as_a_Candle_in_the_Dark_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:29" }, { "id": "bb19433a-3831-421d-8195-b86040ab582b", "slug": "the-demands-of-a-free", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli/discourses-on-livy/the-demands-of-a-free", "text": "The demands of a free populace, too, are very seldom harmful to liberty, for they are due either to the populace being oppressed or to the suspicious that it is going to be oppressed . . . and, should these impressions be false, a remedy is provided in the public platform on which some man of standing can get up, appeal to the crowd, and show that it is mistaken. And though, as Tully remarks, the populace may be ignorant, it is capable of grasping the truth and readily yields when a man, worthy of confidence, lays the truth before it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Niccolo Machiavelli", "slug": "niccolo-machiavelli", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli" }, "book": { "title": "Discourses on Livy", "slug": "discourses-on-livy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli/discourses-on-livy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli#Discourses_on_Livy_(1517)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:24" }, { "id": "3e1aa933-f28a-408d-a6c5-8f5c54288e2a", "slug": "it-is-truly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli/discourses-on-livy/it-is-truly", "text": "It is truly a marvelous thing to consider to what greatness Athens arrived in the space of one hundred years after she freed herself from the tyranny of Pisistratus; but, above all, it is even more marvelous to consider the greatness Rome reached when she freed herself from her kings. The reason is easy to understand, for it is the common good and not private gain that makes cities great. Yet, without a doubt, this common good is observed only in republics, for in them everything that promotes it is practised, and however much damage it does to this or that private individual, those who benefit from the said common good are so numerous that they are able to advance in spite of the inclination of the few citizens who are oppressed by it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Niccolo Machiavelli", "slug": "niccolo-machiavelli", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli" }, "book": { "title": "Discourses on Livy", "slug": "discourses-on-livy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli/discourses-on-livy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "community", "slug": "community", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli#Discourses_on_Livy_(1517)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:24" }, { "id": "8a56195b-c8c2-4b96-9019-08fce432a736", "slug": "where-a-government", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernesto-che-guevara/guerrilla-warfare/where-a-government", "text": "Where a government has come into power through some form of popular vote, fraudulent or not, and maintains at least an appearance of constitutional legality, the guerrilla outbreak cannot be promoted, since the possibilities of peaceful struggle have not yet been exhausted.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernesto Che Guevara", "slug": "ernesto-che-guevara", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernesto-che-guevara" }, "book": { "title": "Guerrilla Warfare", "slug": "guerrilla-warfare", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernesto-che-guevara/guerrilla-warfare" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 14, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Che_Guevara#Guerrilla_Warfare_(1961)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:19" } ] }