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| Fighting for equality |
You cannot possibly have a broader basis for any government than that which includes all the people, with all their rights in their hands, and with an equal power to maintain their rights. William Lloyd Garrison
Democracy can only be measured on the existence of an opposition. Poul Henningsen
Even though counting heads is not an ideal way to govern, at least it is better than breaking them. Learned Hand
The masses are the material of democracy, buts its form, that is to say, the laws which express the general reason, justice and utility, can only be rightly shaped by wisdom, which is by no means a universal property. Henri Frederic Amiel
Self-government requires qualities of self-denial and restraint. John F. Kennedy
Equality consists in the same treatment of similar persons. Aristotle
Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw
Just as modern mass production requires the standardization of commodities, so the social process requires standardization of man and this is called equality. Erich Fromm
If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. Aristotle
There can be no truer principle than this; that every individual of the community at large has an equal right to the protection of government. Alexander Hamilton
Democracy is a form of government in which it is permitted to wonder aloud what the country could do under first-class management. Chuck Dillon
The grand paradox of our society is this: we magnify man’s rights but we minimize his capacities. Joseph Wood Krutch
We clamor for equality chiefly in matters in which we ourselves cannot hope to obtain excellence. Eric Hoffer
Democracy is a form of government which may be rationally defended, not as being good, but as being less bad than any other. William Ralph Inge
The consent of the governed is more than a safeguard against ignorant tyrants. It is an insurance against benevolent despots as well. Walter Lippmann
We hold the truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Thomas Jefferson
In a democracy the general good is furthered only when the special interests of competing minorities accidentally coincide or cancel each other out. Alexander Chase
It is the western vice, the disease which expresses its tyranny by reducing everything unique to the level of the herd. Henry Miller
Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. George Bernard Shaw
Weariness is the shortest path to equality and fraternity, and finally liberty is bestowed by sleep. Nietzsche
Democracy is the superior form of government, because it is based on a respect for man as a reasonable being. John F. Kennedy
The principle of equality does not destroy the imagination, but lowers its flight to the level of the earth. Alexis De Tocqueville
Democracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you don’t think. George Burns
It was the contemplation of god that created men who were equal, for it was in god that they were equal. Saint-Exupery
Democracy is never a final achievement. It is a call to untiring effort, to continual sacrifice and to the willingness, if necessary, to die in its defense. John F. Kennedy
Inside the polling booth every man and woman stands as an equal of every other. They have no superiors. There they have no masters save their own minds and consciences. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Though reconciled to the future of democracy, including that of the people in the subway, I cannot be sanguine about it. Frank Moore Colby
The Lord so constituted everybody that no matter what color you are you require the same amount of nourishment. Will Rogers
Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame. Oscar Wilde
Unless man is committed to the belief that all of mankind are his brothers, then he labors in vain and hypocritically in the vineyards of equality. Adam Clayton Powell
No amount of charters, direct primaries, or short ballots will make a democracy out of an illiterate people. Walter Lippman
Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being; whatever may be their gender or color. William Lloyd Garrison
My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest. This can never happen except through non-violence. Mohandas K. Gandhi
Government laws are needed to give us civil rights, and god is needed to make us civil. Ralph W. Sockman
Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse. Jawaharlal Nehru
Couldn't we even argue that it is because men are unequal that they have that more need to be brothers? Charles Dubois
Democracy is that form of government where everybody gets what the majority deserves. James Dale Davidson
The defeats and victories of the fellows at the top aren’t always defeats and victories for the fellows at the bottom. Bertolt Brecht
Democracy is the name we give the people whenever we need them. Norman Chives
The man who occupies the first place seldom plays the principle part. Goethe
There is merit without rank, but there is no rank without some merit. LA Rochefoucauld
Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time. E B White
It is a very curious fact that, with all our boasted free and equal superiority over the communities of the old world, our people have the most enormous appetite for the old world titles of distinction. Oliver Wendell Holmes
What democracy needs most of all is a party that will separate the good that is in it theoretically from the evils that beset it practically, and then try to erect that good into a workable system. H. L. Mencken
When fortune surprises us by giving us an important position, without having led us to it by degrees, or without our being elevated to it by our hopes, it is almost impossible for us to maintain ourselves suitably in it, and appear worthy of possessing it. LA Rochefoucauld
Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. Winston Churchill
The good Lord sees your heart, not the braid on your jacket, before him we are all in our birthday suits, generals and common men alike. Thomas Mann
Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people. Oscar Wilde
Let the people think they can govern and they will be governed. William Penn
Government lies, and newspapers lie, but in a democracy they are different lies. Origin; media publications
That a peasant may become king does not render the kingdom democratic. Woodrow Wilson
The majority is the best way, because it is visible, and has strength to make itself obeyed. Yet it is the opinion of the least able. Pascal
I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy. But that could change. Dan Quayle
The republic is a dream; nothing happens unless first a dream. Carl Sandburg
This is not the age of pamphleteers. It is the age of the engineers. The spark-gap is mightier than the pen. Democracy will not be salvaged by men who talk fluently, debate forcefully and quote aptly. Lancelot Hogben
There may be as much nobility in being last as in being first, because the two positions are equally necessary in the world, the one to compliment the other. Jose Ortega Y Gasset
Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of what will be. Alexis De Tocqueville
A man of quality does not fear a woman seeking equality. Fabian Timber
Titles distinguish the mediocre, embarrass the superior, and are disgraced by the inferior. George Bernard Shaw
Democracy, the practice of self-government, is a covenant among free men to respect the rights and liberties of their fellows. Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the poor, to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. Anatole France
Were there a people of gods, their government would be democratic. So perfect a government is not for men. Rousseau
Emperors, kings, artisans, peasants, big people, little people; at bottom we are all alike and all the same, all just alike on the inside, and when our clothes are off, nobody can tell which of us is which. Mark Twain
Democracy represents the disbelief in all great men and in all elite societies. Nietzsche
The doctrine of human equality reposes on this: that there is no man really clever who has not found that he is stupid. G. K. Chesterton
If despotism failed only for want of a capable benevolent despot, what chance has democracy, which requires a whole population of capable voters? George Bernard Shaw
Democracy is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and the unequal alike. Plato
The essence of a republican government is not command. It is consent. Adlai Stevenson
If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation will you prefer the grain to the vote. Bertrand Russell
