Liberty Quotes - Daily Email History

"From this view of the subject, it may be concluded, that a pure Democracy, by which I mean a society, consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the Government in person, can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will in almost every case, be felt by the majority of the whole; a communication and concert results from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party, or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is, that such Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property, and have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed, that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions. "

~ James Madison  

"If by the mere force of numbers a majority
should deprive a minority of any clearly written
constitutional right, it might, in a moral point
of view, justify revolution."

~ Abraham Lincoln  

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights, cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. 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."

~ Ayn Rand  

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We will not be driven by
fear into an age of unreason if we remember that we are not descended
from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to
associate and to defend causes which were, for the moment, unpopular."

~ Edward R. Murrow  

"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion,
mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person
than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."

~ John Stuart Mill  

"Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves, or, more generally, in the acquisition of power. Consequently those who live under the dominion of Puritanism become exceedingly desirous of power. Now love of power does far more harm than love of drink or any of the other vices against which Puritans protest. Of course, in virtuous people love of power camouflages itself as love of doing good, but this makes very little difference to its social effects. It merely means that we punish our victims for being wicked, instead of for being our enemies. In either case, tyranny and war result. Moral indignation is one of the most harmful forces in the modern world, the more so as it can always be diverted to sinister uses by those who control propaganda."

~ Bertrand Russell  

"[T]he main evil of the present democratic institutions of the united states does not raise, as is often asserted in Europe, from their weakness, but from their irresistible strength. I am not so much alarmed at the excessive liberty which reigns in that country as at the inadequate securities which one finds there against tyranny."

~ Alexis De Tocqueville  

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions -- it only guarantees equality of opportunity."

~ Irving Kristol  

"Participation is an instrument of conquest because it encourages people to give their consent to being governed. ... Deeply embedded in people's sense of fair play is the principle that those who play the game must accept the outcome. Those who participate in politics are similarly committed, even if they are consistently on the losing side. Why do politicians plead with everyone to get out and vote? Because voting is the simplest and easiest form of participation by masses of people. Even though it is minimal participation, it is sufficient to commit all voters to being governed, regardless of who wins."

~ Theodore Lowi  

"Envy is the basis of Democracy."

~ Bertrand Russell  

"There are all kinds of devices invented for the protection and
preservation of countries: defensive barriers, forts, trenches,
and the like... But prudent minds have as a natural gift one safeguard
which is the common possession of all, and this applies especially
to the dealings of democracies. What is this safeguard? Skepticism.
This you must preserve. This you must retain. If you can keep this,
you need fear no harm."

~ Demosthenes  

"When it becomes dominated by a collectivist creed,
democracy will inevitably destroy itself."

~ Friedrich August von Hayek