To make democracy work we must be a notion of participants not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.

Hatred is corrosive of a person's wisdom and conscience the mentality of enmity can poison a nation's spirit instigate brutal life and death struggles destroy a society's tolerance and humanity and block a nation's progress to freedom and democracy.

We learned in World War II that no single nation holds a monopoly on wisdom morality or right to power but that we must fight for the weak and promote democracy.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy - well you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I'm President I never will.

We did not go to war in Afghanistan or in Iraq to quote 'impose democracy.' We went to war in both places because we saw those regimes as a threat to the United States.

Until democracy in effective enthusiastic action fills the vacuum created by the power of modern inventions we may expect the fascists to increase in power after the war both in the United States and in the world.

Britain which in the years immediately before this war was rapidly losing such democratic virtues as it possessed is now being bombed and burned into democracy.

With the end of the cold war all the 'isms' of the 20th century - Fascism Nazism Communism and the evil of apartheid-ism - have failed. Except one. Only democracy has shown itself true the help of all mankind.

Despite what the pundits want us to think contested primaries aren't civil war they are democracy at work and that's beautiful.

We have a war dictator who was not elected he snuck in. so he punishes people that threaten him in any way or even say something he doesn't like. It has no resemblance to democracy.

There's an assault on human sexuality as Judge Scalia said they've taken sides in the culture war and on top of that if we have a democracy the democratic processes should be that we can elect representatives who will share our point of view and vote those things into law.

A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy.

Now the first step has to be taken the step towards democracy. This step is full of risks and requires trust on all sides. We don't know where it will lead. But if we just stand still we will have no chance of escaping the violence.

A global democracy works only when countries trust one another.

America is a country ready to be taken in fact longing to be taken by political leaders ready to restore democracy and trust to the political process.

If we put our trust in the common sense of common men and 'with malice toward none and charity for all' go forward on the great adventure of making political economic and social democracy a practical reality we shall not fail.

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting.

I'd like people to be educated on the voting machines making sure that our democracy isn't being hijacked by computer technology. There's no reason there can't be a paper trail on those machines.

I think the success of democracy is not really police security it's the presence of a broad middle class. The stronger the middle class of a people is the less you have to worry about one group coming in and exploiting the democratic process for its own ends.

The grandeur and strength or our people and democracy are as big as a forest.

As you have fewer and fewer voices in a democracy in a free society it's not good to limit the number of voices.

America must be the teacher of democracy not the advertiser of the consumer society. It is unrealistic for the rest of the world to reach the American living standard.

Standards of conduct appropriate to civil society or the workings of a democracy cannot be purely and simply applied to the Church.