Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens participate equally—either directly or through elected representatives—in the proposal, development, and creation of laws. It encompasses social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination.
Democracy consists of four basic elements:
- A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections.
- The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life.
- Protection of the human rights of all citizens.
- A rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.
Read below the Famous Quotes of Democracy.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. – Winston Churchill
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. – Charles Bukowski
People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.― Alan Moore
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. – Abraham Lincoln
An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination. – Voltaire
A healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant and respectful. – Charles W. Pickering
The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness. – Niels Bohr
In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority. – Edmund Burke
To make democracy work, we must be a notion of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain. – Louis L’Amour
Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven. – H. L. Mencken
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. – Winston Churchill
In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme. – Aristotle
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage. – H. L. Mencken
Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who’ll get the blame.- Bertrand Russell
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. – H. L. Mencken
Democracy don’t rule the world, You’d better get that in your head; This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that’s better left unsaid. – Bob Dylan
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 government to the utmost.- Aristotle
Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. – George Bernard Shaw
Democracy is the road to socialism. – Karl Marx
Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.- George Bernard Shaw
Democracy… is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. – Plato
Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people. – Oscar Wilde
Democracy… while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide. – John Adams
Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. – Ronald Reagan
The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart. – Mahatma Gandhi
The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.- John F. Kennedy
All deductions having been made, democracy has done less harm, and more good, than any other form of government. – Will Durant
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization. – Winston Churchill
Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man. ― Bertrand Russell
Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. – Ronald Reagan
The Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. ― Thomas Jefferson
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. ― Winston Churchill
A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. ― Theodore Roosevelt
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. ― James Bovard
You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution. – G. K. Chesterton
Democracy gives every man A right to be his own oppressor. – James Russell Lowell
Democracy is the power of equal votes for unequal minds. – Charles I of England
For in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, ‘hold office’; everyone of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve. -John F. Kennedy,
You may fool all the people some of the time; … some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time. – Abraham Lincoln
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy! – H.L. Mencken
Democracy is supposed to give you the feeling of choice, like Painkiller X and Painkiller Y. But they’re both just aspirin. – Gore Vidal
Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. – Reinhold Niebuhr
Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. – Benito Mussolini
Democracy and socialism are means to an end, not the end itself. – Jawaharlal Nehru
There is no dignity in wickedness, whether in purple or rags; and hell is a democracy of devils, where all are equals. – Herman Melville
Freedom and democracy are dreams you never give up. – Aung San Suu Kyi
As citizens of this democracy, you are the rulers and the ruled, the law-givers and the law-abiding, the beginning and the end. – Adlai E. Stevenson
Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse. – Jawaharlal Nehru
Corruption is nature’s way of restoring our faith in democracy. – Peter Ustinov
The democracy process provides for political and social change without violence. – Aung San Suu Kyi
Democracy is an abuse of statistics. – Jorge Luis Borges
There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship. – Ralph Nader
A full and fair discussion is essential to democracy. – George Soros
The essence of a democracy is a free electorate. – Arlen Specter
When everyone agrees to a single solution and a single plan, there’s nothing more efficient in the world than an efficient democracy. – Neil deGrasse Tyson
