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The whole idea of a democracy is that we ourselves, the people, are supposed to make a path of our politics, and it is we who with our feet and our vote and our labors and our vigilance are supposed to shape our country.

Democracy is a daring concept - a hope that we'll be best governed if all of us participate in the act of government. It is meant to be a conversation, a place where the intelligence and local knowledge of the electorate sums together to arrive at actions that reflect the participation of the largest possible number of people.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

So long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we'll be called a democracy.

Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

When we say 'democracy' we have to mean what we say.

Democracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

Democracy means that people can say what they want to. All the people. It means that they can vote as they wish. All the people. It means that they can worship God in any way they feel right, and that includes Christians and Jews and voodoo doctors as well.

Of course democracy is good, but it is a process, not a prescription.