You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The essence of a democracy is a free electorate.
It is a strange fact that freedom and equality, the two basic ideas of democracy, are to some extent contradictory. Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive, just as society and the individual are mutually exclusive.
What if democracy does not serve liberty? This question is seldom asked in the West, where democracy is often seen as synonymous with liberalism.
Either we are all free, or we fail; democracy must belong to all of us.
Democracy is liberty - a liberty which does not infringe on the liberty nor encroach on the rights of others; a liberty which maintains strict discipline, and makes law its guarantee and the basis of its exercise. This alone is true liberty; this alone can produce true democracy.
When we say 'democracy' we have to mean what we say.
We know from our own history that democratic institutions take decades to mature, and we know from past conflicts that freedom is not free.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
The word democracy has no meaning. Duty has gone. Only rights remain.
Freedom is not won by merely overthrowing a tyrannical ruler or an oppressive regime. That is usually only the prelude to a new tyranny, a new oppression.
No opposing quotes found.