Ian Buruma Quotes
Citizenship of a democratic state means living by the laws of the country. A liberal democracy cannot survive when part of the population believes that divine laws trump those made by man.
Quotes to Explore
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Is America truly a democracy? Has America ever been a democracy with the institution of slavery?
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Islam's laws are fixed and that is why Islam is stable.
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I have not broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic.
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Safe storage and child access prevention laws are critical steps as we seek to reduce the occurrence of accidental shootings and suicides involving guns.
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By its very nature, hard-line ideology is self-serving and self-perpetuating; its primary goal is to survive - and that precludes everything.
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I don't order laws, I propose them.
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The deadliest foe of democracy is not autocracy but liberty frenzied.
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The ultimate binding element in the medieval order was subordination to the divine will and its earthly representatives, notably the pope.
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If a jerk burns the flag, America is not threatened, democracy is not under siege, freedom is not at risk.
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Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I'll be right there with you as a citizen - inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.
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When public men indulge themselves in abuse, when they deny others a fair trial, when they resort to innuendo and insinuation, to libel, scandal, and suspicion, then our democratic society is outraged, and democracy is baffled.
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Marry an outdoors woman. Then if you throw her out into the yard on a cold night, she can still survive.
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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.
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Too many people expect wonders from democracy, when the most wonderful thing of all is just having it.
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It is never smart, even in a strong democracy, to declare some debate off limits. In a weakening democracy it is catastrophic.
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I think that the failure of newspaper competition in a community is a very serious handicap to the dissemination of the knowledge that the citizens need to participate in a democracy.
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Democracy cannot survive without the guidance of a creative minority.
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In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!
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Texas has a lot of challenges, but if I choose to run I will talk about opening democracy to mainstream Texans and not just to a closed circle of entrenched ideologues.
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Democracy is necessitated by the fact that all men are sinners; it is made possible by the fact that we know it.
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Laws, however divine in origin and institution, would be found of little coercion among men, were the administration of them not committed to mortals.
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There is a crying need today to have this truth heralded throughout the land that youth especially may appreciate and hold the freedom of the individual as sacred as did our revolutionary fathers.
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Women always look for a peaceful solution to a conflict. They are more sensible when they go for compromise or when they stand by their position. They are ready to listen to different views, to hear all the voices in society.
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Citizenship of a democratic state means living by the laws of the country. A liberal democracy cannot survive when part of the population believes that divine laws trump those made by man.
