J. M. Coetzee Quotes

If you have reservations about the system and want to change it, the democratic argument goes, do so within the system: put yourself forward as a candidate for political office, subject yourself to the scrutiny and the vote of fellow citizens. Democracy does not allow for politics outside the democratic system. In this sense, democracy is totalitarian.

J. M. Coetzee

• Political
• Democracy

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• It is up to African leaders to show their will and political courage in order to assure that this new pan-African institution becomes an efficient instrument and not a place for endless discussions.

  

  Omar Bongo
  • Up
  • Political
  • Courage

• Persistent inequality costs the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars a year, undermining our global competitiveness, our democracy, and our ideals as a nation.

  

  Wendy Kopp
  • Democracy
  • Year
  • Inequality

• I was suffering from a peculiar and persistent sense that I was being pursued, and also the conviction that under the political order of the times, our lives had no meaning.

  

  Naguib Mahfouz
  • Political
  • Suffering

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

  

  H. L. Mencken
  • Wisdom
  • Democracy
  • Ignorance

• Global governance cannot be limited to the crafting of instruments related to the promotion of democracy. A key component must be the creation of fair and equitable rules to enhance the development prospects of developing countries.

  

  Kamla Persad-Bissessar
  • Democracy
  • Rules
  • Key

• The building of America has had its fair share of mistakes, but it's a constitution that's the jewel of democracy, the envy of many, and it's the most generous nation in the world.

  

  Gary Oldman
  • World
  • America
  • Democracy

• This Republic was called into being, organized, and is upheld, by a great political doctrine.

  

  Caleb Cushing
  • Great
  • Political
  • Being

• The right-wing of the Republican party isn't so much a political agenda as a plea for help.

  

  Larry Flynt
  • Help
  • Political
  • Party

• Our movements reveal a great deal about who we are. A record of our locations over time can reveal whether we go to tent revivals or radical political meetings, abortion clinics or AIDS doctors.

  

  Adam Cohen
  • Time
  • Great
  • Political

• Democracy is the road to socialism.

  

  Karl Marx
  • Democracy
  • Road
  • Socialism

• The Polish freedom movement of 1968 lost its confrontation with police violence; the Prague Spring was crushed by the armies of five Warsaw Pact members. But in both countries, 1968 gave birth to a new political consciousness.

  

  Adam Michnik
  • Political
  • Freedom
  • Lost

• The issue is whether the ultimate civil authority of the United States can tolerate actions in contempt of constitutional lines of authority. Any lessening of civil power over military power must inevitably lead away from democracy.

  

  Harold Russell
  • Power
  • Democracy
  • Military

• I was scared, because I knew that in the political arena, you have to satisfy so many different types of people at once, and I wasn't sure that I could speak for everybody and be politically correct.

  

  Camryn Manheim
  • People
  • Different
  • Political

• While liberals are leery of religious fundamentalism in general, they consistently imagine that all religions at their core teach the same thing and teach it equally well. This is one of the many delusions borne of political correctness.

  

  Sam Harris
  • Political
  • Religious
  • Same

• I love Canada. It's a wonderful political act of faith that exists atop a breathtakingly beautiful land.

  

  Yann Martel
  • Beautiful
  • Faith
  • Wonderful

• Rule-following, legal precedence, and political consistency are not more important than right, justice and plain common-sense.

  

  W. E. B. Du Bois
  • Important
  • Political
  • Justice

• I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of competition, and we seem to be moving away from that.

  

  Walter Cronkite
  • Moving
  • Democracy
  • Competition

• If we have a chance of succeeding and bringing stability and democracy to Iraq, it will mean learning from our mistakes, not denying them and not ignoring them.

  

  Carl Levin
  • Learning
  • Democracy
  • Chance

• The reason societies with democratic governments are better places to live in than their alternatives isn't because of some goodness intrinsic to democracy, but because its hopeless inefficiency helps blunt the basic potential for evil.

  

  Nathan Myhrvold
  • Live
  • Evil
  • Democracy

• Women and people of color and young people especially are about to have this amazing opportunity to shift the political conversation in this country for the good of all of us, toward more progressive policies, and it's a really amazing and important time to be part of that.

  

  Sandra Fluke
  • People
  • Important
  • Country

• I'm interested in light. It's a very direct, pragmatic, American, rather naive approach.

  

  James Turrell
  • American
  • Light

• People wish to be poets more than they wish to write poetry, and that's a mistake. One should wish to celebrate more than one wishes to be celebrated.

  

  Lucille Clifton
  • People
  • Wish
  • Poetry

• When you are culture, you're forever young, like Snoop. When you're on that level, it's just contributing to the gangsta.

  

  D.R.A.M.
  • You
  • Culture
  • Forever

• If you have reservations about the system and want to change it, the democratic argument goes, do so within the system: put yourself forward as a candidate for political office, subject yourself to the scrutiny and the vote of fellow citizens. Democracy does not allow for politics outside the democratic system. In this sense, democracy is totalitarian.

  

  J. M. Coetzee
  • Political
  • Democracy