Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2003-02-04 Feb 4, 2003A people who extend civil liberties only to preferred groups start down the path either to dictatorship of the right or the left.~ Justice William O. DouglasThe tyranny of the many would be when one body takes over the rights of others, and then exercises its power to change the laws in its favor.~ Voltaire Feb 3, 2003The Bill of Rights is a born rebel. It reeks with sedition. In every clause it shakes its fist in the face of constituted authority... It is the one guarantee of human freedom to the American people.~ Frank I. CobbConstitutions are checks upon the hasty action of the majority. They are the self-imposed restraints of a whole people upon a majority of them to secure sober action and a respect for the rights of the minority.~ William Howard Taft Jan 31, 2003If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution.~ Abraham LincolnThe real value of freedom is not to the minority that wants to talk but to the majority that does not want to listen.~ Zechariah Chafee, Jr. Jan 30, 2003Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!~ Benjamin FranklinUnder democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -- and both commonly succeed, and are right.~ H. L. Mencken Jan 29, 2003A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.~ Sir Alex Fraser TytlerThe rising power of the United States in world affairs ... requires, not a more compliant press, but a relentless barrage of facts and criticism ... Our job in this age, as I see it, is not to serve as cheerleaders for our side ... but to help the largest possible number of people to see the realities.~ James Reston Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print