Useful Civics Quotes

[T]he latest and most formidable form of... domination [is] bureaucracy... which could be properly called rule by Nobody. If, in accord with traditional political thought, we identify tyranny as government that is not held to give account of itself, rule by Nobody is clearly the most tyrannical of all, since there is no one left who would even be asked to answer for what is being done.

Words like ‘freedom,' ‘justice,' and ‘democracy' are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous, and above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply.

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

Direct government as at present generally understood is a mere phantom of democracy. Democracy is not a sum in addition. Democracy is not brute numbers; it is a genuine union of true individuals.

Deep democracy is what justice looks like in practice.

We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

The fire, the energy, and the life of democracy is popular pressure. Democracy itself is a government constantly responding to continuous pressures of its people. The only hope for democracy is that more people and more groups will become articulate and exert pressure upon their government … Can man envisage a more sublime program on earth than the people having faith in their fellow men and themselves? A program of co-operation instead of competition? This, then, is the job ahead …

If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.