Democracy may not prove in the long run to be as efficient as other forms of government, but it has one saving grace: it allows us to know and say that it isn't.

For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington.

War, except in self-defense, is a failure of moral imagination.

We see more and more of our Presidents and know less and less about what they do.

As a student I learned from wonderful teachers and ever since then I've thought everyone is a teacher.

Secrecy is the freedom tyrants dream of.

America's corporate and political elites now form a regime of their own and they're privatizing democracy. All the benefits - the tax cuts, policies and rewards flow in one direction: up.

I own and operate a ferocious ego.

Our very lives depend on the ethics of strangers, and most of us are always strangers to other people.

This is the first time in my 32 years in public broadcasting that PBS has ordered up programs for ideological instead of journalistic reasons.

What's right and good doesn't come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it - as if the cause depends on you, because it does.

I work for him despite his faults and he lets me work for him despite my deficiencies.

When I learn something new - and it happens every day - I feel a little more at home in this universe, a little more comfortable in the nest.

Ideas are great arrows, but there has to be a bow. And politics is the bow of idealism.

We don't care really about children as a society and television reflects that indifference to children as human beings.

Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.

There are honest journalists like there are honest politicians - they stay bought.

The printed page conveys information and commitment, and requires active involvement. Television conveys emotion and experience, and it's very limited in what it can do logically. It's an existential experience - there and then gone.

Democracy may not prove in the long run to be as efficient as other forms of government, but it has one saving grace: it allows us to know and say that it isn't.

Hyperbole was to Lyndon Johnson what oxygen is to life.

Democracy belongs to those who exercise it.

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.

In democracy everyone has the right to be represented, even the jerks.

But democracy isn't a state of perfection. It has to be improved, and that means constant vigilance.

Democracy is stronger than terrorism, and we will not cower to the terrorists' campaign of fear.

Our brave soldiers and support personnel are engaged in a battle as important as any the United States has ever before waged, for the success of democracy in Iraq is a crucial test of the ideals this Nation was founded upon.

American and Israel share a special bond. Our relationship is unique among all nations. Like America, Israel is a strong democracy, a symbol of freedom, and an oasis of liberty, a home to the oppressed and persecuted.

Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.

Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talks of the sovereignty of Parliament and of democracy is idle and futile.

And when we draw lines in the sand with regard to certain basic things that are vital to our interest and to the interest of democracy and our friends around the world, we have to be willing to back that up.

While Kuwait is not a democracy, giving only half the population a voice in their government is not a policy this Congress should support and one that I am glad that Kuwait's leaders are changing.

It's true that the war in Iraq opened a distance in relations between part of Europe and the U.S. government, but our basic ties are stronger than that. We share democracy, free markets and a commitment to Western security. We differ on how to guarantee that security.

The best Governments of the World have bin composed of Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy.

If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: "Thou shalt not ration justice."

One has the right to be wrong in a democracy.

In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued - they may be essential to survival.

There is something inherent in our democracy that tends to want to level. America is a little uncomfortable in the presence of someone who is distinctly superior in whatever way.

Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.

The Election Assistance Commission represents a major, unprecedented commitment from the federal government to sustained freedom and vibrant democracy. I am humbled by the prospect of being one its charter members.

It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting.

Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least.

Democracy is supposed to give you the feeling of choice, like Painkiller X and Painkiller Y. But they're both just aspirin.

I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it.

I'm not overly alarmist about it, but I do think there are some worrying signs, like the growing accumulation of wealth by a very small proportion of the population, plus elections in the US are much more dominated by money than anywhere else calling itself a democracy.

Liberty, freedom and democracy are very fuzzy words, but human rights is very specific.

The risk of a terrorist victory is greater when in fighting terror, democracy betrays its own essence.

My door will always be open to those who genuinely renounce violence and seek peaceful accommodation into our nascent democracy.

Since President Bush took office in 2001, this Congress has supported an agenda of democracy, freedom and expansion of rights for all peoples throughout the world.