Democracy is only an experiment in government, and it has the obvious disadvantage of merely counting votes instead of weighing them.

I have no fear that the candle lighted in Palestine years ago will ever be put out.

Man, as we know him, is a poor creature; he is halfway between an ape and a god and he is travelling in the right direction.

Don't get up from the feast of life without paying for your share of it.

Gambling is a disease of barbarians superficially civilized.

It was said that Mr. Gladstone could persuade most people of most things, and himself of anything.

Bereavement is the deepest initiation into the mysteries of human life, an initiation more searching and profound than even happy love.

The soul is dyed with the color of its leisure thoughts.

In praising science, it does not follow that we must adopt the very poor philosophies which scientific men have constructed. In philosophy they have much more to learn than to teach.

Let none of us delude himself by supposing that honesty is always the best policy. It is not.

Faith always contains an element of risk, of venture; and we are impelled to make the venture by the affinity and attraction which we feel in ourselves.

Love remembered and consecrated by grief belongs, more clearly than the happy intercourse of friends, to the eternal world; it has proved itself stronger than death.

All faith consists essentially in the recognition of a world of spiritual values behind, yet not apart from, the world of natural phenomena.

The wise man is he who knows the relative value of things.

To marry is to get a binocular view of life.

What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.

Faith is an act of rational choice, which determines us to act as if certain things were true, and in the confident expectation that they will prove to be true.

It takes in reality only one to make a quarrel. It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.

The proper time to influence the character of a child is about a hundred years before he is born.

A cat can be trusted to purr when she is pleased, which is more than can be said for human beings.

Bereavement is the sharpest challenge to our trust in God; if faith can overcome this, there is no mountain which it cannot remove.

Action is the normal completion of the act of will which begins as prayer. That action is not always external, but it is always some kind of effective energy.

Democracy is only an experiment in government, and it has the obvious disadvantage of merely counting votes instead of weighing them.

The wisdom of the wise is an uncommon degree of common sense.

If the universe is running down like a clock, the clock must have been wound up at a date which we could name if we knew it. The world, if it is to have an end in time, must have had a beginning in time.

We tolerate shapes in human beings that would horrify us if we saw them in a horse.

The object of studying philosophy is to know one's own mind, not other people's.

A good government remains the greatest of human blessings and no nation has ever enjoyed it.

Democracy is only an experiment in government and it as the obvious disadvantage of merely counting votes instead of weighing them.

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.