A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.
JAMES MADISON, attributed, Quote Junkie Presidents Edition
I honor the passion for power and rule as little in the people as in a king. It is a vicious principle, exist where it may. If by democracy be meant the exercise of sovereignty by the people under all those provisions and self-imposed restraints which tend most to secure equal laws, and the rights of each and all, then I shall be proud to bear its name. But the unfettered multitude is not dearer to me than the unfettered king.
WILLIAM E. CHANNING, Thoughts
Democracy's worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN, Stranger in a Strange Land
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty.
JOHN ADAMS, letter to John Taylor, 1814
A government held together by the bands of reason only, requires much compromise of opinion; that things even salutary should not be crammed down the throats of dissenting brethren, especially when they may be put into a form to be willingly swallowed, and that a great deal of indulgence is necessary to strengthen habits of harmony and fraternity.
THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to Edward Livingston, Apr. 4, 1824
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