DEMOCRACY
“For a fledging democratic system to succeed, we need citizens who understand the procedures, believe in democratic rules and get personally involved.”
Friedrich Naumann
“Education for liberalism is in no way merely the education of members of parliament; at a much higher level, it is about educating the people for liberal thinking and action.”
Friedrich Naumann in German Liberalism
(1909)
“Civic education should be the advertisement for democracy.”
Former German Federal President Dr. Roman Herzog
“Democracy is an impossible thing until the power is shared by all, but let not democracy degenerate into mobocracy.”
Mahatma Gandhi
“Political action is the highest responsibility of a citizen.”
Late US President John F. Kennedy
(1961-1963)
“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?”
Mahatma Gandhi in “Non-Violence in Peace and War”
(1869 – 1948)
“Justice delayed is democracy denied.”
Robert F. Kennedy, late US Attorney General and one of
President John F. Kennedy’s brothers and most trusted advisors
(1925 – 1968)
EQUALITY
“Only when equal opportunities are provided for all can there be freedom for all.”
Dr. Julio C. Teehankee in Liberalism: A Primer
“It is the right of all individuals, irrespective of race, creed and the position of their parents, to be given every opportunity to attain a position in society commensurate with their capabilities.”
Ph. D. Julio C. Teehankee of the National Institute for Policy Studies
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood…I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”
US civil rights leader Marin Luther King
FREEDOM
“Only when equal opportunities are provided for all can there be freedom for all.”
Dr. Julio C. Teehankee in Liberalism: A Primer
“The more freedom we enjoy, the greater the responsibility we bear toward others as well as ourselves.”
Oscar Arias Sanchez, President of Costa Rica
“Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.”
French Nobel Prize-winning author and philosopher Albert Camus
“Freedom is the last, best hope of earth.”
Late US President Abraham Lincoln
“ Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit.”
late US President Ronald Reagan
(1911 – 2004)
“All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. ”
late UK Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill
(1874 – 1965)
“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labour in freedom.”
Albert Einstein, a German-born theoretical physicist best known for this theory of relativity
(1879 – 1955)
True freedom is to share
All the chains our brothers wear,
And, with heart and hand, to be
Earnest to make others free!
American poet and writer James Russell Lowell
(1819-1891)
“Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own person, which includes the liberty of moving and using it at his own will. This is what called personal liberty, and is given him by the Author of nature, because it is necessary for his own sustenance.”
Late US President Thomas Jefferson
(1743 – 1826)
HUMAN RIGHTS
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. ”
late US President Thomas Jefferson in the American Declaration of Independence
(1743 – 1826)
“….recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…”
The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights
“The best safeguard of civil rights is not in the procedures or the laws, but rather in the education of ordinary people to ensure they are equipped with the necessary knowledge to deal with life’s crises.”
Human rights lawyer and activist Thongbai Thongpao
LIBERALISM
“A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.”
Robert Frost (1874 – 1963)
“Liberals are very broadminded: they are always willing to give careful consideration to both sides of the same side.”
Anonymous
“Liberalism inherently believes that almost everyone has the capacity to run their own lives and should be given the freedom to do it. It also believes that, given the freedom, most people will act responsibly and not become too greedy and try to take out more than their due.”
Liberal Democrat activist Richard Kemp
“Liberal democracy is a form of democratic rule that balances the principles of limited government against the ideal of popular consent. A liberal democrat is one who holds that democracy is the best form of government but believes that the power of government should be limited.”
Ph. D. Julio C. Teehankee of the National Institute for Policy Studies
“Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved.”
Aristotle
(384 BC – 322 BC)
LIBERTY
“If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.”
Carl Schurz, a political reformer and the first German-born American to enter the US Senate
(1829 – 1906)
“The basis of a democratic state is liberty.”
Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and teacher of Alexander the Great
(384 BC – 322 BC)
“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.”
Lord Acton, an English historian
26 February 1877 lecture
“Law is order in liberty, and without order liberty is social chaos.”
Archbishop John Ireland, founder of the University of St. Thomas in Houston, USA.
(1838 – 1918)
MUTUAL UNDERESTANDING
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves. ”
Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology
(1875 – 1961)
“Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.”
Marian Anderson, an African-American singer and civil rights advocate
(1987 – 1993)
PEACE
“We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction.”
Late US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his fourth inaugural address in 1945
(1882 – 1945)
“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.”
Martin Luther King Jr. in “Strength to Love”
(1929 – 1968)
“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”
Malcolm X, a black nationalist in the US and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity
(1925 – 1965)
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
Benjamin Franklin, a leading American author, political theorist, politician
(1706–1790)
TOLERANCE
“Humour brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding.”
Agnes Repplier, an American essayist
(1855 -1950)
“It is thus tolerance that is the source of peace, and intolerance that is the source of disorder and squabbling.”
Pierre Bayle, a French philosopher and writer
(1647–1706)
