Mahathir Mohamad Quotes

We cannot impose democracy where it has no constituency.

Ultimately, freedom and democracy are stronger than fear and tyranny.

My experience and what scant understanding of politics I possess have convinced me that our peoples will only find well-being under compulsion; but my repugnance for compulsion is so great that I am loath to employ it even to achieve their well-being.

This is the 21st century, and you cannot hold a nation captive against their will.

It seems strange to the rest of the world, but we Americans can't seem to stop talking about how other countries should be democratic like we are.

I live in Europe and care about democracy and sovereignty of nation states there.

No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.

The desire for liberty has also made itself felt as struggle against domestic tyranny or arbitrary rule.

Empire and liberty.

I think, as a general matter, clearly, the United States globally supports the development of democracy and the democratic yearnings of all people.

We believe democracy cannot be imposed from outside in any society. Democracy is the expression of a sovereign people.

Having lived through the transition from totalitarianism, I am acutely mindful of the need to never take for granted the basic freedoms of thought, expression and belief that democracy brings.

The U.S.-led western alliance, while acting as an advocate of democracy, rule of law and human rights, is acting from the opposite position, rejecting the democratic principle of the sovereign right of states enshrined in the U.N. Charter and trying to decide for others what is good and what is bad.

Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom.

Imperialism and popular government have nothing in common: they differ in spirit, in policy, in method.

Democracy is not imperialism… Imposing democracy is an oxymoron ….You can’t have democracy instantly.

The world is not a big Red sea in which this country is being scuttled, but a vast arena of political upheaval, in which the quest for freedom, ever stronger, has overthrown the colonial empires of the past. It isn't a tidy world, nor is it a secure one. But it is one in which the United States set the revolutionary example.

You will be emancipated from tyranny and oppression …

American interests dictate that we teach other peoples to govern themselves.

The Asylum they open to the oppressed of all nations should console the earth. The case with which the injured may escape from oppressive governments, will compel Princes to become just and cautious; and the rest of the world will gradually open their eyes upon the empty illusions with which they have been hitherto cheated by politicians. But for this purpose America must preserve herself from these illusions; and take care to avoid being what your ministerial writers are frequently saying She will be — an image of our Europe — a mass of divided powers contending for territory and commerce, and continually cementing the slavery of the people with their own blood.

I think that democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: left to themselves, they will seek it, cherish it, and view any privation of it with regret. But for equality, their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible: they call for equality in freedom; and if they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery.

The way governments treat their own citizens matters; it matters because it can have a direct impact on international peace and security - and on our respective national security interests.

You cannot force a country to do something that is against its own interests or against the democratic process.

We have to convince mainland China that a free and democratic Taiwan is more in China's interest than reunification.

We recognize Taiwan as the beacon of Asian democracy.