Serj Tankian Quotes

I'm fed up with democracy. In a democracy, people vote for the mayors. I wanted to build a city where I will choose the citizens.

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting.

I don't want to be a dictator, because it is contrary to my own conscience. I am a democrat, but I don't desire democratic liberalism. On the contrary, I want a guided democracy... I have a conception of my own, which I will put at the disposal of the party leaders if required.

Democracy passes into despotism.

Democracy is slow … A king can always outrun a congressman.

The difference between democracy and autocracy is whether people are organized from the bottom up or the top down

Democracy sounded well and good, but its results are seen not to agree at all with its title. Monarchy, on the contrary, has an unpleasant sound, but is a more practical form of government to live under. For it is easier to find a single excellent man, than to find many of them.

You can choose whatever name you like for the two types of government. I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence democracy, and the other tyranny.

I've made the comment that democracies work slower than dictatorships. That's a true thing.

Democracy is the opposite of totalitarianism, communism, fascism, or mobocracy.

History proves that all dictatorships, all authoritarian forms of government are transient. Only democratic systems are not transient. Whatever the shortcomings, mankind has not devised anything superior.

It is important to remember that some of the most serious thinkers once thought that democracy was not compatible with the cultures of Germany, Italy, Japan, Latin America and Russia.

It's true that General Musharraf opposes my return, seeing me as a symbol of democracy in the country. He is comfortable with dictatorship. I hope better sense prevails.

We're not a democracy.

Asia's governments come in two broad varieties: young, fragile democracies - and older, fragile authoritarian regimes.

I am sometimes accused of being a dictator because I provoked the extraordinary elections by nominating the interim government. Can you imagine any dictator who provokes free elections in his own country?

While democracy in the long run is the most stable form of government, in the short run, it is among the most fragile.

There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic.

I don't believe in democracy by bayonet.

Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse.

The Fayyad cabinet may well be the best the Palestinians ever get. But whatever its good qualities, there is no democracy.

The main division in the world is between democratic and undemocratic countries.

If I were in authority in Singapore indefinitely without having to ask those who are governed whether they like what is being done, then I would not have the slightest doubt that I could govern much more effectively in their interests.

Democracy is necessarily despotism, as it establishes an executive power contrary to the general will; all being able to decide against one whose opinion may differ, the will of all is therefore not that of all: which is contradictory and opposite to liberty.

Democracy is only tolerable because no other system is.