Dictators fall when they're overconfident; they stay in power when they're paranoid.
Masha GessenRead
Any country is either becoming more democratic or less democratic. I think the United States hasn't tended to its journey toward democracy in a long time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the ongoing struggle for democracy within a nation, suggesting that neglect can lead to a decline in democratic values.
Masha Gessenβs quote highlights the notion that countries are constantly evolving in their democratic processes, indicating that they are either progressing towards greater democracy or regressing towards authoritarianism. By stating that the United States has not properly attended to its democratic journey, Gessen underscores the importance of continual vigilance and effort in maintaining and improving democratic systems, warning against complacency that can threaten the foundational principles of democracy.
Themes
DemocracyPoliticsGovernmentChangeComplacency
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of civic engagement.
More from Masha Gessen
All quotes βWhen you lose your freedom, you lose, first and foremost, the opportunity to choose the company you keep.
Masha GessenRead
There's the hypothesis that things just keep happening to Russians, things that keep turning them into the same kind of subjects, as opposed to citizens. The more credible hypothesis, I think, is that there is a kind of trauma, a social trauma that is passed on from generation to generation.
Masha GessenRead
We learn to think of history as something that has already happened, to other people. Our own moment, filled as it is with minutiae destined to be forgotten, always looks smaller in comparison.
Masha GessenRead
Russia, at the start of the 21st century, at least in its larger cities, very much resembled the United States of the early 1990s: being gay was no longer criminal or shameful, but it was still not a topic for polite conversation or public discussion.
Masha GessenRead
... fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there-because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie. The institution of marriage is going to change, and it should change. And again, I don't think it should exist.
Masha GessenRead
Similar quotes
A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot.
Thomas B. MacaulayRead
Here, in this very first paragraph of the Declaration, is the assertion of the natural right of all to the ballot; for how can 'the consent of the governed' be given if the right to vote be denied?
Susan B. AnthonyRead
The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution.
Hannah ArendtRead
Behold a republic standing erect while empires all around are bowed beneath the weight of their own armaments - a republic whose flag is loved while other flags are only feared.
William Jennings BryanRead
The United States is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories.
Jimmy CarterRead
If ever this free people, if this Government itself is ever utterly demoralized, it will come from this incessant human wriggle and struggle for office, which is but a way to live without work.
Abraham LincolnRead