Aung San Suu Kyi quotes
1945 – · Myanmar, 20th–21st century · politician, pro-democracy leader and author
About Aung San Suu Kyi
Born 19 June 1945 in Rangoon, daughter of independence leader Aung San, she helped found the National League for Democracy in 1988 and spent many years under house arrest.
Works: Freedom from Fear (1991)
Quotes
“Democracy is when the people keep a government in check.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The sentence is widely attributed online to Aung San Suu Kyi; an early online citation points to a Daily Mirror item (28 Sept 2012), but no primary source has been located.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution is disputed: the wording appears mainly on quotation sites and secondary pages, with no confirmed speech, interview, or written source.
The line captures a key democratic idea: citizens must do more than elect leaders — they must check and constrain government. That principle echoes Aung San Suu Kyi’s public advocacy for accountable institutions, even though this exact wording lacks a confirmed primary source.