Quotes: Government accountability
4 quotes on this theme, each with its source and insight
The 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.
“The majority is always wrong; the minority is rarely right.”
Source: An Enemy of the People, Act IV (1882) · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The maxim is a later compressed wording derived from Dr. Stockmann's speeches in Act IV of An Enemy of the People; the play is the clear source material.
- What remains uncertain
- The exact English sentence is not securely documented in Ibsen's original and reflects translation, condensation, and quotation drift rather than a verbatim line.
Ibsen stages how collective interest can silence inconvenient facts: when livelihoods depend on a comforting myth, the town unites against the truth. The familiar sentence paraphrases Dr. Stockmann's attack on the 'compact majority' in Act IV of An Enemy of the People (1882). It's a dramatic warning that numbers don't guarantee truth.
“Cowardice is the most terrible of vices.”
Source: The Master and Margarita, Yershalaim narrative (1928–1940) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The line is from Bulgakov’s novel and occurs in dialogue between Yeshua and Pontius Pilate in the Yershalaim episode.
- What remains uncertain
- While verified as Bulgakov’s, the sentence is fictional dialogue; translations vary and a longer exchange in the text modifies the short aphorism.
Bulgakov frames cowardice as the root that enables lies, betrayal, and political complicity. In the Yershalaim episode of The Master and Margarita the line exposes how fear corrodes conscience and lets injustice persist. The sentence appears in the novel’s dialogue, not as a historical saying.
“In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace.”
Source: Nobel Committee presentation speech, 2004 · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The sentence matches a passage in the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s presentation speech for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.
- What remains uncertain
- The dataset’s wording is a slightly edited version of the Committee’s published sentence; the attribution to Maathai and the Committee’s formulation are verified.
Maathai foresaw that environmental stress and unequal resource access would come to be seen as core drivers of conflict, as clearly as human rights and democracy are linked to peace today. The line captures her conviction that ecology, livelihoods and governance belong in the same conversation. It appears in the Nobel Committee’s 2004 presentation speech.