Europe is one of the seven traditional continents, but it's actually
part of the greater continent of Eurasia—which really doesn't sound as
nice if you call it Asiope. The popular explanation for the name is
that the Greeks named Europe for Europa, a princess captured by Zeus. But Europa's story was a "that's why"
story created to explain the name. The Greek roots of the word mean
"broad face," a fine name for the earth. It's also possible that the
Greeks coined the word from the Akkadian "erebu," which means "sunset."
If so, Europe is the western land where the sun sets.
Democracy and liberty have been major concerns of European history, from Athens to Iceland to
Switzerland to the French Revolution, so they're the subject of today's
quotes.
a few things said by Europeans:
"An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." —Plato
"If
liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in
democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in
the government to the utmost." —Aristotle
"There is one
safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and
security to all, but especially to democracies as against despots. What
is it? Distrust." —Demosthenes
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is
the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” –William Pitt
"So long as the people do not
care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so;
for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the
name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles
upon sleeping men." —Voltaire
"Democracy is the road to socialism." —Karl Marx
"Democracy
is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that
have been tried from time to time." —Winston Churchill
"It is
almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are
praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim
that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the
word if it were tied down to any one meaning." —George Orwell