Tyrany of the Majority

The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.
--Lord Acton

The rights of the minority should never be subjected to the whim of the majority --Sara and Tegan

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual)
--Ayn Rand

In republics, the great danger is, the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.
--James Madison

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
--Thomas Jefferson