# Deliberation

Deliberation is a process of thoughtfully weighing options, usually prior to voting. Deliberation emphasizes the use of logic and reason as opposed to power-struggle, creativity, or dialog.

## Quotes

* Deliberation, n.: The act of examining one's bread to determine which side it is buttered on.
** Ambrose Bierce, Deliberation as a noun, in The Devil's Dictionary of Ambrose Bierce - Complete and Unabridged, Special Edition Books, 2010, p. 38
* Deliberation seems to be elitist, more appropriate to university seminars and scientific communities than to the general public. Even if everyone could participate in deliberation, would not the more competent and better situated citizens tend to carry the day.
** James Bohman, in Public Deliberation: Pluralism, Complexity, and Democracy, MIT Press, 2000, p. 3
* Because deliberation requires the public exercise of capacities for autonomy legitimacy derives in the first instance from citizens’ participation in decision making. In deliberation citizens govern themselves and give themselves rules for common life.
** James Bohman, in Public Deliberation: Pluralism, Complexity, and Democracy, p. 151
* There is one final point I would like to make this week. As I said on the floor of the House during deliberation of this latest supplemental, hope is something Americans should never lose. Let each of us, both by our words and actions, continue to provide that hope.
** Jo Bonner Jr., in Column: Aid Continues To Flow To Gulf Coast, Vote Smart
* Our spontaneous action is always the best. You cannot, with your best deliberation and heed, come so close to any question as your spontaneous glance shall bring you.
** Ralph Waldo Emerson, in Essays, lectures and orations, William S. Orr, 1851, p. 148
* Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.
** Charles de Gaulle, in Mark Hulliung Citizens and Citoyens: Republicans and Liberals in America and France, Harvard University Press, 2002, p. 164
* After careful deliberation, I voted today to reauthorize the Patriot Act.
** Jim Gerlach, in Congressman Gerlach’s Statement on the Reauthorization of the Patriot Act 21 Jul 2005
* What do we tell our children? Haste makes waste. Look before you leap. Stop and think. Don't judge a book by its cover. We believe that we are always better off gathering as much information as possible and spending as much time as possible in deliberation.
** Malcolm Gladwell, in Cheryl Glenn, et al Harbrace Essentials, Cengage Learning, 1 January 2011, p. 165
* In art, in taste, in life, in speech, you decide from feeling, and not from reason... If we were obliged to enter into a theoretical deliberation on every occasion before we act, life would be at a stand, and Art would be impracticable.
** William Hazlitt, in Theodore R. Kucklick The Medical Device R&D Handbook, CRC Press, 21November 2005, p. 8
* Great effort is required to arrest decay and restore vigor. One must exercise proper deliberation, plan carefully before making a move, and be alert in guarding against relapse following a renaissance.
** Horace, in Stella Pelengaris, Mike Khan The Molecular Biology of Cancer: A Bridge from Bench to Bedside, John Wiley & Sons, 5 March 2013, p. 376
* The strokes of the pen need deliberation as much as the sword needs swiftness.
** Julia Ward Howe, in Tina Nabatchi, et al, Democracy in Motion: Evaluating the Practice and Impact of Deliberative ..., Oxford University Press, 1 October 2012, p. 181
* The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough.
** Andrew Jackson, in Ticknor Curtis Life of James Buchanan: Fifteenth President of the United States, Volume 1, Harper & Brothers, 1883, p. 46
* Deliberation and debate is the way you stir the soul of our democracy.
** Jesse Jackson, in Jesse Jackson Biography Civil Rights Activist, Minister, Journalist, Biography.com.
* Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent: deliberation, which those who begin it by prudence, and continue it with subtlety, must, after long experience of thought conclude by chance. To prefer one future mode of life to another, upon just reason, requires faculties which it has not pleased our Creator to give us.
** Samuel Johnson, in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson: Comprehending an Account of His Studies and ..., T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1811, p. 135
* The key to this collaboration - which we undertook after much deliberation - was to stretch creatively. New characters, new locales, new form (the novella).
** Jonathan Kellerman, in Interview Jonathan Kellerman Bio, Bookreporter.com, 3 December 2004
* Millions Knives:If you just keep saving the butterflies the spiders will die. But...wanting to save both is a contradiction. What would you rather do? Keep deliberating? The butterfly will be eaten in the meantime.
** Yōsuke Kuroda, "Rem Saverem", 'Trigun, ep. 17, (English Airdate April 28, 2003).
* Contrary to the utopian rhetoric of social media enthusiasts, the Internet often makes the jump from deliberation to participation even more difficult, thwarting collective action under the heavy pressure of never-ending internal debate.
** Evgeny Morozov, in A Must-Read for Gov 2.0 & Digital Democracy Gurus, Governing People, 23 February 2010
* When Britain entered World War II in 1939, it expected men from around its empire to join the fight. After much deliberation Gandhi organized another protest against the government. He called it “Quit India”.
** John R. O'Neill, in Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Benchmark Education Company, 1 January 2011, p. 12
* The Lord is the All-powerful Cause of causes, says Nanak after deep deliberation.
** Sri Guru Granth Sahib, in The Ultimate Sikhism Library, Publish This, LLC, 22 August 2013, p. 667
* Industrial capitalism brought representative democracy, but with a weak public mandate and inert citizenry. The digital age offers a new democracy based on public deliberation and active citizenship.
** Don Tapscott, in Don Tapscott: Transforming capitalism won’t happen without leadership, 17 May 2013
* The possible solutions to a given problem emerge as the leaves of a tree, each node representing a point of deliberation and decision.
** Niklaus Wirth, in M. Broy, Ernst Denert Software Pioneers: Contributions to Software Engineering: Programme Development by Stepwise Refinement, Springer, 27 June 2002, p. 151
* We Americans are world leaders and we must lead by example - particularly in times that require careful deliberation before any precipitous action - lest we fail to walk in the shoes of those we might injure.
** Peter Yarrow, in Swaraaj Chauhan President Bush & Iraq’s Farewell “Gift”, 15 December 2008
* So with truth - there is a certain moment when one can say, this is the truth and here I put a dot, a stop, and I go to another thing. A judge has to put an end to a deliberation. But for a historian, there's never an end to the past. It can go on and on and on.
** A. B. Yehoshua, in Sh'ma, Volume 34, Issue 607 - Volume 36, Issue 626, Sh'ma, 2004, p. 30

## See also

* Contemplation
* Reflection