How to Read “The voice of the people is the voice of God”
Tami no koe wa kami no koe
Meaning of “The voice of the people is the voice of God”
This proverb means that the shared opinions and public sentiment of many people contain truth that should be respected like divine will. It teaches that the voices of many people carry more weight than the thoughts of a single powerful person or intellectual, and should never be ignored.
People use this saying in politics and organizational settings. It reminds leaders not to make decisions alone, but to listen to what the people say. It also shows that when public opinion aligns, there’s a good reason behind it that shouldn’t be dismissed.
Today, people understand this proverb as expressing the basic principle of democracy. It’s quoted when discussing how elections reflect the people’s will or why public opinion polls matter.
However, it doesn’t mean the people’s voice is always correct. Rather, it emphasizes the importance of listening sincerely and showing respect for what people say.
Origin and Etymology
This proverb likely comes from the ancient Roman saying “Vox populi, vox Dei.” This translates directly as “the voice of the people is the voice of God,” almost identical to the Japanese version.
In Europe, this has been discussed since medieval times as a political truth that rulers cannot ignore. The idea probably reached Japan after the Meiji period. It was accepted as a saying about the importance of public opinion during the influx of Western democratic thought.
Interestingly, similar thinking existed in traditional Japanese political philosophy. The expression “the voice of heaven” has been used since ancient times. People believed that the suffering and wishes of the people reached heaven.
Rulers governed by heaven’s mandate, so listening to the people’s voice meant understanding heaven’s will.
Though this saying came from the West, it resonated with traditional Japanese political views. That’s why it was naturally accepted. The importance of listening to the people’s voice has been recognized as universal wisdom across both East and West.
Usage Examples
- As the election results show, the voice of the people is the voice of God, and politicians should humbly accept it
- This is what happens when management ignores the opinions of workers on the ground—they say the voice of the people is the voice of God, right?
Universal Wisdom
Behind this proverb lies the eternal theme of power and the people. Looking back at history, countless examples show rulers who ignored the people’s voice, went out of control, and eventually fell.
When people gain power, they tend to believe their judgment is absolutely correct. However, the real feelings of people who actually live, suffer, and rejoice carry the weight of reality that’s heavier than any theory or ideal.
Why does truth dwell in the voices of many people? Because even though each individual is imperfect, when many people commonly feel something, it has solid grounds based on lived experience.
If many people feel pain, there’s a problem. If many people feel joy, there’s value. This is intuitive human wisdom that comes before statistics or theory.
At the same time, this proverb serves as a warning to rulers. No matter how excellent a leader is, decisions made apart from people’s lived experience are dangerous.
Listening to the people’s voice isn’t weakness—it’s proof of wisdom. This humility forms the foundation of sustainable governance.
When AI Hears This
In mobile phone communication, there’s a system that delivers the correct message even when noise interferes with the signal. For example, when sending the information “1,” it actually transmits “1,1,1” three times.
If one gets corrupted along the way to become “1,0,1,” the majority vote can still restore it to “1.” This is the basic principle of error correction codes.
Democratic voting has a surprisingly similar structure. Each person’s judgment is imperfect and contains mistakes. But if each person makes the right judgment more than 51 percent of the time, the group’s overall accuracy rises sharply as numbers increase.
With 100 people voting, the accuracy rate exceeds 99 percent mathematically. This is called Condorcet’s jury theorem.
However, there’s an important condition: each person must judge independently. In communication, error correction fails when the same type of noise affects all signals.
Similarly, when people only look at the same information sources or get swept up in group psychology, majority decisions move away from truth. For “the voice of the people” to become “the voice of God,” diversity and independence are essential conditions.
Information theory teaches us that the key to truth isn’t the power of numbers, but high-quality noise distribution.
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches modern people is the importance of humbly listening to others’ voices. If you’re in a leadership position at work, are you dismissing your subordinates’ opinions?
If you’re a parent at home, are you seriously listening to what your children say? By not clinging to your own ideas and paying attention to what many people feel, you can see truths that were invisible before.
In today’s world with developed social media, various voices have become visible. This is a valuable opportunity to know public opinion, but there’s also the danger that a loud minority can appear to be the majority.
That’s why we need to pay attention not to superficial loudness, but to the real feelings of many people who speak quietly.
This proverb reminds us of democracy’s essence. Casting a vote in an election or expressing an opinion at work means your voice is part of what shapes society.
At the same time, by respecting others’ voices, we build a better society together.
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