“In the principle of equality I very clearly discern two tendencies; one leading the mind of every man to untried thoughts, the other prohibiting him from thinking at all.”

The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.

America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing.

There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.

Despotism often presents itself as the repairer of all the ills suffered, the support of just rights, defender of the oppressed, and founder of order.

Equality is a slogan based on envy. It signifies in the heart of every republican: “Nobody is going to occupy a place higher than I.”

The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.

I have seen Americans making great and sincere sacrifices for the key common good and a hundred times I have noticed that, when needs be, they almost always gave each other faithful support.

History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.

Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details.

America is great because she is good.

We can state with conviction, therefore, that a man’s support for absolute government is in direct proportion to the contempt he feels for his country.

If an American was condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his existence.

Generally speaking, only simple conceptions can grip the mind of a nation. An idea that is clear and precise even though false will always have greater power in the world than an idea that is true but complex.

When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest the right of the majority to command, but I simply appeal from the sovereignty of the people to the sovereignty of mankind.

Life is to be entered upon with courage.

One of the most ordinary weaknesses of the human intellect is to seek to reconcile contrary principles, and to purchase peace at the expense of logic.

He has stood for the inclusion of all segments of our society under the law; women, gender equality, workers’ rights to organize, and civil rights for the least able.

Who talks most about freedom and equality? Is it not those who hold the bill of rights in one hand and a whip for affrighted slaves in the other?

Our freedom to operate and maneuver had increased substantially through disciplined procedures. Discipline equals freedom.

I’m free of all prejudices. I hate everyone equally.

The pains taken to preserve peace include a proportional responsibility that equal pains be taken to be prepared for war.

I am because we are. We all bleed the same color. We all want to love and be loved.

The social pact, far from destroying natural equality, substitutes, on the contrary, a moral and lawful equality for whatever physical inequality that nature may have imposed on mankind; so that however unequal in strength and intelligence, men become equal by covenant and by right.

To renounce freedom is to renounce one’s humanity, one’s rights as a man and equally one’s duties.