Any measure that establishes legal charity on a permanent basis and gives it an administrative form thereby creates an idle and lazy class, living at the expense of the industrial and working class.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEThose who prize freedom only for the material benefits it offers have never kept it for long.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.
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The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.
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The most perilous moment for a bad government is when it seeks to mend its ways. Only consummate statecraft can enable a king to save his throne when, after a long spell of oppression, he sets out to improve the lot of his subjects.
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The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.
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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.
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Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details.
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Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.
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The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.
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In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.
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Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.
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America is great because she is good.
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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.”
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There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.
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A man’s admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.
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This so-called tolerance, which, in my opinion, is nothing but a huge indifference.
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