As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEOne 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.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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To remain silent is the most useful service that a mediocre speaker can render to the public good.
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Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims.
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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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I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.
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There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.
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This so-called tolerance, which, in my opinion, is nothing but a huge indifference.
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I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it.
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In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.
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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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Rulers who destroy men’s freedom commonly begin by trying to retain its forms. … They cherish the illusion that they can combine the prerogatives of absolute power with the moral authority that comes from popular assent.
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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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Men will not receive the truth from their enemies, and it is seldom offered to them by their friends.
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Slavery…dishonors labor. It introduces idleness into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress. It enervates the powers of the mind and benumbs the activity of man.
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Everybody feels the evil, but no one has courage or energy enough to seek the cure.
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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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