Those which we call necessary institutions are simply no more than institutions to which we have become accustomed.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEThe 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.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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If ever America undergoes great revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the black race on the soil of the United States – that is to say, they will owe their origin not to the equality but to the inequality of conditions.
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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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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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To remain silent is the most useful service that a mediocre speaker can render to the public good.
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I have only one passion, the love of liberty and human dignity.
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One of the happiest consequences of the absence of government is the development of individual strength that inevitably follows.
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Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.
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America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing.
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As the past has ceased to throw its light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity.
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Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.
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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.
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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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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.
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As for me, I am deeply a democrat; this is why I am in no way a socialist. Democracy and socialism cannot go together. You can’t have it both ways. Socialism is a new form of slavery.
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The last thing a political party gives up is its vocabulary.
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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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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.
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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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The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.
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When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.
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History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.
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There is no country in the world in which everything can be provided for by the laws, or in which political institutions can prove a substitute for common sense and public morality.
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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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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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America is great because she is good.
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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.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE