I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEThere is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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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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The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage.
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There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.
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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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In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own.
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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.
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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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Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details.
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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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Those who prize freedom only for the material benefits it offers have never kept it for long.
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A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.
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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?
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Life is to be entered upon with courage.
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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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History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.
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I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.
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If an American was condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his existence.
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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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This so-called tolerance, which, in my opinion, is nothing but a huge indifference.
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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.
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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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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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The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.
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All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.
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Society is endangered not by the great profligacy of a few, but by the laxity of morals amongst all.
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The last thing a political party gives up is its vocabulary.
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