When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLERulers 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.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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Socialism is a new form of slavery.
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Those which we call necessary institutions are simply no more than institutions to which we have become accustomed.
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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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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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As the past has ceased to throw its light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity.
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However energetically society in general may strive to make all the citizens equal and alike, the personal pride of each individual will always make him try to escape from the common level, and he will form some inequality somewhere to his own profit.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Life is to be entered upon with courage.
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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 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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