I have seen Americans making great and sincere sacrifices for the key common good and a hundred times I have noticed that, when needs be, they almost always gave each other faithful support.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEIn 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.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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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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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 a large number of organs of the press come to advance along the same track, their influence becomes almost irresistible in the long term, and public opinion, struck always from the same side, ends by yielding under their blows.
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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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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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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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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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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 tie of language is perhaps the strongest and the most durable that can unite mankind.
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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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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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America is great because she is good.
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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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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.
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The last thing a political party gives up is its vocabulary.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE