Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLENot 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.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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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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Righteous women in their circle of influence, beginning in the home, can turn the world around.
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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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The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave.
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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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The tie of language is perhaps the strongest and the most durable that can unite mankind.
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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.
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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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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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The more government takes the place of associations, the more will individuals lose the idea of forming associations and need the government to come to their help. That is a vicious circle of cause and effect.
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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 most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.
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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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Socialism is a new form of slavery.
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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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