Those which we call necessary institutions are simply no more than institutions to which we have become accustomed.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEOne 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.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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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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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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Socialism is a new form of slavery.
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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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America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing.
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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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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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Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience, but by the exercise of a power which they believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which they consider to be usurped and oppressive.
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The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.
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This so-called tolerance, which, in my opinion, is nothing but a huge indifference.
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In the principle of equality I very clearly discern two tendencies; one leading the mind of every man to untried thoughts, the other prohibiting him from thinking at all.
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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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The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage.
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To remain silent is the most useful service that a mediocre speaker can render to the public good.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE