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.”
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEGenerally 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.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.
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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 the past has ceased to throw its light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity.
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America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing.
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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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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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Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.
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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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The tie of language is perhaps the strongest and the most durable that can unite mankind.
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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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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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If ever America undergoes great revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the black race on the soil of the United States – that is to say, they will owe their origin not to the equality but to the inequality of conditions.
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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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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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America is great because she is good.
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