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.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEIf an American was condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his existence.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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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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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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I vow that I do not hold that complete and instantaneous love for the freedom of the press that one accords to things whose nature is unqualifiedly good. I love it out of consideration for the evils it prevents much more than for the good it does.
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Everybody feels the evil, but no one has courage or energy enough to seek the cure.
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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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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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America is great because she is good.
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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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The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.
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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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The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave.
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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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The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage.
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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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If I were asked to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of Americans ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply: To the superiority of their women.
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