The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEHistory is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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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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It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.
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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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There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.
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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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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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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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As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?
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This so-called tolerance, which, in my opinion, is nothing but a huge indifference.
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The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.
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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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Everybody feels the evil, but no one has courage or energy enough to seek the cure.
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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.
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Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims.
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Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details.
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