It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEEquality is a slogan based on envy. It signifies in the heart of every republican: “Nobody is going to occupy a place higher than I.”
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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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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This so-called tolerance, which, in my opinion, is nothing but a huge indifference.
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The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.
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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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Not 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.
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I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.
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Nothing is so dangerous as that of violence employed by well-meaning people for beneficial objects.
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In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.
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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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The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave.
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History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.
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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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America is great because she is good.
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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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Generally 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.
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