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.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEAs for me, I am deeply a democrat; this is why I am in no way a socialist. Democracy and socialism cannot go together. You can’t have it both ways. Socialism is a new form of slavery.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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Righteous women in their circle of influence, beginning in the home, can turn the world around.
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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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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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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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I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it.
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Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details.
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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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One of the happiest consequences of the absence of government is the development of individual strength that inevitably follows.
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When a large number of organs of the press come to advance along the same track, their influence becomes almost irresistible in the long term, and public opinion, struck always from the same side, ends by yielding under their blows.
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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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However energetically society in general may strive to make all the citizens equal and alike, the personal pride of each individual will always make him try to escape from the common level, and he will form some inequality somewhere to his own profit.
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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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Rulers who destroy men’s freedom commonly begin by trying to retain its forms. … They cherish the illusion that they can combine the prerogatives of absolute power with the moral authority that comes from popular assent.
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America is great because she is good.
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Socialism is a new form of slavery.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE