Alexis de Tocqueville on government
Alexis de Tocqueville70 quotes“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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More from Alexis de Tocqueville
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.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville 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.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville 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.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville A man’s admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville 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.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville 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?
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville 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 TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville As the past has ceased to throw its light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville Men will not receive the truth from their enemies, and it is seldom offered to them by their friends.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville 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.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville As 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.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville
Original quotes
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More on government
The basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman.
Ruth Bader GinsburgRuth Bader Ginsburg The new government had no money to pay for an army, so they relied on the state militias.
Ruth Bader GinsburgRuth Bader Ginsburg The chief duty of the National Government in connection with the currency of the country is to coin money and declare its value.
George WashingtonGeorge Washington One thing that concerns me is that today’s young women don’t seem to care that we have a fundamental instrument of government that makes no express statement about the equal citizenship stature of men and women.
Ruth Bader GinsburgRuth Bader Ginsburg A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government.
George WashingtonGeorge Washington You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right.
John LewisJohn Lewis Bad as any government may be, it is seldom worse than anarchy.
AesopAesop We will continue to do our utmost to support living in light of the ever-changing needs of the field, and will accelerate efforts in cooperation with local governments.
Shinzo AbeShinzo Abe
