This so-called tolerance, which, in my opinion, is nothing but a huge indifference.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEThere 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.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.
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A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.
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There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.
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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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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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Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.
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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.
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Life is to be entered upon with courage.
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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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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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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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One of the happiest consequences of the absence of government is the development of individual strength that inevitably follows.
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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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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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When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.
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