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.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLEI 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.
More Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes
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Nothing is so dangerous as that of violence employed by well-meaning people for beneficial objects.
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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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One of the happiest consequences of the absence of government is the development of individual strength that inevitably follows.
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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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I have only one passion, the love of liberty and human dignity.
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I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.
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Socialism is a new form of slavery.
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America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing.
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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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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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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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All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.
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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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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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