Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes - Page 4

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• As the past has ceased to throw its light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Past, Men, Light

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1847). “Democracy in America”

  11 Copy quote

• 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."

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Heart, Equality, Envy

  Conversation with Nassau William Senior on May 22, 1850 "Correspondence and Conversations of Alexis de Tocqueville with Nassau William Senior from 1834 to 1859", p. 94, 1872.

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• What is most important for democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist, but that great fortunes should not remain in the same hands. In that way there are rich men, but they do not form a class.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Men, Hands, Class

  Alexis de Tocqueville, Seymour Drescher, Gertrude Himmelfarb (1997). “Memoir on pauperism”, Ivan R Dee

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• In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Freedom, Writing, America

  Alexis de Tocqueville (2001). “Democracy in America”, p.110, Penguin

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• I questioned the faithful of all communions; I particularly sought the society of clergymen, who are the depositories of the various creeds and have a personal interest in their survival ... all thought the main reason for the quiet sway of religion over their country was the complete separation of church and state. I have no hesitation in stating that throughout my stay in America I met nobody, lay or cleric, who did not agree about that.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Country, America, Faithful

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• History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Fake People, Reality, History

  "The Old Regime and the Revolution". Book by Alexis de Tocqueville, p. 88, 1856.

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• Despotism can do without faith but freedom cannot.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Despotism, Tyranny, Can Do

  Alexis de Tocqueville (2012). “Democracy in America”, p.282, University of Chicago Press

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• I must say that I have seen Americans make great and real sacrifices to the public welfare; and have noticed a hundred instances in which they hardly ever failed to lend faithful support to one another.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Real, Sacrifice, Support

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1840). “Democracy in America”, p.105

  6 Copy quote

• The will of the nation is one of those phrases most widely abused by schemers and tyrants of all ages.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Tyrants, Democracy, Age

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• I have no hesitation in saying that although the American woman never leaves her domestic sphere and is in some respects very dependent within it, nowhere does she enjoy a higher station. And if anyone asks me what I think the chief cause of the extraordinary prosperity and growing power of this nation, I should answer that it is due to the superiority of their women.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Women, Thinking, Doe

  "Democracy in America". Book by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume II. Book Three, Chapter XII, 1840.

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• I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Moving, Men, Innovation

  "Democracy in America". Book by Alexis de Tocqueville. Volume II, Book Three, Chapter XXI, 1840.

  49 Copy quote

• But what most astonishes me in the United States, is not so much the marvelous grandeur of some undertakings, as the innumerable multitude of small ones.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  America, United States, Multitudes

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1840). “Democracy in America”, p.157

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• 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 Tocqueville

  Political, Democracy, Aristocracy

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1990). “Democracy in America”

  36 Copy quote

• Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot. How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Faith, Ties, People

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1862). “Democracy in America”, p.393

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• This so-called tolerance, which, in my opinion, is nothing but a huge indifference.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Tolerance, Opinion, Indifference

  Alexis de Tocqueville, Roger Boesche, James Toupin (1986). “Selected Letters on Politics and Society”, p.48, Univ of California Press

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• Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  People, Despise

  15 Copy quote

• There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Motivational, Political, United States

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1990). “Democracy in America”

  7 Copy quote

• The world belongs to those with the most energy.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Energy, World

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• To commit violent and unjust acts, it is not enough for a government to have the will or even the power; the habits, ideas and passions of the time must lend themselves to their committal.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Passion, Government, Ideas

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1896). “Recollections”, p.149, Library of Alexandria

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• The Indian knew how to live without wants, to suffer without complaint, and to die singing.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Singing, Suffering, Want

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1990). “Democracy in America”

  8 Copy quote

• In the United States the sovereign authority is religious, and consequently hypocrisy must be common; but there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Christian, Country, Religious

  Alexis De Tocqueville (2015). “Democracy in America: Book One”, p.575, eKitap Projesi via PublishDrive

  7 Copy quote

• There are at the present time two great nations in the world--the Russians and the Americans. The American relies upon his personal interest to accomplish his ends and gives free scope to the unguided exertions and common sense of the people. The Russian centers all his authority of society in a single arm. The principal instrument of the former is freedom; of the latter, servitude. Their starting point is different and their courses are not the same; yet each of them seems marked by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Destiny, Two, Rely Upon

  8 Copy quote

• Christianity has therefore retained a strong hold on the public mind in America... In the United States... Christianity itself is a fact so irresistibly established, that no one undertakes either to attack or to defend it.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Strong, America, Mind

  Alexis De Tocqueville (2004). “Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II”, p.356, Bantam Classics

  4 Copy quote

• It is the dissimilarities and inequalities among men which give rise to the notion of honor; as such differences become less, it grows feeble; and when they disappear, it will vanish too.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Men, Differences, Giving

  "Democracy in America". Book by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume II. Book Three, Chapter XVIII, 1840.

  11 Copy quote

• We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Positive, Success, Business

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