Furthermore, when citizens are all almost equal, it becomes difficult for them to defend their independence against the aggressions of power. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.” — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“The revolution of the United States was the result of a mature and dignified taste for freedom, and not of a vague… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The taste which men have for liberty and that which they feel for equality are, in fact, two different things...among democratic nations… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“I am unacquainted with a more deplorable spectacle than that of a people unable either to defend or to maintain its independence.” — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but in the time in which we live I am ready to… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In America a woman loses her independence for ever in the bonds of matrimony. While there is less constraint on girls there… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
But one also finds in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to want to bring the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“But in America the sovereignty of the people is neither hidden nor sterile as with some other nations; mores recognize it, and… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
It profits me but little, after all, that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquility of my pleasures and constantly averts all… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Freedom sees in religion the companion of its struggles and its triumphs, the cradle of its infancy, the divine source of its… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Local assemblies of the people constitute the strength of free nations. Municipal institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science:… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
[T]he main evil of the present democratic institutions of the united states does not raise, as is often asserted in Europe, from… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
It is certain that despotism ruins individuals by preventing them from producing wealth much more than by depriving them of what they… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
What good does it do me, after all, if an ever-watchful authority keeps an eye out to ensure that my pleasures will… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“A depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people's reach... — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Rulers who destroy men's freedom commonly begin by trying to retain its forms. ... They cherish the illusion that they can combine… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“Democracy extends the sphere of personal independence; socialism confines it. Democracy values each man at his highest; socialism makes of each man… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The more I view the independence of the press in its principal effects, the more I convince myself that among the moderns… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“In my opinion the main evil of the present democratic institutions of the United States does not arise, as is often asserted… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
I have no hesitation in saying that although the American woman never leaves her domestic sphere and is in some respects very dependent within… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
No state of society or laws can render men so much alike but that education, fortune, and tastes will interpose some differences between them;… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
What good does it do me, after all, if an ever-watchful authority keeps an eye out to ensure that my pleasures will be tranquil… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
“I am unacquainted with His designs, but I shall not cease to believe in them because I cannot fathom them, and I had rather… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
I questioned the faithful of all communions; I particularly sought the society of clergymen, who are the depositories of the various creeds and have… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
“There is a twofold liberty, natural (I mean as our nature is now corrupt) and civil or federal. The first is common to man… — Alexis De Tocqueville Copy Share
Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
Despotism often presents itself as the repairer of all the ills suffered, the support of just rights, defender of the oppressed, and founder of… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
On this waterlogged landscape…are scattered palaces and hovels…It is here that the human spirit becomes perfect, and at the same time brutalised, that civilisation… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share