What is understood by republican government in the United States is the slow and quiet action of society upon itself. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“The most perilous moment for a bad government is one when it seeks to mend its ways.” — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
One of the happiest consequences of the absence of government...is the development of individual strength that inevitably follows. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“In other words, the government of the democracy is the only one under which the power which lays on taxes escapes the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
A man's admiration for absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
On close inspection, we shall find that religion, and not fear, has ever been the cause of the long-lived prosperity of an… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“Nothing is more striking to an European traveller in the United States than the absence of what we term the Government, or… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
A man's admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Religion, which never intervenes directly in the government of American society, should therefore be considered as the first of their political institutions — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
There is hardly a congressman prepared to go home until he has at least one speech printed and sent to his constituents,… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The most perilous moment for a bad government is when it seeks to mend its ways. Only consummate statecraft can enable a… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The regime which is destroyed by a revolution is almost always an improvement on its immediate predecessor, and experience teaches that the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
At the head of any new undertaking where in France you would find the government, or in England some great lord, in… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
We can state with conviction, therefore, that a man's support for absolute government is in direct proportion to the contempt he feels… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details, which must be attended to if rules… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
To commit violent and unjust acts, it is not enough for a government to have the will or even the power; the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
It is indeed difficult to imagine how men who have entirely renounced the habit of managing their own affairs could be successful… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations. There are not only commercial… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In the absence of government each man learns to think, to act for himself, without counting on the support of an outside… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Every nation that has ended in tyranny has come to that end by way of good order. It certainly does not follow… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Society will develop a new kind of servitude which covers the surface of society with a network of complicated rules, through which… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Even despots accept the excellence of liberty. The simple truth is that they wish to keep it for themselves and promote the… — 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
“The principle of equality, which makes men independent of each other, gives them a habit and a taste for following, in their… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In other words, a democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
When the people rule, they must be rendered happy, or they will overturn the state. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The more government takes the place of associations, the more will individuals lose the idea of forming associations and need the government… — 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
