Men Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville

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

— Alexis de Tocqueville

I have always noticed in politics how often men are ruined by having too good a memory.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

A man's admiration for absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Men seldom take the opinion of their equal, or of a man like themselves, upon trust.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Nature secretly avenges herself for the constraint imposed upon her by the laws of man.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

A man's admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

I do not find fault with equality for drawing men into the pursuit of forbidden pleasures, but for absorbing them entirely in…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience, but by the exercise of a…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Two things in America are astonishing: the changeableness of most human behavior and the strange stability of certain principles. Men are constantly…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In democratic centuries, on the contrary, when the duties of each individual toward the species are much clearer, devotion toward one man…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Men living in democratic times have many passions, but most of their passions either end in the love of riches, or proceed…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

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

All revolutions more or less threaten the tenure of property: but most of those who live in democratic countries are possessed of…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Men cannot abandon their religious faith without a kind of aberration of intellect and a sort of violent distortion of their true…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Not only does democracy make every man forget his ancestors, but also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

It is almost never when a state of things is the most detestable that it is smashed, but when, beginning to improve,…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Among a democratic people, where there is no hereditary wealth, every man works to earn a living, or is born of parents…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In towns it is impossible to prevent men from assembling, getting excited together and forming sudden passionate resolves. Towns are like great…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

No state of society or laws can render men so much alike but that education, fortune, and tastes will interpose some differences…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

I studied the Quran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large there have…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Trade is the natural enemy of all violent passions. Trade loves moderation, delights in compromise, and is most careful to avoid anger.…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Muhammad professed to derive from Heaven, and he has inserted in the Koran, not only a body of religious doctrines, but political…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The first who attracts the eye, the first in enlightenment, in power and in happiness, is the white man, the European, man…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

When a monarchy gradually transforms itself into a republic, the executive power there preserves titles, honors, respect, and even money long after…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Muhammad brought down from heaven and put into the Koran not religious doctrines only, but political maxims, criminal and civil laws, and…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

It would seem as if the rulers of our time sought only to use men in order to make things great; I…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

To build enormous palaces, to conquer or to mimic nature, to ransack the world in order to gratify the passions of a…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The most durable monument of human labor is that which recalls the wretchedness and nothingness of man.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

It must not be forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details of life.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

No men are less addicted to reverie than the citizens of a democracy.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

He [Napoleon] was as great as a man can be without morality.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Men will not receive the truth from their enemies, and it is seldom offered to them by their friends.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Democratic institutions generally give men a lofty notion of their country and themselves.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The more alike men are, the weaker each feels in the face of all.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

One of the distinguishing characteristics of a democratic period is the taste that all men have for easy success and present enjoyment.…

— Alexis de Tocqueville